Center for a New American Security

Sounds like a great group of

Sounds like a great group of USG professionals for CNASapalooza '10. Hope it's a success AM.

Will Danzig sing "Mother"? :-)

Would love to receive information discussed / solutions that come from, "the role of contractors in conflicts". Should be a good topic of discussion and hopefully all Panel Chair's will be able to provide input and possible solutions to issues that have occurred over the past 8 years with Lockheed, Pluribus International, Dyna, SAIC, Titan, Global, Triple-C, B.W. / XE....etc. Perhaps, someone will bring up POGO's list of worst 100 contractors?

I'm sure this topic alone will put PR for these companies on the defensive and screening standards for personnel might get improved, but somehow..... I doubt things will change. The war machine has to keep turning - Oh lord yeah!

How about Tom Ricks, will he

How about Tom Ricks, will he be in his running shorts too?

Can you put aside your

Can you put aside your neurotic navel-gazing and your attention-needy shout-outs to celebrity "friends" and tell us, without the snark, without the blame-shifting, without the leftist-pacifist bias, why we are losing ground to the Taliban in Marja. And then after telling us what we are doing wrong, tell us, in a step by step presentation based on facts on the ground, not ivory-tower PoliSci theories, how we can turn Marja around in a month's time.

I've had enough of your counterinsurgency crowd BS-ing their way to grants and air-time. Give us concrete, time-sensitive answers since we are in a state of war. Give us something that we can use, that can be tested in real-time. Enough of the post-mortem whiny "we told you so"s that marks your "brand-new" discipline.

Can you do that, Exum? Or are you too busy trying to be a celebrity?

Ex, We gotta merchandize the

Ex,

We gotta merchandize the fuck out of this event, ie calendars (with said UDT, 5.11 shorts), action figures (McFarlane action figures are the best: http://www.spawn.com/toys/series.aspx?series=383), t-shirts, UDT shorts and I was also thinking about exercise equipment, putting the CNAS logos so our Joes in country know who's keeping them out there, ie Indian clubs and Kettlebells:

http://www.stickgrappler.net/2010/06/armys-new-dvd-techniques-for-light.... (Indian clubs for the troops)

and

http://hollywoodkettlebells.blogspot.com/2010/06/rkc-dk-2010.html (Kettlebells for the troops)

http://www.wired.com/images_b

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/27/gargoy...

And this is gonna be me and my posse at the CNASpalooza tonight:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1luLRXKoJM8/SaFMIULWlzI/AAAAAAAAOpg/8jOS0s7aRy...

Let the Drinking and Fucking

Let the Drinking and Fucking begin!!!

Jesus H. Christ is all I can

Jesus H. Christ is all I can muster.

An interesting post to go

An interesting post to go through.world top news stories

The best part of last years

The best part of last years conference was when Andrew Bachevich made the entire premise of PC-COIN in Afghanistan look as foolish as it is with his question of why not Mexico. The nervous giggles from the ~ 1400 Cointras when he suggested the US should enter Mexico to fight drugs, fix the police and improve education was priceless.

Mr. Exum, Thank you. Again

Mr. Exum,

Thank you. Again you guys had a great conference this year. But one of the best things you guys did this year was move the 1LT Andrew J. Bacevich, Jr., USA Fellowship Award to an earlier spot in the schedule. I am always touched by the ceremony and it was hard to see people leave in the middle of it last year (never have the most important event at the end of a long conference and the last thing standing between DC wonks and their drinks).

Two ideas for next year:

First: Engage more people from Congress either on the panel or in the development of the reports themselves. I am paraphrasing from some of your recent criticisms of think tank like events: smart recommendations aren't worth as much if your audience doesn't know how to actually implement them (or are just incapable of mustering the political will to do so for whatever reason). I could be totally wrong and just unaware of some unattributed participants from congressmen or their staffers. But I believe only Richard Fontaine and John Nagl's report had listed staff from the hill as a contributor.

Congressional problems were mentioned a lot this year and all for good reasons. From Secretary Flournoy's criticisms of the Defense Department's budget problems to the SNAFU that is the budgets of State/USAID vs. DOD. Or our weird export laws. And far too many other issues which I am sure you are already well aware of. So Congress is obviously a critical factor in the terrain we have to operate in. However I didn't see one Congressman participating there (I am excluding former Congressman Chris Shays because he is from my district and he is no longer on the hill). It wouldn’t even have to be someone working in Congress. Just have someone who is also expert in navigating through or around the insane legislative environment (i.e. why certain members will never be able to agree to great foreign policy ideas and how to find possible alternative paths that are more effective).

Don't get me wrong. I am always extremely impressed by the work and expertise of the panelists and the authors' reports. I just think it might be better to have some more clear and direct insight from Congress since we have to deal with that mess at the end of the day.

Second: Since Dr. Danzig asked for feedback on the publication formats, I would suggest getting ahead of the curve and also offer your publications in .azw format as well as pdf. How else are we supposed to read them on our shiny new Kindles? If you are able to do that, I promise I will pay the $2 every month to subscribe to your blog on my Kindle (even though I can browse online with it or my iPhone at any time and check your blog for free). I already have your book and it is great by the way. I didn't get a chance to say this at the conference but I have been a big fan of your work for some time.

Keep up the good work.

That you guys had Elliot

That you guys had Elliot Abrams at your conference should be a mark of eternal shame. Honestly, at this point how could anyone listen to this felon (oh wait, he was pardoned) with a straight face, much less engage him in conversation. You might as well go whole hog and have G. Gordon Liddy (he's belligerent enough), Scooter Libby, and Cheney (aka the Penguin) on a panel. I second Marjah on this, people are dying in Afghanistan and the village is just proving what it always will be, a seedbed of graft, arrogance, and consequence-less for the villagers boondoggles. God, makes you sometimes wish the Chinese and Russians would bite the bullet and drop their dollar holdings, and the dollar would quit being the world reserve currency. If the funny money stops, one day, all this crap stops with it.

I attended the CNAS

I attended the CNAS conference last week, and I thought it was terrible. Maybe Petraeus from last year was too hard to top. The first panel was too focused on technology, and ADM Olson hardly said anything. We're discussing robots and anti-access area denial ten years from now (find me a current Marine who can explain this PhD bs), when things are going to hell in a basket in RC-South and there was no talk of a coherent phase zero strategy for everywhere else. Second panel on South Asia was terrible. A lot of sitting around in a fancy ballroom in suits talking, but nothing productive or relevant. How about getting some capacity at State and USAID? Enough talk, do something! I was in Iraq last year and am going to Afghan this year, and all I can say is this conference was a complete joke. I was so disappointed, it made me want to put on a tie, go over to Georgetown, and write a strongly worded diplomatic report balancing the pros and cons...

The best part of last years

The best part of last years conference was when Andrew Bachevich made the entire premise of PC-COIN in Afghanistan look as foolish as it is with his question of why not Mexico. The nervous giggles from the ~ 1400 Cointras when he suggested the US should enter Mexico to fight drugs, fix the police and improve education was priceless. ugg boots grey