We call this the “silly season” in Washington, a favorite “inside the beltway” expression for the strange things that happen during election time – and when folks of all political persuasions say and do dumb things. This year is no exception; however, there are two recent ideas that transcend the usual electioneering goofiness. They are: Suggestions from the Obama Administration to drastically reduce our strategic nuclear forces; and, the Senate’s unbelievably naïve “Cyber Security Act of 2012.” While neither of these are likely election issues, both go to the very core of how we protect ourselves from the forces and factions in the world that could do us harm. In short, this is the serious stuff!

First. The suggested nuclear reductions – down to just a few hundred weapons – practically assures a new kind of nuclear arms competition with Russia, China and even some newer nuclear powers that often do not have our best interests at heart – e.g., Pakistan. The reason for this is t...

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With both amusement and frustration, I’ve been watching the “Fast and Furious” related Congressional hearings on C-SPAN. The hearings artfully combine a colossal deflection of responsibility by the Congress and a continuation of anachronistic practices by the Justice Department. And, all of this is being hidden skillfully by the parties to the matters under “investigation” - to the detriment of our safety. In short, most of us don’t see the petty politics lurking just behind this latest Washington kabuki dance.

Here are just two of the more basic political and bureaucratic dynamics involved with “Fast and Furious”.

First: How could the “Fast and Furious” investigation in Arizona for following [or “walking”] “straw purchase” guns to Mexico have gone on so long without the knowledge of the seniors at the Justice Department, perhaps including the Attorney General himself?

Shocking as it may ...

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In 2010 I wrote an “Op Ed” that examined the objective reality of having a President who was the product of several generations of affirmative action in education. The bottom line of the Op Ed was that our President was probably not as capable as he [and we] had been led to believe.

Frankly, I was expecting a ration of criticism about the article, especially from liberal commentators, but it never came, and I suspect it was because there was little to disagree with in the thesis: That affirmative action in education was a failed social experiment of the 60’s and 70’s.

But there is another category of preferential admissions to private [and some public] schools and colleges that produces graduates of questionable quality, and who may also think they are more qualified than they really are.

Children of wealthy and influential families get into private schools and colleges just as arbitrarily as do those admitted because of affirma...

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Scene

A super-secret Iranian policy planning meeting, chaired by Iran’s five foot four “little big man” President, Mahmud Ahmedinajad. [By the way, is it just happenstance that the last little guy who stiffed us (at least twice) on his nuke weapon program was the super-short “little Kim”, the last (and late) lifted North Korean “great leader”?].



Script

Ahmedinajad, to assembled Admirals, Generals and Foreign Ministry seniors: “Our policy line just isn’t working. We need at least another year – maybe 18 months - to have a nuclear device that we know will work and that we could test. Then, we will need additional time to perfect some nuclear weapons that are actually deliverable on our planes or our new missiles. We can try and compress this - going directly to weaponization before we test - but we will eventually have to test something that works in order to get the desired political effect. We must do all this, mind you, without precipitating an attack ag...

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As a guy who spent years writing intelligence policy and legislation, limiting the information US intelligence agencies could collect, retain or share about “US Persons” - I’ve always wondered if we couldn’t apply a similar privacy matrix to the Internet.

While the idea of doing this effectively - in a responsible and well thought out way - seems overwhelming at first, it becomes more manageable when broken down into component parts, which I have attempted to do here.

First: Because cyber-based or stored personal information is transferred or transferable across state lines, it’s a “natural” subject of federal privacy law and regulation, because it pertains directly to “interstate commerce”.

Second:Today, the enormous quantities of stored personal cyber information is literally without limitation, and the tendency is to err on the side of collecting and s...

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As the 2012 Presidential primary election process grinds on, a couple of basic themes are beginning to make themselves clear, albeit mainly to party insiders and the specialized political media. As such, the themes may not be at all desirable – that is if the 2012 general election is hoped to be an accurate reflection of American political sentiment. And regardless of one’s political views or affiliations, we all hope for that result – at least that’s what we want to believe about ourselves.

To begin with, both sides have to eventually capture the broad “center” of political support and the votes that go along with it. In 2008, it was the Democrats who managed to do this because of a combination of factors: Real dissatisfaction with the Bush Administration among independents and even traditional Republican groups. This coupled with a Democratic candidate who attracted a broad spectrum of support, despite being extremely liberal – even when compared to the ...

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First. For a number of reasons, just one of which is our coming revenue shortage tsunami, Congress will undertake a massive effort to totally revise/repeal the current internal revenue/income tax law. Which, by virtue of thousands of special interest rulings and amendments over the years, is in tatters – and therefore no longer serves as a reliable source of “income” for the federal government.

However, the primary reason for Congressional action will be their painful realization that they are no longer relevant to the revenue generating process. Stated simply, their powers have been taken away from them, albeit gradually and as a result of their own doing, by taxpayer favorable exemptions and rulings - literally, it’s been revenue “death by a thousand cuts”.

And, if there’s anything our Congress can’t stand – Republican or Democrat – it’s not being relevant!

To “fix” this, I believe they will do a massive review of our tax laws with a view to increasing revenue – ...

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Geo-political predictions, especially dramatic ones like I’m making here, are always risky; however, I feel entirely comfortable with what follows based on the “observables” coming out of the Middle East and nearby regions, particularly since the “Arab Spring” began. Furthermore, I see the changes that have already occurred as the precursors to a far more dramatic and widespread readjustment in both the national and international political structures there. These coming tectonic political developments offer opportunities as well as liabilities for the United States – but offer us little advantage unless we prepare for them. For example, we didn’t see the coming of the “Arab Spring”; however, neither did the world’s intelligence services or the media – even the “specialty media” focusing on the region.

In short, perhaps the most unsophisticated, backward, politically corrupt and socially ignorant area of the world has begun a massive political implosion. This largely as a result ...

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I had no hint of the efforts to track, target and kill the American ex patriot terrorist Anwar al-Aulaqi when I wrote “Drone on” last week. My purpose then was address some rather silly arms control and law of armed conflict objections related to the use of drones – objections which I believe are either spurious or based on unrealistic assessments of the decision to employ most any deadly military force, especially by the United States.

As it turns out, however, a few days after “Drone on” appeared, it was reported that drones had been used to kill Anwar al-Aulaqi. I could not have been more pleased at the news, which might be as significant as the attack that took out Osama bin Laden. Nevertheless, there has been turmoil in the liberal media over the fact that Anwar al-Aulaqi was a US born person and whether it was therefore “legal” to target him, whether by...

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No, this isn’t about politics or politicians, even though it’s a fitting title, especially as the campaign for the 2012 presidential election has already started and there’s a lot of “world class” droning going on.

It’s about the kind of drones that fly around silently, without human pilots aboard, and drop bombs on or launch rockets at terrorist bad guys - turning them into clouds of vapor. The “pilots” of these planes are typically at some remote location and “flying” them electronically with the assistance of real time video.

Drone technology has improved dramatically in the past few years to the point where the systems work with extremely high reliability and precision. And, the technology is improving all the time – drones are smaller, faster, quieter and more deadly than ever. Like all other kinds of high-tech weapons, however, their effectiveness depends on operator skill and accurate intelligence for targeting.

Why do we...

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