defense

Bill Gertz has kind of a breathless piece in today’s Washington Times about how Defense Secretary Bob Gates is asking many of the Pentagon’s political appointees to remain in their posts. Until such time, that is, as Barack Obama’s Pentagon transition team and defense aides replace them. See why that story is important? Me neither.

Chalk up another win for the counterinsurgents. The Washington Post reports today that one of the final acts of the Bush-era Gates Pentagon (as opposed to the Obama-era Gates Pentagon) is to elevate irregular warfare — stability operations, counterinsurgency, all that asymmetrical stuff that isn’t two mechanized armies clobbering one another — to the same [...]

Clearing the way for an Obamanik, Gordon England, the deputy secretary of defense since 2005, is on his way out. From the official Pentagon announcement:

When last we left the question of who would staff a Gates Pentagon — GOP appointees or Obama’s people? — it looked pretty much like Obama would put his team in at the sub-cabinet level. Trusted defense adviser Richard Danzig would get the deputy secretary position and probably Michele Flournoy of the Center for a [...]

I ask, Mike Allen answers. So long, Eric Edelman:
EXCLUSIVE: Secretary Gates’ deputy at the Pentagon is slated to be Richard Danzig, who was Navy secretary under President Clinton. The #3 (policy) will PROBABLY be Michelle Flournoy, a Clinton administration veteran who was dual-hatted as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction, [...]

President-elect Barack Obama’s top appointments shouldn’t be ignored, but here are crucial sub-cabinet jobs critical to the success of his foreign-policy agenda.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan – The booms began around 1:45 p.m., loud enough to cause you to jump if you’ve never heard a Howitzer fire a high-explosive round before.
That was 2nd Platoon, Alpha Battery, 3rd Battalion of the 321st Field Artillery Regiment, firing north into the mountains near the town of Zambar. By 2:15 [...]

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – I had hoped to be in Khost Province, near the Pakistan border, by now. But catching a military flight out to Forward Operating Base Salerno proves to be an exercise in patience.
It’s the most remote base of its kind in Afghanistan, meaning that on the list of essential personnel and [...]