Among the slew of strategy documents from the Obama administration this spring, full of academic analysis and verbal flourishes, Congress has rightly detected a certain lack of substance. Case in point: The question of whether the U.S. government needs a Center for Strategic Communications and Public Diplomacy. According to the National Security Council in its National Communication’s Strategy the answer is “No.” According to the House Armed Services Committee in its report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (H.R. 5136), the National Security Council has done …
A recent war game simulating the National Security Council’s response to a cyber attack highlighted the United States’ serious vulnerability to such an attack in an era where it is increasingly important to prepare for the potential consequences of cyber warfare. The war game, in which several former government officials tried to manage the commercial and economic crash resulting from the collapse of the internet and cell phone service, indicates that the U.S. needs to do more to prepare for the worst case scenario. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair …
The President’s National Security Advisor declared in an interview with ABC that Obama’s counterterrorism policy has already proven far more effective than that of his predecessor. I certainly hope that’s true. I pray its true. But….I have to admit the comment seems to defy logic. Experts know that the “stuff” that really gets terrorists is the hard slog…investigations, hunting them down, colating intelligence, penetrating organizations. So let me get be clear on this. Are we supposed to believe that the new administration walked in the door….and without even having most …
The Associated Press reports: President Barack Obama announced Tuesday he is combining White House staffs dealing with international and homeland security, predicting the change will make Americans safer. Obama also is creating a new office intended to communicate more effectively with other countries about U.S. security policy. Heritage fellows Jena Baker McNeill and James Jay Carafano wrote on April 9: President Obama should fold the HSC into the NSC. Doing so would improve interagency policy planning and eliminate gaps between efforts to address transnational security threats at home and overseas.
