There’s a lot I like in the emerging contours of President Obama’s National Security Strategy. The purpose-driven multilateralism. The recalibration of civilian and military tools of national security. The warnings against both overstretch and decline. This is the spark that I first saw in the Obama Doctrine in early 2008, and I like seeing Obama [...]

We have any Rambo III fans here? All of you, right? I hope? This guy’s overdubs distill to the essence, for those who may be unfamiliar.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 415-10 May 20, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Staff Sgt. Shane S. Barnard, 38, of Desmet, S.D., died May 19 in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when he stepped on a secondary improvised explosive [...]

Charles Levinson reports in the Wall Street Journal that the West Bank leadership is using Israeli intransigence to its advantage, and the Netanyahu people are crying foul: Palestinian negotiators have surprised Washington with a bold opening offer to White House peace envoy George Mitchell that includes concessions on territory beyond those offered in past Palestinian-Israeli [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 414-10 May 20, 2010 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lance Cpl. Patrick Xavier Jr., 24, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., died May 18 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, [...]

Today at Ft. Meade, Army Gen. Keith Alexander pinned on his fourth star as his brand-new United States Cyber Command finally became a reality. What will it do? “Given our increasing dependency on cyberspace, this new command will bring together the resources of the department to address vulnerabilities and meet the ever-growing array of cyber [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 422-10 May 21, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Pfc. Billy G. Anderson, 20, of Alexandria, Tenn., died May 17, in Badghis province Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with improvised explosive devices. [...]

This is an initiative from the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, via an Oregonian story about a person currently in jail who for years has committed identity fraud against a dead little boy: Allegations against the government’s John Doe surfaced last month during a Diplomatic Security Service investigation dubbed Operation Death Match. For about [...]

That’s a pretty dumb way of saying Alex Zaitchik, part of the first wave of post-Russ Smith editorial regimes at the paper that I came up through, has a piece in the Washington Independent.

(Sorry: been a crazy morning. I’m here now.) If you want an 800-word post on the structural issues facing the intelligence community after Dennis Blair leaves work today next Friday*,  I wrote one just for you. This quote, from an intelligence veteran, might be a good summary of the piece’s still-beating heart: “The current system creates [...]