Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, testified that imprisoning some Guantanamo detainees in the United States would make it politically easier for European allies to take custody of some of the detainees. Robert Mueller, director of the FBI, testified to some concerns about holding Guantanamo detainees in America, out More…
My understanding is that around 2:00 or 2:30 p.m. today, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) are going to introduce their bill providing aid to the civilian components of the Pakistani government. Recall that last week, Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy said the bill’s House counterpart is “More…
Not necessarily from the Taliban, but from a military coup responding to the threat the Taliban poses to the viability of Pakistan. Fox News reports that Gen. David Petraeus is telling people privately that the next two weeks (!) are a test of the Zardari government’s survivability. Anonymous sources More…
I don’t know what benchmarks the Obama administration wants to place on its aid and commitments to Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Well, more on that in a moment.) But I do know what benchmarks they don’t want. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy told the House Armed Services Committee More…
With a new Pakistani military response to Taliban advances underway, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy goes before the House Armed Services Committee this afternoon to discuss what military training and aid in counterinsurgency the United States is offering that the Pakistanis will accept. Working with a More…
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.
I swear, I thought this week I’d be writing about U.S. efforts to train Pakistani forces in counterinsurgency. Really I did. You can ask my editors. I pitched the piece and everything. Made calls for it. Then all this torture stuff happened. Will I come back to the More…
If you like liberal Los Angeles Times columnist Rosa Brooks’ material, you’re out of luck: via Mike Calderone, she’s on her way out of journalism to advise Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy, though not before advocating a government bailout for the industry. It won’t be her More…
The New York Times has the details of the funding program to support Pakistani troops in counterinsurgency that Gen. David Petraeus and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy unveiled Wednesday:
The new approach, which requires Congressional approval, would give responsibility to the Pentagon and its Central Command
Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) has read the Army-Marine Corps Field Manual on Counterinsurgency that Petraeus quarterbacked in 2006, and he notes that it urges about 20-25 troops per 1000 inhabitants in a given intervention to provide for the security of that population. Doing some math, he calculates that even assuming More…
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