William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security
Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 01/26/2006
Goodbye War on Terrorism, Hello Long War
One phrase contained in the draft Quadrennial Defense Review document circulating amongst defense experts is sure to be a part of your life for years to come: The long war.

Defense experts want the long war to be the new name for the war on terror, a kind of societal short hand that will stand shoulder to shoulder with the Cold War, promoted to capital letters, an indisputable and universally accepted state of the world.

"This generation of servicemembers will be in what we're calling the Long War," Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said earlier this week.

"Our estimate is that for at least the next 20 years … our focus will be … the extremist networks that will continue to threaten the United States and its allies."

Twenty years? Why not ten? Or forty?

On the surface, you might be thinking: wait a minute, if Arkin is questioning the duration of our conflict with terrorists, isn't he implicitly accepting the notion of a long war?

I'm questioning the ridiculous and baseless timeframe, and the characterization of the war on terrorism as either "winnable" or a war worthy of supplanting either the Cold War or World War II.

Continue reading "Goodbye War on Terrorism, Hello Long War"

By William M. Arkin | Permalink* | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 01/25/2006
Rumsfeld's New War Plan
U.S. special operations forces for the first time have their own war plan to fight the "global war on terrorism."

Special Operations Command (SOCOM) which until now had always operated "in support of" other commands and other commanders now will be able to go out on its own to attack and destroy designated terrorist networks.

You might ask: What took them so long? And what does the new operations plan (OPLAN) really mean?

The war plan, RT informs me somewhat cryptically, is referred to as "OPLAN 71" and constitutes the first stand-alone U.S. military offensive plan to fight the global war on terrorism.

Continue reading "Rumsfeld's New War Plan"

By William M. Arkin | Permalink* | Comments (28) | TrackBack (0)

Posted at 11:30 AM ET, 01/24/2006
PR? A Pat on the Back to Hayden
Yesterday's remarks by Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the former NSA director and now Deputy Director of National Intelligence, got unfair treatment in The Washington Post today. The Post focused on the PR blitz, and on what Hayden didn't say, ignoring his unprecedented candor regarding the super-secret agency.

Hayden gingerly sidestepped the question as to whether the President has the authority to authorize warantless surveillance, but he stressed again that NSA's post 9/11 programs have been "very focused" and "limited."

From his perch as NSA director, he said he complied with a lawful order, one approved by the Attorney General and briefed to the Congressional leadership.

Listening to Hayden, I'm struck by the firestorm of misunderstanding that has been created by the revelation of this program.

Yet at the same time, I'm dissatisfied with the notion that an agency that wasn't competent enough before 9/11 to take sufficient action to protect America should now be given more authority and leeway to take action because NOW it understand the threats.

Continue reading "PR? A Pat on the Back to Hayden"

By William M. Arkin | Permalink* | Comments (34) | TrackBack (2)

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 01/23/2006
Pentagon Collects Thousands of Names?
I've said in these pages that I believe the Bush administration's characterization of warantless NSA surveillance is limited but wonder what else it might be trying to cover in its zeal to protect the revealed program.

I've criticized Congress in these pages for being asleep at the wheel, colluding with the administration in allowing surveillance and then complaining about it later.

On Friday, I reported that the Pentagon had ordered CIFA to purge its databases of any information on "U.S. persons" and to conduct sensitivity training to ensure that its domestic collection was conducted in compliance with intelligence oversight, privacy laws and Defense Department directives. It was a pat on the back.

I've reported on domestic spying, and have been the first to report on the Pentagon's activities. I would have reported everything I have even if Al Sharpton were President.

So, am I a "vitriolic critic of the Bush administration," as Power Line reports today?

The reason that I'm under attack as a "bitter anti-Bush partisan" is Newsweek's story "The Other Big Brother," which the magazine is heavily promoting. I was the main source for the Newsweek story. I'm no shill. In fact, I'm very skeptical of Newsweek's scoop that the Pentagon is storing thousands of names of innocent Americans.

Continue reading "Pentagon Collects Thousands of Names?"

By William M. Arkin | Permalink* | Comments (38) | TrackBack (1)

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 01/20/2006
Pentagon Says We're Sorry
The administration argued yesterday that the President has the Constitutional authority to order warantless surveillance, as Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez delivered a new legal defense to Congress of the National Security Agency's surveillance activities and Vice President Dick Cheney spoke at the Manhattan Institute.


"Our message to the American people is clear and straightforward," Cheney said. The NSA's programs "are within the president's authority and responsibility under the constitution and laws."


The battle lines are drawn, and on NSA, the administration seems hardened and unrepentant.


So, isn't it strange that the Defense Department is expressing contrition at the same time about its unlawful collection and retention of information on U.S. persons under its domestic force protection efforts?

Continue reading "Pentagon Says We're Sorry"

By William M. Arkin | Permalink* | Comments (40) | TrackBack (2)

Posted at 12:30 PM ET, 01/19/2006
Destabilizing Missiles?
Tony Capaccio of Bloomberg News has another scoop that probably portends the most important strategic military development of our generation.


Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has given the Navy go ahead to develop a conventionally armed Trident missile. Two dozen existing nuclear-armed submarine-launched missiles will be converted to carry conventional warheads. The missiles will then be assigned "global strike" missions to allow quicker preemptive attacks.


For the first time since intercontinental ballistic missiles were "captured" in arms control treaties 40 years ago as unique and potentially destabilizing weapons, the United States will muddy the waters by modifying an existing nuclear weapon for use in day-to-day warfare.


The conversion of Trident missiles abandons the strict segregation of nuclear from conventional weapons.


Were the United States ever to use its new conventional Tridents, the firing would also flirt with accidental nuclear war. Ballistic missiles aimed at targets in North Korea, for example, might falsely signal to China or Russia that the United States was attacking them.


The arms control and strategic stability issues associated with this decision are momentous. But here is the tragic reality of opening this door: The United States just doesn't need the capability.

Continue reading "Destabilizing Missiles?"

By William M. Arkin | Permalink* | Comments (42) | TrackBack (1)

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 01/18/2006
NSA's Worldwide Appetite
The New Zealand Sunday Star Times has been filled with its own NSA scandal of sorts for the past week, and it provides some real insight into our own secret world.

The papers of former Prime Minister David Lange have been opened in the Wellington archives, and in the collection is a Top Secret review of New Zealand's cooperative arrangement with NSA.

Ever since The New York Times broke the warantless surveillance story, there has been enormous speculation about what NSA is actually collecting today.

Here at least from the mid-1980's is a snapshot of intercept operations from the New Zealand vantage point.

As a full partner with the NSA, New Zealand contributed to collection and analysis from Antarctica to Tonga, spying mostly on other allies and friends.

What the New Zealand papers remind us is that even 20 years ago, when the world was fighting the Cold War, the spies were busy. Busy and lacking in real priorities to focus their intercept work beyond imagined threats.

Continue reading "NSA's Worldwide Appetite"

By William M. Arkin | Permalink* | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 01/17/2006
Attack Iran? We're Ready
For months, the press and blogosphere have been filled with scoops about U.S. and Israeli preparations for an imminent strike on Iran. Commentators in the mainstream press, meanwhile, have questioned the likelihood of a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, arguing that such an attack would be impossible or too costly given Iran's ability to hide its true targets.

"To locate and then strike these disbursed and underground facilities … would probably require not air power but nuclear weapons," retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey even said on NBC Nightly News Saturday night.

Commentators on both sides of this issue are wrong. Though the U.S. military continues to prepare a preemptive attack war plan for Iran and North Korea under the "global strike" program, speculation of an imminent strike is utter fabrication.

But those who pooh-pooh preparations to take military action against Iran, or question the likelihood because of targeting difficulties, fail to understand the Bush administration's policies and intent.

Continue reading "Attack Iran? We're Ready"

By William M. Arkin | Permalink* | Comments (73) | TrackBack (2)

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 01/13/2006
More Compartmented Programs
The Navy has issued a new regulation heavily restricting the use of compartmented security classification to preclude or impede oversight of sensitive programs.


After an internal Navy audit begun early last year found that secrecy was being used to restrict Congressional, Defense Department and internal access to potentially controversial or even illegal activities, the Chief of Naval Operations directed a wholesale review of compartmentalization.


As Congress moves forward to investigate NSA's program of warantless surveillance, it should focus on the general use of compartmentalization in the military and intelligence community. Since 9/11, more and more activities and operations have been shielded by compartmentalization, a practice that has been employed as much to put then outside of normal oversight and review as it has been to protect the information from any potential enemy.

Continue reading "More Compartmented Programs"

By William M. Arkin | Permalink* | Comments (21) | TrackBack (0)

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 01/12/2006
A Prison Scandal Without an Answer
Col. Thomas M. Pappas, once commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, and the senior intelligence officer responsible for military interrogations at the Abu Ghraib prison, has now been given immunity from prosecution and has been ordered to testify at upcoming courts-martial of yet more low-ranking Army enlisted soldiers implicated in the mistreatment of detainees.


Pappas may seen like the military Scooter Libby falling on his sword to protect higher ranking officers, but the truth of the matter is that there will never be a connection made between the goings on at Abu Ghraib and the top ranks of either the Pentagon or the Bush administration.

Continue reading "A Prison Scandal Without an Answer"

By William M. Arkin
Early Warning Archives
© 20056 The Washington Post Company