Interesting Reads

Good article here on Ri Yong Ho, General Staff of the Korean People's Army, North Koreas top military officer.

Responsible Transition: Securing U.S. Interests in Afghanistan Beyond 2011, authored by CNAS Senior Advisor and Senior Fellow Lieutenant General David Barno and Fellow Andrew Exum, lays out a strategy for the post-July 2011 phase of U.S. and NATO efforts in Afghanistan, defines the U.S. troop presence and commitment beyond 2014, and offers operational and strategic guidance for protecting U.S. and allied long-term interests in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Also an interesting response to the paper by Joshua Foust.

In 2005 Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle put together the original Web 2.0 Conference and broadly disseminated the idea that "the network as platform" means more than just "software as a service;" it means building applications that literally get better the more people use them, harnessing network effects not only to acquire users, but also to learn from them and build on their contributions. Now they are looking at the next 5 years - making this a great read.

This news from DoD Buzz just makes me angry. Let me get this straight, the priorities of the Department of Homeland Security under President Obama is for high tech TSA screenings at transportation hubs across the country and Wal-Mart monitors that have shoppers casting suspicion on one another, but they can't afford the Offshore Patrol Cutter program intended to replace the very old, expensive, and falling apart USCG Cutter force? The average age of the current USCG Cutter force over 65' is 41 years! The entire OPC program for 25 cutters is $8.1 billion and the money is spread out over several years (see CRS Report (PDF)). Next time there is a Hurricane Katrina type event, I don't know if there will be much left of the Coast Guard to save your ass on the rooftop, but at least DHS is providing more TVs to loot in Wal-Mart. Janet Napolitano needs to be fired, but like President Bush, President Obama seems to share the flaw of being incapable of addressing his poor appointments.

Once I figure out how to write about Wikileaks on the blog without causing folks any trouble, I'll be talking about the Brazil fighter deal in more detail. See the latest from Defense News.