The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged CNAS

Iraqi Ambassador Urges ‘Quality’ Attention From Obama

By | 06.11.09 | 11:12 am

We know what John Nagl of the Center for a New American Security thinks about the future of the U.S.-Iraq relationship. What does Samir Sumaida’ie, the Iraqi ambassador to the United States, think the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people want that relationship to be?

He’s “fairly optimistic” about More…

Petraeus: We Don’t Read Detainees Their Miranda Rights

By | 06.11.09 | 10:53 am

If you didn’t wade through the details of counterinsurgency strategy in Spencer’s liveblog of Gen. David Petraeus’ keynote speech this morning at the Center for a New American Security conference, you may have missed this interesting nugget: Petraeus tore down a Weekly Standard report that the FBI was More…

Petraeus Speaks to CNAS

By | 06.11.09 | 9:02 am

I’m in an overstuffed ballroom at the Willard hotel for the third annual conference of the Center for a New American Security, where the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, Gen. David Petraeus, is delivering the keynote address. It’s an appropriate venue: Petraeus is effectively More…

CNAS Has Your Af-Pak Benchmarks/Metrics in a Brand New Paper

By | 06.03.09 | 5:08 pm

After initially promising to come up with benchmarks for judging the success or shortcomings of its Afghanistan/Pakistan strategy — the term preferred by the administration, I understand, is “metrics,” which I’m cool with — the Obama administration has yet to come up with any, and has resisted More…

CIA Superstar on His Way Into Obama Administration; CNAS Occupation Continues

By | 04.23.09 | 5:05 pm

Two new Obama administration senior officials got sent up for nomination today: Phil Mudd, undersecretary-designate for intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security; and Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary-designate for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the State Department.

‘Full Spectrum’ Dominance and a Triumph for Counterinsurgents

By | 04.06.09 | 3:00 pm

As predicted/foretold, Defense Secretary Bob Gates had quite a lot to say during the rollout of his budget request about the concept of “full spectrum” operations in the context of getting the counterinsurgents a foot into the budgetary door. Taking questions from reporters, Gates broke his budget down More…

A Larger Afghan Army

By | 03.19.09 | 9:01 am

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak spoke at a forum last month organized by the Center for a New American Security. He wanted sustained American support for the Afghan National Army, which, he noted, was growing its end-strength ahead of schedule. “We will reach 86,000 by March 21,” Wardak said, More…

We Might As Well Call It the Pentagon for a New American Security

By | 02.26.09 | 4:40 pm

Some new (and continuity-filled!) Pentagon appointments from the White House today: first, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy’s deputy will be — surprise, surprise — someone from the Center for a New American Security, the think tank she co-founded. That’s Jim Miller, a CNAS vice president and director More…

Afghan Defense Minister Explains Auxiliary Security Force

By | 02.26.09 | 12:34 pm

We still seem to be a ways off from the Sons of Afghanistan. At a forum sponsored by the Center for a New American Security, I asked Abdul Rahim Wardak, the Afghan defense minister, to give some detail about how a controversial new auxiliary security force is different from More…

Afghan Foreign Minister Warns United States Against ‘Reductionist’ Goals

By | 02.26.09 | 10:52 am

Speaking at the Center for American Progress, Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, made a full-throated plea for the United States not to back away from supporting Afghan democracy. “In recent weeks and months, we have heard some views here and elsewhere that we need to reduce our expectations from More…