Honolulu Star Bulletin - The ships from the Maritime Prepositioning Squadrons on Diego Garcia and Guam are being activated for use in the Indian Ocean disaster relief efforts.

Posted on 12/31/04; 3:48:40 AM Edit

New York Times - The Pentagon plans to retire one of the Navy's 12 aircraft carriers - the USS John F. Kennedy, buy fewer amphibious landing ships for the Marine Corps and delay the development of a costly Army combat system of high-tech arms as part of $60 billion in proposed cuts over the next six years, Congressional and military officials said Wednesday.

Posted on 12/31/04; 3:45:07 AM Edit

New York Times - Ever since the U.S. Marine Corps defeated Japanese forces here 60 years ago, the Marianas have been widely considered an American lake. Now, the United States may have to get used to sharing the western Pacific with China, the world's rising naval power.

Posted on 12/31/04; 3:43:28 AM Edit

Marine Corps Gazette - Is it time to incorporate more jointness in Marine expeditionary unit operations?

Posted on 12/31/04; 3:41:21 AM Edit

ABC - HMAS Kanimbla will sail from Sydney tomorrow and it will take helicopters and engineers to assist in the reconstruction effort.

Posted on 12/30/04; 4:31:16 AM Edit

The Star - A Singapore naval vessel will sail Friday to assist rescue and relief efforts off the west coast of Aceh, Sumatra's northernmost province.

Posted on 12/30/04; 4:29:18 AM Edit

SeaPower - Naval news from around the industry.

Posted on 12/30/04; 4:27:40 AM Edit

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind on how it was necessary to destroy Fallujah in order to save it.

Posted on 12/29/04; 4:28:23 AM Edit

Washington Post - A fascinating interview with CENTCOM Commander Gen. John Abizai on "The Long War" against "Salafist jihadists."

Posted on 12/28/04; 3:26:15 AM Edit

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind on the upcoming elections in Iraq.

Posted on 12/28/04; 3:25:39 AM Edit

The Telegraph - The Indian Navy sortees to aid in disaster relief after more than 11,500 people die across Asia in massive waves triggered by the largest earthquake in 40 years.

Posted on 12/27/04; 12:29:19 AM Edit

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind says distance from disorder is the key to winning the terror war. A major article on the theme of transforming 4GW into something that we can win.

Posted on 12/27/04; 12:26:46 AM Edit

PBS News Hour - Ralph Peters opines about the current situation in Iraq.

Posted on 12/26/04; 1:23:40 AM Edit

Washington Post - Thomas Ricks weighs the significance of the recent attacks on US forces in Iraq.

Posted on 12/26/04; 1:23:22 AM Edit

Foreign Affairs - The current turmoil in the Gaza Strip represents the most serious challenge to Yasir Arafat's authority in decades. Israel's planned disengagement from Gaza brought to a boil long-simmering tensions among Palestinian factions demanding a change in the status quo. Holding national elections before the pullout may be the only way to avoid chaos and save any chance at Middle East peace.

Posted on 12/26/04; 1:23:06 AM Edit

Leatherneck - The 26th Marines celebrated a jury-rigged holiday season surrounded by the "spooky" highlands of Vietnam while the North Vietnamese Army covertly worked its way toward the combat base and a Vietnamese New Year surprise.

Posted on 12/25/04; 1:47:04 AM Edit

Financial Times - The Ministry of Defence is set to miss its Christmas deadline for producing an outline of a national shipbuilding strategy because of foot-dragging by the Royal Navy over changing the delivery schedule for its new vessels.

Posted on 12/23/04; 4:41:01 AM Edit

SeaPower - As enemy insurgents continue to harass and kill U.S. troops in Iraq with suicide bombs and makeshift explosives, a major effort is under way at home to determine how U.S. forces can better prepare for such unconventional threats in the future.

Posted on 12/23/04; 4:39:18 AM Edit

BBC - A joint operation between Britain and Jamaica has helped cut the amount of cocaine smuggled into the Caribbean from Colombia by 80%.

Posted on 12/22/04; 4:09:00 AM Edit

San Diego Union Tribune - More Marines are committing suicide than at any time since the Corps started closely monitoring such deaths, prompting the government to step up intervention efforts based on a clear message – set aside your pride and seek counseling.

Posted on 12/22/04; 4:07:45 AM Edit

Leatherneck - While the world watches Marines under fire in Afghanistan and Iraq, there's a little-noticed high-threat post in a high-risk area, where Marines man posts at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, and where taking care of business also means taking care of each other.

Posted on 12/22/04; 4:05:26 AM Edit

SeaPower - As a solution to the inter-locking challenges of maintaining a high readiness rate while have less access to real world training opportunities, Navy officials said, are the rapidly improving high-tech simulators that provide realistic training in individual, team and even battle-group skills, tactics and decision-making — at greatly reduced costs.

Posted on 12/21/04; 2:54:10 AM Edit

Virginian Pilot - Aboard the destroyer USS James E. Williams, which has a robotic mine-hunting system that uses a small, unmanned submersible, like a tiny submarine, to scan the water for floating bombs.

Posted on 12/19/04; 4:37:56 AM Edit

Virginian Pilot - Aboard the USS Georgia, which is about to be converted from ballistic missile submarine to special operations submarine.

Posted on 12/19/04; 4:35:57 AM Edit

Washington Post - A look at the close air support assets available to US forces on the ground in Iraq.

Posted on 12/19/04; 4:33:56 AM Edit

Washington Post - Military historian Rick Atkinson on how we need to separate the warriors from the war.

Posted on 12/19/04; 4:32:16 AM Edit

Foreign Affairs - For 50 years, the United States has maintained its economic edge by being better and faster than any other country at inventing and exploiting new technologies. Today, however, its dominance is starting to slip, as Asian countries pour resources into R&D and challenge America's traditional role in the global economy.

Posted on 12/19/04; 4:29:36 AM Edit

Naval History - Experts update their analysis of a captured Japanese photo they say shows a midget submarine attacking Battleship Row on 7 December 1941.

Posted on 12/18/04; 3:56:29 AM Edit

The Scotsman - The number of Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft is to be decreased.

Posted on 12/17/04; 5:10:25 AM Edit

SeaPower - For decades, sailors newly assigned to a Navy ship could expect to ease into the job, getting trained before they actually started work. Five years from now, many sailors will have trained themselves and be ready to work immediately.

Posted on 12/17/04; 5:07:16 AM Edit

Marine Corps Gazette - Is it time to incorporate more jointness in Marine expeditionary unit operations?

Posted on 12/16/04; 5:07:04 AM Edit

SeaPower - An interview with Retired Col. Randy Gangle - Director, Marine Corps Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities

Posted on 12/15/04; 4:49:16 AM Edit

Virginian Pilot - With new Marine recruits in boot camp on Parris Island.

Posted on 12/14/04; 3:24:22 AM Edit

Air Force - Complex combinations of aircraft, sensors, and data links bring dramatic change in combat employment.

Posted on 12/14/04; 3:22:31 AM Edit

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind reminds us that 4GW is also being fought on American soil, by parties that have nothing to do with the armies of the Prophet.

Posted on 12/14/04; 3:20:12 AM Edit

New York Times - On patrol with the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Iraq. An excellent example of how strong morale in a unit can overcome any material deficiences it has.

Posted on 12/13/04; 5:26:51 AM Edit

SeaPower - Commanders are beginning to see vast potential for interagency cooperation and intelligence sharing in Distributed Operations (DO), the Marine Corps’ new operational concept. The plan is a major change in how the Corps deploys in response to unconventional warfare threats.

Posted on 12/13/04; 5:26:10 AM Edit

Virginian Pilot - A detailed look at the sonar / whale controversy.

Posted on 12/12/04; 5:20:37 AM Edit

Washington Post - An example of information warfare in action - Thomas Ricks shows two different sides of what happened to civilians in Fallujah.

Posted on 12/12/04; 5:19:44 AM Edit

Foreign Affairs - Is Pakistan-nuclear proliferator, terrorist incubator, key U.S. ally-on the verge of collapse? In a new book, Stephen Philip Cohen rejects the most alarmist scenarios but warns that, without major reforms, Pakistan's prospects are indeed grim.

Posted on 12/12/04; 5:18:47 AM Edit

Christian Science Monitor - A look at the men behind the Marines.

Posted on 12/11/04; 5:59:03 AM Edit

Washington Post - David Ignatius on how previously stable cities in Iraq are sliding into anarchy, due to the insurgency.

Posted on 12/11/04; 5:56:42 AM Edit

Washington Post - Thomas Ricks on how U.S. military intelligence officials have concluded that the Iraqi insurgency is being directed to a greater degree than previously recognized from Syria, where they said former Saddam Hussein loyalists have found sanctuary and are channeling money and other support to those fighting the established government.

Posted on 12/11/04; 5:54:31 AM Edit

Sea Power - A look at how training has evolved in the US Navy.

Posted on 12/11/04; 5:53:27 AM Edit

SeaPower - Canada’s Navy is in the midst of a post-9/11 push to better secure the world’s longest coastline and ensure it is pulling its weight in monitoring the continent’s maritime frontiers.

Posted on 12/10/04; 5:43:56 AM Edit

Wired - A very interesting look at the new ground warfare technologies being shown at the Army Science Conference.

There are two separate articles by the author describing this conference: Army Wages War on Modern Menaces and More Robot Grunts Ready for Duty

Posted on 12/9/04; 2:37:53 PM Edit

PBS Frontline - A military lawyer (JAG) during the Persian Gulf war, Sen. Lindsey Graham (South Carolina, R.), calls military lawyers "the conscience of the military." He says the JAGS have been marginalized in recent years and he has introduced an amendment to increase their authority and independence. In this interview, he discusses the early clash between military and civilian lawyers over rules of treatment and interrogation at Guantanamo and how Donald Rumsfeld dealt with the feud. And he outlines in this interview how harsh interrogation techniques of Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees at Guantanamo "migrated" to Abu Ghraib where Iraqi detainees were being held, supposedly under the terms of the Geneva Conventions. But with no military lawyers at Abu Ghraib to advise its commanders, Graham tells FRONTINE it's another example of the price being paid "for executing a great war plan and a pretty poor occupation plan."

Posted on 12/9/04; 2:37:09 PM Edit

SeaPower - During Operation Iraqi Freedom, a small, ill-equipped, yet elite unit of Marines fanned out across Iraq, attached to U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division, British Commandos and Marine Task Force Tarawa. The 46 men of 2nd ANGLICO, one of the Marine Corps’ Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies, were at the forefront of battle in every major battlespace of the war.

Posted on 12/8/04; 5:19:10 AM Edit

PBS Frontline - In his recent book Rise of the Vulcans - The History of Bush's War Cabinet, James Mann detailed the intertwined relationships and intellectual disputes of six advisers to George W. Bush who have shaped the administration's foreign policy: Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Wolfowitz, Cheney and Armitage. Here in this interview, Mann details who they are, how they think and operate, and the larger context to their story: the ideology and idealism of the neo-conservatives in the Bush administration up against the "realists" more moderate views on war and foreign policy. Commenting on the latest turn taken in their battle, Mann says, "After September 11, all through the war with Iraq, the neo-conservatives won the argument. But with the violence, with the chaos, Iraq didn't turn out the way they expected. And the result is that the neo-conservatives who were really ascendant on Iraq policy are now in decline."

Posted on 12/8/04; 5:18:15 AM Edit