Center for a New American Security
Senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and Project Director of its 20YY Warfare Initiative; former Army Ranger, having participated in special operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (2001-2008), he worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (2008-2013)
Will Libya Be America's Next Quagmire in the Middle East? President Obama says chaos in Libya is one of his major foreign-policy failures — with three rival governments all beset by the forces of ISIS. But the President's not giving up on trying to establish some kind of order, and US Special Op Forces could be sent there “ any day .” Critics say it's a strategy that hasn't succeeded before, and warn about making things worse — with American lives on the line. We hear about possible options and what it's like on the ground.
Drone Warfare President Obama laid out his strategy for defeating ISIS this week. And it included talk of airstrikes. In November, one of those strikes killed the ISIS spokesman known as Jihadi John, a British man who beheaded American captives on camera. That airstrike was actually carried out by an unmanned drone. Drones are increasingly the tool of choice for many countries involved in armed conflict, and countries looking to spy on one another. But there is no single set of international rules that govern the use of drones by nations. How has the lack of rules affected things on the ground? MQ-9 Reaper, a hunter-killer surveillance UAV Photo: US Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson /USAF Photographic Archives
The F-35 Striker Jet and Pork Barrel Politics More than 15 years in the making, the F-35 striker jet still has trouble landing on wet runways. The most expensive weapons system in history was grounded again this week, missing several airshows in England. They were much-needed marketing opportunities to help sell the F-35 fighter-bomber to foreign countries, amortizing increasing costs. We’ll hear about continued Congressional support despite a history of failure.
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?