Senate confirms new US Military Leadership

The United States Senate cleared a staggering backlog of routine military officer promotions and confirmed pending presidential nominations for some top officers this week.

Chief among these was the confirmation of General Martin E. Dempsey [right] as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is now confirmed to replace retiring Admiral Mike Mullen in September as the US Military's top dog.

The Senate also confirmed General Raymond T. Odierno to replace Dempsey as Chief of Staff of the Army. Odierno oversaw the disestablishment of US Joint Forces Command at a ceremony yesterday in Suffolk, Va. shuttering a 6000-strong command on the advice of former SecDef Robert Gates to save millions of dollars.

Admiral Jonathan Greenert was confirmed as the next Chief of Naval Operations to replace retiring Admiral Gary Roughead in September and Air Force General William Fraser III as Commander, U.S. Transportation Command.

The most urgent appointment was that of Admiral James A. "Sandy" Winnefeld Jr., who not 48 hours after his Senate confirmation, was sworn in as the 9th Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff yesterday. This followed the vacation of the post by General James E. "Hoss" Cartwright [left] who had his retirement ceremony at the 8th & I, Marine Barracks in Washington D.C. on Wednesday after almost 40 years of service.

Admiral Winnefeld was replaced as Commander of U.S. Northern Command and NORAD by the first Army officer to hold the position, General Charles Jacoby who also received confirmation [and a fourth star] on Tuesday.

Other appointments were not so urgent but were also confirmed before the Senate recessed until after the Labour Day weekend in September. They included confirmations made after approval for UNETIDA appointments were granted by the UN Security Council in July. U.S. Air Force Colonel “Rockets” Thompson, was confirmed as Missile Defence Commander [Northern] replacing Brigadier General “Ballista” Jackson who will now retire in November. U.S Marine Colonel "Whopper" Creedon was confirmed as Director of Intelligence and will assume duties in December. Creedon will be replaced by U.S. Navy Captain “Barnacle” Strakovski as Director of Special Operations.

The 2500+ confirmations were approved by voice vote and without discussion. They put in place one of the single-largest changes in decades in U.S. military leadership that began with Leon Panetta's appointment as Secretary of Defence on July 1.

The next Pearl Harbor could be a Cyberattack!

The Pentagon revealed recently that in March it suffered a foreign government cyberattack resulting in the loss of 24,000 sensitive data files. The military has since been pursuing a new strategy which emphasizes superior defenses of its networks, working with private industry and new measures to prevent the efforts of "malicious insiders."

"We have a pretty good idea" who did it, Deputy SecDef William Lynn said in a speech at the National Defense University.

Most previous cyberattacks in the past have been blamed on China or Russia. The DOD's greatest fear on the matter is that a terrorist group, with less at stake than country, could acquire the resources and ability to penetrate U.S. computer networks to steal data or worse to attack U.S. defenses or even cause deaths as a result.

"If a terrorist group gains disruptive or destructive cybertools, we have to assume they will strike with little hesitation," Lynn said.

During his Senate confirmation hearing last month, new SecDef Leon Panetta said that the next first strike against the U.S. could be a cyberattack that cripples the U.S. power grid, and financial and government systems and likened it to Pearl Harbour. Panetta said that cybersecurity will be one of the main focuses of his tenure at the Pentagon.

"Our networks are really our lifeblood," Marine Gen. James Cartwright, VCJCS. He said the Pentagon currently is focused 90% on defensive measures and only 10% percent on offense. He wants balance reversed and a 50:50 balance for the federal government as a whole.

President Obama signed executive orders earlier in the year that lay out how far military commanders around the globe can go in using cyberattacks and other computer-based operations against enemies and as part of routine espionage. The orders detail when the military must seek presidential approval for a specific cyberattack on an enemy.

A global solution to the problem may be at hand however, GAPSNet the Global Alien Prevention and Surveillance Network is touted by UNETIDA as the most secure computer network ever devised by man and has been used to monitor, defend and attack belligerent aliens by controlling an array of orbital lasers, satellites and telescopes. "It's so advanced, it’s almost sentient at this point," said Colonel “Trojan” Hayter, UNETIDA Cyberspace Operations Commander "nothing on the planet can penetrate it." Col. Hayter denied the notion that GAPSNet is a single Apple Macintosh notebook with a virus intended to be uploaded into a “mothership”.

The changing face of defense

After he replaced Donald Rumsfeld during the Bush administration and after being asked to stay on by President Obama, the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a former director of the CIA will take another stab at retirement on June 30th. Gates will be replaced by current CIA Director Leon Panetta who has already vowed to put National Security and the troops first.

Behind POTUS, [Left to Right] Director Panetta, Gen. Petraeus and Lt.Gen. Allen

Panetta’s vacated position in the CIA will be filled by retiring US Army General David Petraeus, currently in command of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, a post he was given following the General McChrystal scandal.

Yesterday, President Obama formally nominated Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John Allen, USMC to receive a fourth star and serve as the next commander of ISAF and U.S. Forces Afghanistan following Petraeus’ departure.

Later in October Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will also retire. It was originally expected that current Vice Chairman, Marine Corps General James Cartwright, a “favourite” of the Obama administration would take Adm. Mullen’s place, but a minor controversy involving a female adjutant which came to light earlier may have removed the Marine from consideration and ended the USMC’s occupation of one of the two top military seats for 12 years. Instead, the relatively new Chief Of Staff of the US Army, General Martin Dempsey has been nominated to ascend to the Chairman’s position.

[Left to Right] Gen. Dempsey, Adm. Winnefeld, Gen. Odinero

Navy Admiral James Winnefeld, Jr., will leave his position as Commander, U.S. Northern Command and Commander, NORAD to assume the #2 job as Vice Chairman.

Army General Raymond Odinero [the man who famously shaved Steven Colbert’s head last summer], current commander of the soon to be decommissioned US Joint Forces Command will be promoted to replace Gen. Dempsey as Chief of Staff for the US Army.

Also due to the shock resignation of UNETIDA’s Director of Intelligence, Général de Brigade “Escargot” Delacroix of france following a necrophilia scandal; President Obama has forwarded Marine Corps Colonel “Whopper” Creedon’s name to the UN Security Council in New York as prospective replacement.

Col. Creedon and Brig. Gen Jackson

This follows his earlier forwarding of UNETIDA's Missile Defence Commander [Northern], Air Force Brigadier General "Ballista" Jackson's name to replace RAF Air Vice Marshall "Albatross" Davenport III once his term as UNETIDA Director is up in September.

The necessity to militarise space

The Pentagon recently released plans that outlined the needs to better protect military satellites and improve its ability to use them as weapons as the battle-lines become drawn in the increasingly crowded and dangerous environment of space.

A new strategy for space calls for greater cooperation with other nations on space-based programs to improve America’s ability to deter enemies. “It’s a domain, like air land and sea,” said Gen. Kevin Chilton, USAF Ret. former STRATCOM Commander. “Space is not just a convenience. It’s become a critical part in every other [battlefield] domain.” Chilton said that the U.S. needs to be sure that it protects and maintains the battlefield capabilities it gets from space-based assets, including GPS data, missile warnings and communications with aircraft and drones drones for surveillance or missile combat.

Chilton warned however that as the U.S. and allies depend more on satellite technology; it becomes a greater enemy target. He anticipates that the U.S. will not enter a future conflict with a technological enemy without expecting to be challenged in space and the U.S. military needs be thinking about how they can tip the balance of the battlefield in their favour.

VCJCS General James Cartwright, USMC also a former STRATCOM Commander said that countries need to have guidelines that govern approximately 22,000 man made objects orbiting earth, including over 1000 active satellites. He also outlined that there's no right of way if two objects are on a collision course and something needs to be done to ensure that their signals do not also conflict.

While the strategy offers little detail about offensive operations in space; The DOD says that China, Iran and others have demonstrated their abilities to take action in space such as in 2007, when China destroyed a defunct weather satellite with a ballistic missile. This was alarming as previously only the U.S. and Russia had performed that action with an air-launched missile and a hunter satellite respectively.

The U.S. also needs to make it clear that even if someone attacks an American satellite, the military response wouldn’t be limited to space-based action.

Lt. Colonel “Stargazer” Smith, USAF, Deputy Orbital Operations Commander for UNETIDA also urged the necessity for global co-operation in space suggesting that when extra-terrestrial aggressors approach we may need the combined space-based military resources of the planet to "blow them out of the sky."

Source: AP

Obama scraps Bush's European Missile Defence Plan

President Obama is overhauling President Bush's plan for a missile defense shield in Europe, based partly on an "updated intelligence assessment" of Iran's offensive capabilities and replaced it with a new system. Obama said "new missile defense architecture in Europe ... will provide capabilities sooner, build on proven systems and offer greater defenses against the threat of missile attack" than the program that Bush proposed. The Islamic republic's "short- and medium-range" missiles pose the most current threat, he said, and "this new ballistic missile defense will best address" that threat.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking from the Pentagon immediately after the president's announcement, denied the United States was "scrapping" missile defense. "This new approach provides a better missile defense capability for our forces in Europe, for our European allies and eventually for our homeland than the program I recommended almost three years ago." Gates said. The new system will have "hundreds" of missile interceptors.

Left: SECDEF Robert Gates. Right: General James Cartwright, VCJCOS

It also will have mobile radars, including some in space, "that can move to wherever the threat actually emanates and wherever we feel we need to defend ourselves," said Gen. James Cartwright, deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He contrasted the new sensor technology with the radar systems envisioned in the old plan, which he called "basically left over from the Cold War." The new plan includes three types of missiles to shoot down incoming threats -- Patriot missiles, which defend a single location; SM-3 interceptors, which he said could protect "a general area like the area from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C."; and large ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California. The first phase of the system is due to be in place in 2011, with the subsequent phases rolling out around 2015, 2018 and 2020. "It's a more advanced system, more cost-effective and efficient," the Marine general said.

Elements of the new plan are extremely familiar to those that were made aware of the United Nations Extra-Terrestrial Invasion Defence Agency's 2005 "Alien Mothership Deterrent Initiative" proposed by Colonel "Whopper" Creedon who was then the Extra-Terrestial Encounters Advisor to the Bush White House, now UNETIDA's Special Operations Commander who was unavailable for comment today. Other UNETIDA personnel were on hand however:

"A volley of multi-kinetic neutronic mines will solve most of your hostile encounter problems" said Captain "Harpoon" Dutton KBE, Commander, UNETIDA Naval Tactical Support (CUNTS) "but I'm a big fan of serious missile power too. It pleases me that we'll be getting more of them."

Brigadier General “Ballista” Jackson, UNETIDA Missile Defence Commander [Northern] said "The system that President Bush proposed would have deployed interceptors that had yet to be tested in real conditions to defend against ICBMs that Iran has yet to develop. They'd have been useless against the technology that we know Iran does have. The new plan make more sense short term, then we worry about long term threats once that's in place." When asked if Obama's plan was in fact related to Creedon's 2005 proposal he responded. "It's a more advanced system, more cost-effective and efficient plus we will now have hundreds of missiles at our command rather than just 10! Does that sound like a Colonel Creedon plan to you?"

Sources: Fox News, US DoD, CNN

I love the smell of Ligero in the morning...

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary put some fears to rest concerning the smoking ban that was recommended to be imposed following the publication of a recent report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which called for eliminating tobacco sales at all military installations and setting a “specific, mandatory date by which the military will be tobacco-free.”

Morell said troops already are under enough stress and making enough sacrifices in fighting the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And he says Defense Secretary Robert Gates [right] doesn't want to do add to that stress by taking away one of the few outlets they have to relieve it. However it is expected Gates will look at the study to see what other things can be done to move toward a goal of a tobacco-free force.

The announcement of the SECDEF’s stance coincided with a statement from the advocacy group Military Families United opposing the IOM stance and calling instead for developing a comprehensive tobacco prevention and cessation program. "Nobody doubts the effects of smoking, but it is not an illegal substance and should not be banned," said Brian Wise, executive director of the group. "Our troops make enough sacrifices to serve our nation. They give up many of the freedoms civilians enjoy already without being told they cannot partake in yet another otherwise legal activity. Perhaps more than anything, smoking in the field is more about comfort and coping with an often hostile environment."

What caused even more of a stir in Washington was the measure of success being attributed to Colonel "Whopper" Creedon, [left] the stogie-comping Marine hero attached to the United Nations Extra-Terrestrial Invasion Defense Agency when he vocally took exception to the IOM report earlier this week. "Who's insane f&%ked up idea was that?" he was quoted as saying. Rumour has it, the phrase spread like wildfire around all branches of the Armed Forces by all members carrying a Zippo. There have also been unconfirmed reports of T-Shirts created in honour of The Colonel's defiance.

Some members of the Joint Chiefs weighed in on their impression of Colonel Creedon: "Well it would be speculation to say Secretary Gates acted upon The Colonel's words, but as a Marine, I know we can’t be ignored. Case in point: Creedon is often cited as one of the main reasons the V-22 Osprey is flying today" said General Cartwright, the Vice Chairman.
Admiral Mullen, Chairman added “It’s clear to me that we have a lot of influential officers on the front lines like Creedon and we need to be more proactive in tapping into their aptitude and directing it towards policy.
General Conway, Marine Corps Commandant also commented, “It’s clear that he’s used his talent to inspire others and achieve unprecedented success in the field and perhaps it’s now time for him to look into broadening the scope of his authority. He has his finger on the pulse of the issues which we encounter daily and he has proved he has the ideas and solutions to deal with them. To that end, I’ll be personally forwarding Colonel Creedon’s name to the Brigadier General promotion board.”

Source: AP, MarineCorpsTimes, Fox News

General Pace Retires, Admiral Mullen Sworn In

“We have an enemy who has declared war on us. We are in a war. They want to stop us from living the way we want to live our lives." Marine Corps General Peter Pace said during his sun-splashed retirement ceremony Monday on the parade field at Fort Myer, Virginia. “We will prevail, there’s no doubt about that.”

Gen. Pace, who ends a 40-year career that began as a rifle platoon leader in the Vietnam War and ended as the first Marine to be CJCS, addressed a standing-room-only crowd that included President Bush, Vice President Cheney, SECDEF Robert Gates, Gates’ predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, the service secretaries and the JCS.

Pace deliberately blurred the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, although it is the Iraq war that appears to provoke the most national anger and most of the calls for the withdrawal of troops. His comments aimed at acknowledging both that anger and what officials have said is the fragile depth of the nation’s ground forces, which are wearing thin from the strain of fighting the two wars — a situation that some critics say has significantly weakened the military’s ability to respond elsewhere around the world if called upon.

The officer sworn in Monday to replace Pace, US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, expressed a similar desire to rebuild during his own remarks. “I’m ... eager to work closely with our service chiefs, our combatant commanders, as together we develop and execute a strategy to support our national interests in the Middle East; we reset, reconstitute and revitalize our armed forces, especially our ground forces; and we properly balance our risks around the globe,” Mullen said. “The fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan will one day end. We must be ready for who and what comes after.”

Getting to such a point, Pace said, will require thoughtful dialogue, not partisan bickering. While he didn’t mention Congress, the fights over war funding and calls for immediate withdrawal from Iraq that have marked the past year on Capitol Hill were clearly on his mind as he spoke his parting speech "What worries me is that in some instances right now we have individuals who are more interested in making somebody else look bad than they are in finding the right solution,” he said. “They are more interested in letting their personal venom come forward instead of talking about how do we get from where we are to where we need to be.”

Adm. Mullen said “We owe it to the American people and to all of you, our men and women in uniform and your families, to provide you with clear direction,” after being sworn in, as members of every branch of the armed services looked on. With honor guards and a flyover by fighter jets, it was a day of high ceremony for Mullen and the chairman he replaced, Gen. Pace.

Mullen was SECDEF Robert Gates’ choice to replace Pace, who had been vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs when the Iraq invasion was launched in 2003. Gates said he decided to replace rather than reappoint Pace because he feared the escalating debate over the Iraq war, particularly between the president and a frustrated Congress, would have triggered a bitter confirmation process that could have undermined the country.

A Marine still occupies the second biggest chair in the armed forces, the Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff is now General James E. Cartwright formerly Commander, United States Strategic Command.

Source: Marine Corps Times

Military Shock!!! Pace not to serve 2nd term!!!

In a shock announcement yesterday, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said that he will be advising President Bush not to re-nominate Marine General Peter Pace as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gates said he feared a contentious re-nomination hearing in the Senate that would focus too heavily on six years of war (while Pace served as Vice Chairman and later CJCOS) rather than the way ahead.

While Gates wanted to keep Pace, the first Marine to serve as CJCOS, for a second 2-year term in that job; he said he changed his mind because of the highly charged atmosphere in Congress over the length and direction of the Iraq war, which blew up this spring into a tough battle between Congress and the administration over war funding and ultimately unmet demands for measurable benchmarks of progress on the part of the Iraqi government.

Gates' choice of replacement is current Chief Of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Mullen. He said that, as with Pace, he had intended to ask President Bush to re-nominate Admiral Edmund Giambastiani as the Vice Chairman but that such a move became impossible once he’d decided on Mullen (right) because by law, the Chairman and Vice Chairman cannot be members of the same branch of service. Coincidently however, earlier in the week Giambastiani announced his intention to retire in August anyway.

As he will have to nominate a new Vice-Chairman as well so Gates has cleverly chosen U.S. Strategic Command chief Marine General James E. Cartwright. It appears that the Marines will retain their rightful presence in the top two hot seats that Pace held for 6 years.

Cartwright (left) has commanded StratCom since July 2004, where Gates said he is responsible for global command and control of U.S. strategic forces, computer network operations and Defense Department information operations. That experience, on top of his previous job as director for force structure, resources and assessment on the Joint Staff, make him “exceptionally well-qualified” for the Vice Chairman position.

The SECDEF vehemently denied that his decision anything to do with the way Pace had performed as Chairman, and he also declined to characterize the two high-level moves as a shakeup. “I think that this is an effort to do what I think is in the long-term interests of the services and the country, as well as the individuals involved,” he said. "General Pace has served our country with great distinction, and deserves the deepest thanks of the American people for a lifetime of service to our country and for his leadership.”

Seems to me that there has to be some give and take now that the damn Democrats are in control of the senate and a price must be paid for the President's necessary veto against them last month.

Souce: Military Times