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Category Archives: Uncategorized
US Intelligence and the Press
Yesterday, George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government hosted an interesting discussion moderated by Michael Morell and four prominent Washington journalists regarding coverage of intelligence by journalists. The journalists were Andrea Mitchell, long-time NBC correspondent who has covered … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, journalism coverage, Uncategorized
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President with Global Investments – Unprecedented? Really?
Many commentators have been claiming that Trumps global investments are unprecedented. His financial interests are certainly worth thinking about, but such issues are not unprecedented. I am reminded of the following story I heard as a young staffer at OMB … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Trump vs The Federal Bureaucracy?
How will the bureaucracy respond to President Trump? There is in impression, though no real data that I am aware of, that most federal workers tend toward the democratic side of the political spectrum. I recall the distrust that accompanied … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Malaysian Aircraft Cargo?
Scheduled airlines don’t just carry passengers. They carry cargo–lots of it. While there has been a release of the passenger manifest, there has not been a release of the cargo manifest. The cargo manifest will be at least as interesting … Continue reading
UN Security Council Resolution on Syrian CW–Good, But Who’s in Charge?
The UN process took a good step forward with the approval of UNSCR 2118 (http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2013/sc11135.doc.htm). It is important to remember that this will be the mechanism for eliminating the Syrian CW. The other UN activity–headed by Ake Sellstrom and presently … Continue reading
Posted in Syria CW, Uncategorized, United Nations, WMD
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Syria CW: How Can We Make it Worse?
Answer: The United States could destroy Bashir’s control over his chemical weapons. ForeignPolicy.com and others report that communications intercepts suggest some confusion over the order to use CW. If you were to make a list of things to worry about, … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Syria CW, Uncategorized, WMD
Tagged Chemical Weapons, Syrian CW, WMD
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Sniper Attacks on UN Inspectors – Not Surprising
Dr. Ake Seltron’s UN inspection team has now drawn sniper fire. Unfortunately, the UN inspectors are easy targets. To do their job, they have to be out in the open. Using highly visible UN SUVs may be questionable, but committed … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iran, Syria CW, Uncategorized, WMD
Tagged CW, Syria, Weapons Inspections
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Syrian Agreement for Inspections–Why?
If Damascus is permitting the weapons inspectors access to the sites of recent apparent CW attack sites (as reported Sunday 25 August 2013) then why, if they had a role in the recent attacks? First, the weapons inspectors are only … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iran, Syria CW, Uncategorized, WMD
Tagged CW, Intelligence, Syria, Weapons Inspections
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Syria CW Use: Who crossed whose red-line?
Did Bashir cross Obama’s redline, or the other way around? The perspective in Damascus may be different. The Syrian situation has taken yet another turn for the worse. Which is to say it has become even more unpredictable. The apparent … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iran, Syria CW, Uncategorized, WMD
Tagged CW, Syria, weapons inspectors, WMD
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Syria CW Conundrum – Risks, Options, Consequences and Mitigation Measures
So far, Syrian chemical munitions seem to have been protected and have not been used by the Syrian government. There were reports of steps being taken to prepare them for use, but it seems Syria has walked back from that … Continue reading
Posted in Syria CW, Uncategorized, WMD
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