National Defense Briefs – 03/17/16
March 18, 2016
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
NATIONAL DEFENSE BRIEFS is a series produced by National Defense Consultants, LLC, aimed at informing readers with timely military and homeland security news updates, trends, definitions, and short commentaries. Defense issues are inextricably connected to business. In that, MidlandsBiz.com and National Defense Consultants presents the “National Defense Briefs” that matter.
• The Mar. 2016 issue of CTC Sentinel (a publication of the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point) features a conversation between NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller and Ambassador Michael Sheehan, Distinguished Chair of the CTC, who also served as NYPD’s deputy commissioner for Counterterrorism (2003-2006). According to Miller, “We’re seeing the convergence of a couple of bad themes. One is the steady, nationwide increase in the number and lethality of active shooter incidences.”
• Miller adds, “The second was a greater adaptation by organized terrorist groups like AQ-network affiliates and particularly ISIS of the active shooter tactic as low-tech, low-cost, and extraordinarily high-impact. So we sent teams on fact-finding missions—to Paris, Sydney, Australia, and Tunisia. The tactical conclusions were that in all of these incidents, you have multiple attackers with multiple long rifles and multiple magazines with high capacity attacking places in attacks that went between four and nine minutes with sustained shooting.” [read https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/a-view-from-the-ct-foxhole-john-j-miller-nypd-deputy-commissioner-for-intelligence-counterterrorism-with-ambassador-michael-sheehan]
• As we have reported, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (also ISIS), the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and the Islamic State (IS). Many Arab-speaking people refer to ISIS as Daesh, an acronym for Al Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham (the Arabic translation of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham).
• The Marines can and would “surge” to fight another war if necessary, but it wouldn’t be easy, said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, this week. According to Neller, “Our ability to meet other regional requirements for major contingency plans: We would be able to do that but we would probably not be able to do it within the time frame that the current plans call for us to arrive to participate in that conflict.”
• Speaking before the House Armed Services Committee, this month, U.S. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commanding general of the U.S. Special Operations Command, said, “Social media” – like facebook and twitter – is “an area of growth for us, an area where we have to pay more and more attention.” He added, “We have to remember that messaging operations can’t be an afterthought. It has to be something that’s baked into everything we’re doing, it has to be something we look at right from the beginning as we conduct all operations.”
• In ‘Rising Threats–Shrinking Military,’ FOX News anchor Bret Baier “looks at the hundreds of billions in cuts, the radical social change forced upon the troops, and a foreign policy that breaks with decades of tradition and leaves us in a world more dangerous than ever.” The program premieres Friday, Mar. 18, at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern).
• Christopher Holton, vice pres. for Outreach at the Center for Security Policy, emails – “Here is an example of the subtle bias of the so-called ‘mainstream’ news media in the U.S. Earlier this week, Belgian security forces conducted a raid on a suspected Jihadi terrorist cell in the Brussels area. This cell was thought to be involved in last year’s horrific Paris terrorist attacks. A gunbattle ensued in which one Jihadi was KIA and four Belgian police officers were WIA. Two or three Jihadis escaped during the gunfight and were (are) the target of a search operation. American news media has essentially ignored this significant story. In contrast, this morning, I received this ‘breaking news’ bulletin from CNN: ‘The killer whales currently in SeaWorld’s care will be the last generation of the mammals enclosed at the waterparks, according to an announcement on the company’s website.’ CNN never sent any email alerts regarding the Jihadi events in Belgium this week.”
– W. Thomas Smith Jr. – a former U.S. Marine rifleman – is a military analyst and partner with NATIONAL DEFENSE CONSULTANTS, LLC. Visit him at http://uswriter.com.
