Who Benefited from Michael Flynn’s Fall? @michaelledeen @followfdd

“…Why should I challenge the powerful words of Bryan Wright or the extensive reporting of Adam Kredo? The political assassination of General Mike Flynn was carried out by a cabal of CIA officials and Obama loyalists, in tandem with allies in the media. It’s an ugly spectacle, damaging to our national interests, and perhaps unique in our history, as Senator Cruz has said.

Flynn's phone calls with Russian officials, which took place before he officially entered the White House, do not appear to violate any law. Yet the release of classified information about them certainly is a crime. As Wright says, "The spies who are plotting against President Trump are breaking U.S. laws. They’re violating their oaths. And they’re committing treason to remedy (perceived) treason."

If I had to guess, I’d bet that Wright’s correct: the spooks, in league with the Obama remnant in the bureaucracy and the press, killed Mike Flynn. That’s the logic of the event. Cui bono? Who gains?
The vicious attack on Flynn is not a new development. There are many in the Intelligence Community who have been out to get Flynn for years, because he exposed their failures in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In an article in 2010 he said:…”
​
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelledeen/2017/02/26/the-flynn-assassination/#1aa2287c1f03

• McMaster may reorganize Trump’s foreign policy team again
• State Dept sidelined in 1st month, Tillerson seeks to raise profile
• FPI’s Bob Kagan discusses Trump’s foreign policy on CNN

Today’s Bombers Rely on America’s Weakest Nuclear Links
From Elaine Grossman, War Is Boring: “The risk of losing connectivity with the bombers is so profound that one nuclear expert — among several who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive nuclear operations — called it “reckless” for any president to assume the bombers could be recalled after giving them a nuclear go-ahead. In a word, any presidential execution order conveyed to the bombers may effectively be the same as for ballistic missiles. Irreversible..” ​

How America Can Avoid a War with China
From Joe Renouard, The National Interest: “Sino-American relations seem to be at a crossroads, though exactly where the relationship is headed is anyone’s guess. President Trump’s scattershot approach to public diplomacy and policymaking has thus far sparked more questions than answers. Is he acting irresponsibly and provoking unnecessary conflicts, or is he shrewdly testing Beijing’s resolve before he challenges it on trade and security matters? Will he successfully maintain America’s leading regional role, or will his nationalism encourage the other Asia-Pacific nations to make their own deals with China? Will these nations be gradually drawn into a China-led regional order?” ​

Fixing the Navy's Carrier Gap
From Rick Berger, RealClearDefense: “For almost two months, the United States Navy has operated without its required aircraft carrier in the Middle East and Europe. These continual carrier “presence gaps” should not surprise us; they represent a voluntary choice by a Navy asked to do too much with too little for too long. And while Pentagon leadership and combatant commanders have agreed for years that the Navy requires at least twelve carriers to keep three deployed at any one time, appropriators long ago failed to fund a carrier fleet of that size. Today, President Trump and the Republican Congress have signaled their intent to repair the U.S. military, but no easy or quick fixes exist for America’s aircraft carrier fleet. Reconstituting a healthy carrier force requires an understanding of the real problem, followed by several short-term actions and a generational commitment to America’s premier power projection force.”   ​

Security footage has emerged of the killing of Kim Jong Nam last week, showing two attackers took less than three seconds to carry out the assault on the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told China’s foreign minister that his country should “use all available tools” to confront North Korea’s provocations, a State Department spokesman said, as Beijing and Washington held their highest-level meeting since President Donald Trump took office. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
 
[B]ehind the scenes, there is a sense of shock and dismay in Beijing, officials and experts say: If indeed Kim Jong Nam was assassinated on the orders of the North Korean leader, it would be seen as an affront to the country that has afforded him protection for many years. – Washington Post
 
Chinese officials in the western region of Xinjiang, an area troubled by occasional acts of ethnic violence and domestic terrorism, ordered paramilitary units and police officers to attend large rallies in the past week as a show of force. – New York Times
 
Chinese authorities have ordered all motor vehicles in Bayingol prefecture in far-western Xinjiang to be installed with mandatory satellite tracking devices, the latest tough anti-terror measure targeting the ethnically divided region. - Reuters
 
China will suspend all imports of coal from North Korea until the end of the year, the Commerce Ministry announced Saturday, in a surprise move that would cut off a major financial lifeline for Pyongyang and significantly enhance the effectiveness of U.N. sanctions. – Washington Post

McMaster & Civil Military Relations

NY SUN

Breaking Defense

Defense One:  McMaster on War Aims in Mesopotamia, COIN & U.S. Strategy

LtGen McMaster's Reading List for Leaders
From Kira Bindrim, Quartz: “In 2012, while commander of the US Army Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, McMaster did an interview with the management consulting firm McKinsey in which he talked about the evolution of the army, as well as “what competencies our leaders need and…how, where, and at what point in their careers we train and educate them.” One of those strategies, McMaster said, was “to cultivate within our leaders a desire for lifelong learning and to provide them with the tools necessary for informal self-study and collaborative study across their careers.””

McMaster Video:  Foreign Policy Initiative Forum 2016

AEI

National Review

Carl Gershman and Ivana Cvetkovic Bajrovic write: Western silence and inaction only increase the possibility that the situation in the Western Balkans will continue to deteriorate. Given the growing crises and dangers that Western governments already face, the last thing they need is a new outbreak of conflict in the Balkans. To prevent that from happening will take more than complacency and wishful thinking. – World Affairs Journal

• Russia deploys missile that violates INF Treaty

The existence of the SSC-8 missile is not new. Reports indicate that the nuclear-capable missile was first tested in early 2008. In 2014, after several years of watching the development of the missile program, the Obama administration announced that Russia had violated the INF treaty. – Washington Post’s Checkpoint

• Malinowski, Ioffe, and Kroenig on US-Russia policy

Matthew Costlow writes: Well-intentioned if naïve analysts and officials may say the United States should continue making nuclear reductions in the hopes of Russian reciprocity, but as the famed economist Milton Friedman once said, “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” Instead, the United States should form its nuclear policies based on a realistic assessment of the security environment and its own goals, not a vain attempt to gain an international following. – National Institute for Public Policy

Four Russian military aircraft conducted low passes against a U.S. destroyer in the Black Sea last week, the first such military provocation since the new Trump administration took office. – Washington Free Beacon

A Russian spy ship was spotted patrolling off the East Coast of the United States on Tuesday morning, the first such instance during the Trump administration – Fox News

U.S. lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle reacted with concern to reports Tuesday that Russia deployed a new type of nuclear cruise missile. – DOD Buzz

Julia Ioffe writes: A little more turmoil in the White House only serves to underscore the point the Kremlin and its faithful media messengers have emphasized for years: Western democracy is a circus, an inefficient mess at best. Do you really want your country run in such a sloppy fashion? And even if the bet on Trump doesn’t pay off and he turns into an enemy, he will continue to serve as the traditional foil of the evil Western leader bent on humiliating the Motherland. – Atlantic Council

The Russians aren’t just deploying new treaty-breaking, nuclear-capable cruise missiles. They’re also fielding sophisticated cyber and electronic warfare systems that can hack or jam our defenses against such missiles. In fact, no military mission is more dependent on high-speed data networks than air and missile defense — but no military system is more vulnerable than those networks. It’s a dilemma the Army is just starting to wrestle with, even as its air and missile defense force stakes its future on a complex new network called IBCS. – Breaking Defense