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HASTILY CALLED BRIEFING: Word went out to Pentagon reporters just before 4:30 p.m. yesterday that a senior defense official would be briefing on a “national security issue” in less than an hour. The urgent Zoom briefing was to reveal that NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, was… → Read More
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) insists his rejection of California Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell to be members of the Intelligence Committee is all about protecting national security. → Read More
NORTH KOREA THREATENS ‘OVERWHELMING NUCLEAR FORCE’: North Korea has reacted with angry threats in response to the joint announcement from the United States and South Korea that the two allies will increase defensive military exercises aimed at deterring the North. → Read More
JOHNSON: WE SAID ‘YES’ BUT MEANT ‘NO’: Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Russia’s invasion is a direct result of NATO’s disingenuous pretense that Ukraine was being seriously considered for NATO membership, while the alliance was overtly signaling it was never going to happen. “In principle, yes; in practice, no. That has been the message.” → Read More
A FLAT ‘NO’: It’s the same underlying question: Is the United States willing to give Ukraine the weapons it needs to defeat Russia this year or just enough not to lose? The debate has shifted from main battle tanks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s urgent pleas for modern fighter… → Read More
‘MY GUT TELLS ME WE WILL FIGHT IN 2025’: A two-page memo dated Feb. 1 from the four-star head of Air Mobility Command predicting war between the United States and China within two years ricocheted around the internet over the weekend, after being reported by NBC News on Friday. In the memo, Gen.… → Read More
MTG: ‘WE MUST STOP FUNDING UKRAINE’: There is a small but growing minority in the Trump wing of the Republican Party who believe the Biden administration has gone overboard in its financial and military support for Ukraine and that it’s time to rein in the unbridled spending. → Read More
‘THE ADMINISTRATION HAS DITHERED’: It was always the case that Ukraine would need modern tanks to prevail on the battlefield over Russia, and it was always the case that providing those tanks would be a complex task requiring training for tank crews and maintainers and the establishment of logistics supply lines to keep the tanks running through the rigors of combat. → Read More
SEND IN THE TANKS: After insisting for months that sending advanced U.S. M1A2 tanks to Ukraine was a really bad idea that would “burden” the Ukrainian army instead of bolstering it, the Biden administration appears about to execute a sudden about-face, although it's unclear if any of the Abrams tanks will arrive in advance of an expected spring offensive by Russian forces. → Read More
‘A DECISIVE MOMENT … IN A DECISIVE DECADE’: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin opened this morning’s meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group with a sober message: As much aid as the West has provided to Ukraine, with Russia regrouping, it’s not enough. → Read More
Having lived under a pacifist constitution since its inglorious defeat in World War II, Japan is now coming around to the idea that the best defense is, indeed, a good offense. → Read More
THE GREAT TANK DEBATE: To hear German Chancellor Olaf Scholz tell it, all the United States need do is relinquish some of its older M1A1 Abrams tanks and the floodgates will open with German-made Leopard 2 tanks from various European countries pouring into Ukraine. The U.S. insists it’s not that simple. → Read More
PUTIN WANTS A BIGGER ARMY: Pro-war milbloggers in Russia have been hinting that President Vladimir Putin might use a scheduled speech today marking the 80th anniversary of Soviet forces breaking the Nazi siege of Leningrad to announce a new round of military conscription and possibly a transition… → Read More
AT LEAST SIX MONTHS AWAY: With Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu scheduled to visit Washington tomorrow, the Biden administration is gearing up efforts to incentivize the recalcitrant NATO ally to drop its objections to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. → Read More
THE COMING AMMUNITION GAP: A new analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies is sounding the alarm about the length of time it will take to rebuild America’s munitions supply, substantially depleted by constant arms shipments to Ukraine. → Read More
Depending on which Republican voices you listen to, the prospect of dealing the Pentagon a massive budget cut next year is either definitely on the table or totally out of the question. → Read More
CHINA, ‘UNPRECEDENTED AND GREATEST’ CHALLENGE: Ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin huddled with their Japanese counterparts at the State Department to hammer out ways to improve the capability of the U.S.-Japan alliance to counter Chinese aggression. → Read More
RUSSIA NOT LETTING UP: Amid fierce fighting and heavy shelling, Russia is claiming to have “conquered” the largely flattened salt mine town of Soledar in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which, if true, would mark its first battlefield success in months and improve its chances of encircling the nearby city of Bakhmut, the latest symbol of Ukraine's tenacious resistance. → Read More
MORE THAN JUST BRADLEYS: The $3 billion military aid package announced by the Pentagon Friday, the 29th drawdown from U.S. stocks, is not only the largest but in many ways could be the most consequential as the war in Ukraine reaches a one-year inflection point. → Read More
TRUCE RUSE: As of the morning, the unilateral Orthodox Christmas ceasefire ordered for front-line troops in Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin is in effect until midnight tomorrow Moscow time. → Read More