Incoming
Today, our competitors possess the means to strike critical infrastructure in the homeland with advanced kinetic capabilities such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, and sea- and air-launched advanced cruise missiles, while also possessing robust non-kinetic cyber and information capabilities. … Both Russia and China will possess the conventional capabilities, across multiple domains, to present a persistent, proximate threat to North America. If left unresolved, these could place power projection capabilities at risk, resulting in the U.S. military being forced to ‘fight to get to the fight.’Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of USNORTHCOM, and Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, commander, USTRANSCOM, Op-Ed, Marine Corps Times [June 2].
Permission Denied
The A-10 is a great platform for a [permissive] environment. … I don’t see very many [permissive] environments that we’re going to roll into in the future.”
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, House Armed Services
Committee [April 27].
Dust in the Wind
If [Pratt & Whitney] is in the audience, and if they’re listening, watch out. I’m coming at you in a very angry mood. … You gave us an engine, and it doesn’t work. Or it worked for a little while until we get some dust around it, and then it doesn’t work. What the hell? What’s going on here?House Armed Services Committee Readiness panel chair Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) [April 28].
Who’s In?
Yes—that’s the commitment we made. We agree with the ‘one China’ policy. We signed on to it [and] all the attendant agreements made from there. But the idea that [Taiwan] can be taken by force—just taken by force—it’s just not, it’s just not appropriate.President Joe Biden, responding to a reporter asking if the U.S. would respond militarily if China moved to take Taiwan by force [May 24].
Mr. Biden said ‘America is in’. That means Japan will be in, too.Narushige Michishita, vice president, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, responding to President Joe Biden’s comment that U.S. military will defend Taiwan from China invasion, The New York Times [May 23].
Strategic Error…
Russia has created what the Russian president always wanted to prevent.German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Finland and Sweden’s request to join NATO, The Washington Post [May 16].
Strategic Risk…
If this is left to stand, if there is no answer to this aggression, if Russia gets away with this cost-free, then so goes the so-called international order. … And if that happens, then we’re entering into an era of seriously increased instability.Gen. Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to CNN, [April 27].
UFO Out of the Closet
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena are a potential national security threat. And they need to be treated that way. … For too long, the stigma associated with UAPs has gotten in the way of good intelligence analysis. Pilots avoided reporting, or were laughed at when they did. DOD officials relegated the issue to the back room, or swept it under the rug entirely, fearful of a skeptical national security community. … Today, we know better. UAPs are unexplained, it’s true. But they are real. They need to be investigated. And any threats they pose need to be mitigated.”Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.), panel chair for a House Intelligence Subcommittee hearing on Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon [May 17].