Why India is alone in the war against terrorism and Pakistan

By Col R Hariharan

25 Jun , 2015

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There are three disturbing trends brought out in the latest Country Reports on Terrorism 2014 released by the US State Department on June 19, 2015 that affect India’s national interest. The first is the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) as world’s number one jihadi terror group and its impact on South Asia; the continuing doublespeak of the US on Pakistan’s state sponsored terrorism; and the existence of the overseas network of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Tigers (LTTE) and the financial support it enjoys.

The report states: “A number of these attacks were planned and launched from safe havens in Pakistan…”

India's Upgraded Attack Submarine Heads Into Final Trials

By Ankit Panda

June 26, 2015

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India’s INS Sindhukirti is set to reenter service after nearly a decade-long upgrade process. 

The Indian Navy’s INS Sindhukirti is set to enter its final “full-power trials” from this Friday after a decade-long upgrade process. According to the Times of India, the attack submarine will formally return into service with the Indian Navy next month, offering a much-needed windfall to India’s limited submarine force. Sindhukirti is the seventh Sindhughosh-class (Indian name for the Russian Kilo-class) diesel-electric attack submarine in the Indian Navy, and was originally commissioned in 1990. The Sindhukirti entered its upgrade process in 2006.

In WikiLeaks, how Saudi Arabia wanted to match Iranian influence over India

Sushant Singh

June 24, 2015 

Newly released documents in Arabic indicate how Iran's engagement with India and its Shia community was worrying Saudi Arabia.

The dump of diplomatic documents that these revelations are part of, allegedly from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), were released by WikiLeaks on Friday.

Saudi Arabia is worried about Iran’s growing influence in India and Tehran’s outreach to the Shia community in the country, according to diplomatic documents released by WikiLeaks last week. Secretariat General of the Muslim World League (Mecca), a controversial organisation with terror funding links, had requested Saudi Arabia to establish the organisation’s Salafi/Wahhabi centres in India, the documents show. And while Riyadh desired to improve relations with India, it was also cognisant of issues that may be sensitive to Pakistan.

Crass politicization of terrorism in India

By RSN Singh

26 Jun , 2015

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Ever since India began to be subjected to unremitting terrorism from Pakistan, mostly in direct collusion with the authorities in that country, there have been unmistakable signs on part of certain vested interests in India to hang on to some straw of ‘Hindu’ or ‘saffron terror’. The jihadi terror emanating from Pakistan, disconcerted these political vested interests not for reasons for the security concerns of the people and the country as such, but vote bank considerations. They nurtured the outrageous notion that the externally orchestrated ‘jihadi terror’ was polarizing the country on communal lines, which could severely impact on their brand of ‘secular politics’. Therefore, they embarked on a programme to ‘balance terror’ even if it meant fabricating a phenomenon called ‘Hindu Terror’.

It is purely imaginary, just like as it was in the immediate aftermath of partition in Pakistan. It may be instructive to know that the Cabinet Secretary of Pakistan, Mohd Ali, when asked by a top Indian bureaucrat, BK Nehru, regarding the persistent use of abusive language against India and Hindus by the Pakistani newspaper Dawn (Muslim League’s mouthpiece), replied that though he knew that it was wrong, but such fabrications about an enemy was necessary for building Pakistan. When Nehru retorted by asking what would happen if India was also to conjure up the bogey of “Hinduism in danger”, Ali quickly announced that Hinduism was incapable of fanaticism.

The Folly of India's Hubris in Myanmar

By Vibhanshu Shekhar

June 26, 2015

http://thediplomat.com/2015/06/the-folly-of-indias-hubris-in-myanmar/

The Indian army’s cross-border strike against insurgents over the border with Myanmar has received significant attention over the past few weeks. Lost amidst the debates about the rise of a potential new Indian ‘doctrine’ and endless details about the operation itself has been the effect that such incidents – as well as the posturing that results from them – can have on the relationship between New Delhi and Naypyidaw. Indeed, an assessment of the overall Indo-Myanmar relationship suggests the need for greater Indian humility, rather than hubris, in its relationship with its Southeast Asian neighbor.

By focusing too much on the operation itself, some have missed two valuable points. First, India-Myanmar ties have reached a strategic depth. This alignment is based on a new understanding of shifting inter-regional geopolitics and a shared sense of security challenges as a result of years of efforts from both India and Myanmar. While Naypyidaw is incrementally turning away from its most important partner – China – its engagement with India is a strategic gain for the latter and a positive gesture from its ASEAN neighbor. In a display of strategic quid pro quo, Indian assistance to Myanmar against the Kachin has reportedly won Myanmar’s support against the Naga insurgents.

India-Pakistan: China Comes Through For Islamic Terrorism

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June 23, 2015: The Pakistani Army is being criticized for not capturing any of the major Islamic terrorist leaders during their yearlong campaign in North Waziristan. There are failures, like over a million refugees, driven out of the area to deny the Islamic terrorists the ability to hide among them and still waiting to go home. The U.S. comes right out and accuses Pakistan of ignoring Islamic terror groups that concentrate their attacks on India. The largest of these groups is Lashkar e Taiba (LeT) which is very popular among middle and upper class high school and college students. LeT was organized and long supported by the Pakistani military, mainly to organize and carry out terrorist attacks in India. This is widely known in Pakistan where few people will dare criticize the attacks inside India. Also spared in the offensive was Haqqani Network, which specializes in attacks inside Afghanistan.

The U.S. agrees that the offensive in northwest Pakistan (North Waziristan) has done serious damage to the Pakistani Taliban with over 2,700 Islamic terrorists killed and much equipment (including 253 tons of explosives and other bomb making components) eliminated. The U.S., and many others, also point out that the government has not yet cracked down on Islamic terrorist recruiting in the 13,000 religious schools and their 1.8 million students. In the tribal northwest most of the religious schools are sponsored or run by an Islamic terror groups. Many of the radical mosques and religious schools in non-tribal Pakistan are not associated with the Taliban or al Qaeda, but with local Islamic radical groups. About twenty percent of Pakistanis support Islamic radicalism and resist efforts to monitor or regulate religious schools. This provides Islamic terrorists with friends in the government and a political voice amidst all the mayhem Islamic terrorist violence creates.

Why Are India's Warships in Thailand and Cambodia?

By Prashanth Parameswaran

June 26, 2015

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Indian vessels visited the two Southeast Asian nations this week as part of India’s ‘Act East’ policy.

This week, Indian warships visited Cambodia and Thailand as part of a two-month long operational deployment in surrounding waters in pursuit of India’s ‘Act East’ Policy.

According to a June 23 press release by the Indian embassy in Bangkok seen by The Diplomat, the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh entered the two Southeast Asian countries as part of a broader operational deployment to Southeast Asia and the Southern Indian Ocean. The ships had been on a 45-day deployment, which included port calls to Jakarta (Indonesia), Fremantle (Australia), and Singapore, where they participated in the bilateral exercise SIMBEX-15 with the Royal Singapore Navy.

Constitutional Reform Fails in Myanmar Ahead of Polls

By Prashanth Parameswaran

June 26, 2015

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On Thursday, a move to amend Myanmar’s constitution largely failed in the country’s parliament, confirming that the military’s effective veto will remain and that opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi cannot become president heading into elections scheduled for later this year.

Constitutional reform has been a buzzword of sorts in Myanmar as the country prepares for polls following a historic opening in 2011 after a half a century of military rule. But hopes have dimmed in recent months, with Suu Kyi telling The Washington Post in an interview earlier this month that “the government is totally opposed to constitutional amendment.”

After three days of parliamentary debate, two key amendments failed to be adopted because they fell short of the voted required. The first was one to trim the share of votes needed to amend the constitution from 75 percent to 70 percent, which would have ended the effective veto that unelected members of the military have by holding a quarter of the seats.

China's WW2 Military Parade to Include Russia, Mongolia - and Taiwan

By Shannon Tiezzi

June 26, 2015

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China unveiled new details this week regarding its September 3 military parade, which will take place as part of China’s commemoration of the end of World War II. It will be the first time a parade is held to correspond with the anniversary of Japan’s surrender. Details emerged at two recent press conferences – a presser specifically dedicated to the parade held by the State Council Information Office on Tuesday, and a regular monthly briefing at China’s Ministry of National Defense on Thursday.

Among the details was confirmation that China would invite foreign troops to participate in the parade. Russia did the same at its Victory Day parade in May; Chinese troops took part along with troops from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, India, Mongolia, and Serbia. China wants its parade to have a similar international flair. “It’s the first time to invite the foreign troops to participate. We hope through this year’s military parade… China and the world can be connected and the message of peace and development can be sent,” one of the parade’s organizers, Qu Rui, said.

The Danger of China's Cultural Protectionism

By David Volodzko

June 26, 2015

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By shutting down cultural events and attacking internationalism, Beijing is only hurting itself. 

On my first trip to Beijing, what I liked most wasn’t the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace or the Temple of Heaven. It wasn’t the city’s history, art, or its cuisine. It was the simmering mix of locals, Chinese transplants, expats, and travelers. Beijing roared like an engine in low gear, ready to shift from the likes of Pyongyang to Seoul or Tokyo. In other words, an international center of culture and commerce. Alas, Beijing has apparently since decided it isn’t ready for the world stage, and that it wants to be left alone.

The People’s Republic of China initially closed its doors to everyone but the Soviets and experimented withjuche-like self-reliance, which was an abject failure. But China was quick to rally. The 1978 reforms introduced market competition, rapidly turning the nation into one of the most impressive economic engines on the planet. It’s a rising tide that has failed to lift all boats, however, and those left to turn in the waves have little to cling to but the flag. For its part, the government encourages nationalism, perhaps hoping it will pacify the masses.

US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue: Putting on a Brave Face

By Shannon Tiezzi

June 26, 2015

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The U.S. and China tried their best to steer clear of controversy at their premier dialogue platform. 

The seventh U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) closed in Washington, D.C. yesterday, after two days of meetings. The dialogue brought together U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi on the strategic track and U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang on the economic track. The two sides tried to avoid controversy in their public remarks, attempting to put a positive spin on a relationship increasingly marked by tensions.

The Trouble With China's 'One Belt One Road' Strategy

By Jiayi Zhou, Karl Hallding, and Guoyi Han

June 26, 2015

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The ‘One Belt, One Road’ strategy risks exacerbating China’s economic imbalances. 

In 2009, former deputy director of China’s State Administration of Taxation Xu Shanda submitted to the Ministry of Commerce a proposal titled the “Chinese Marshall Plan.” In the wake of the global financial crisis, slumping exports, and extensive internal discussions on how to “create demand,” Xu’s strategy concept suggested utilizing China’s vast foreign reserves to offer loans to developing countries, which would then contract Chinese enterprises for major projects of infrastructure and construction. In short, this so-called Marshall Plan would be a roundabout subsidy, keeping Chinese industry and production robust, employment in place, and GDP growth high. Such projects would literally and figuratively pave the roads for Chinese goods and services to enter new markets, as one of the explicit goals of Xu’s strategy was also to find outlets for China’s excess production capacity.

MISREADING KHAMENEI’S NUCLEAR ROLE

Behnam Ben Taleblu

June 25, 2015 

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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has played his cards right. As the June 30 deadline for a comprehensive nuclear accord approaches, Iran’s supreme leader has maintained his rhetoric of resistance, dismissing long-term limits on Iran’s nuclear program as “a lifetime.” While certain Washington analysts — including on this forum— dismiss his statements as mere bravado and concerns about them as “overblown,” Khamenei’s role in Iran’s nuclear diplomacy must not be minimized. Rather, the principles laid down by the supreme leader remain the best barometer for assessing Iran’s negotiating behavior.

In Sept. 2013, shortly after Hassan Rouhani’s election as president, Khamenei gave a speech authorizing nuclear diplomacy based on the principle of “heroic flexibility.” That flexibility, however, represented a shift in tactics rather than strategy. To date, the negotiations have earned Iran sanctions relief and a diminished threat of a preemptive military strike while allowing it to continue advancing its nuclear program through ongoing low-level enrichment and nuclear-related research and development — all without altering Tehran’s fundamental objectives.

Central Asia Is Just Not Interested in ISIS

By Catherine Putz

June 26, 2015

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Central Asia has not been an area of interest for ISIS and Central Asians haven’t been overly interested in ISIS either, according to a recently released reportfrom by the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM). The report’s authors take a comparative approach, examining the region’s five states against the Middle East and Europe, which currently supply the most foreign fighters to ISIS.

“If poverty, political repression, political marginalisation, poor governance and corruption, undoubtedly present in Central Asia,” the report notes, “are to pave the way for the appearance of ISIS in a given country then we should look at how these factors influence the decisions of Europeans and the inhabitants of MENA who are quite eager to travel to Iraq and Syria.”

Saddam is Long Gone, but His Minefields Still Kill

By Matt Cetti-Roberts

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June 24, 2015

In the spring sunshine on the rolling green pastures along the Iraqi border with Syria, a Kurdish man scans the ground between two red flags. Under the surface, deadly mines lie in wait. As he moves his Vallon mine detector across a patch of grass, the man’s headphones squeal into his ear.

He’s found a contact.

We’re near the village of Shilkye, and we’ve come to observe a team from the Mines Advisory Group, one of the most experienced demining non-governmental organizations working in the region.

Founded by former British Army Royal Engineer Rae McGrath, MAG has been clearing mines across the world since 1989. The deminers have worked in Kurdistan since 1992, continuing even during the 1996 Kurdish civil war.

Russia's Lethal Nuclear Arsenal Gets an Upgrade: Should NATO Worry?

Adam Mount

June 25, 2015

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Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave brief remarks at the opening ceremony of ARMY-2015, an exposition where Russia’s defense contractors demonstrated new military technology for foreign weapons buyers. The speech was relatively sedate. It omitted much of the aggressive rhetoric that has become commonplace for the Kremlin, amounting to little more than a sales pitch for Russia’s military systems. Highlighting several pieces of Russia’s plan to modernize its military, Putin mentioned that, “This year we will supply more than forty new intercontinental ballistic missiles [ICBMs] to our nuclear force.”

This simple statement ignited a minor fervor in NATO countries. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters that, “Nobody should hear that kind of announcement… and not be concerned.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, “This nuclear sabre-rattling of Russia is unjustified…. It’s also one of the reasons we are now increasing the readiness and preparedness of our forces.” Reuters says Russia is “beefing up” its arsenal, CNBC asked whether it meant a new cold war, and many others worried about the prospect of a new arms race.

ON DEPLOYMENT: LOVE AND DUTY IN MODERN WAR

Matt Cavanaugh

June 25, 2015

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Ellen DeGeneres is wrong.

Misleading, maybe. Her show features military family reunions, following a year of separation, complete with hugs, kisses — all for the cameras. Sometimes even a free trip. The audience loves it; millions take in theYouTube clip.

Unfortunately, this happy view is as inaccurate as focusing on a marathon’s final strides. What about the other 26.1 miles? Or, oppositely, the start? What about the military experience, the moment of deployment departure, when family and all that matters is about to fade into the rearview mirror — what does this feel like?

In my case, excruciatingly conflicted. I love my wife and adore my two daughters, but this coming weekend I will leave them for a year to guard the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in South Korea.

The ‘World’s Deadliest Tank’: Not as Deadly as Putin Thinks?

By Franz-Stefan Gady

June 26, 2015

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Some Western defense analysts caution that there is still much we don’t know about Russia’s new T-14. 

The new Russian T-14 Armata main battle tank (MBT), dubbed the “world’s deadliest tank,” has been making headlines ever since its first public appearance during this year’s May 9 Victory parade in Moscow.

With its brand-new design – dissimilar to any Soviet-legacy armored ground vehicles – paired with bombastic statements by the tank’s developers, analysts as well as the media have been mesmerized by the T-14s alleged groundbreaking new technology features.

For example, this week, IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly reported yet another previously unknown system that the Armata is purportedly fitted with: a new generation of explosive reactive armor (ERA) that, according to a Russian defense industry source, has “no known world equivalents.”

Can the UN Make a Difference in North Korea?

By John Power

June 26, 2015

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A UN field office for monitoring human rights abuses in North Korea opened in Seoul on Tuesday, the culmination of unprecedented scrutiny on conditions in North Korea since the establishment of a special Commission of Inquiry.

The establishment of the branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights fulfills a recommendation from last year’s UN investigation, which detailed shocking human rights violations in North Korea. Among the many abuses described as “without parallel in the contemporary world,” the UN panel documented witness testimony of summary executions, torture, and rape at North Korea’s infamous prison camps.

NGOs welcomed the new field office, while United Nations High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said it would build “on the landmark work of the Commission of Inquiry and Special Rapporteur” by documenting regime abuses.

But can the office have any real impact on conditions inside North Korea?

While the COI focused global attention, it hasn’t spurred any actual improvement in human rights conditions in North Korea — at least as far as the outside world can see with its limited view into the closed-off nation.

Pride and Prejudice: The Drivers of China-US Conflict

By Jin Kai

June 26, 2015

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Conflict between the two powers has been and will be the norm. 

It is not contradictory to talk about China-U.S. distrust and discord when two sides just concluded their seventh Strategic and Economic Dialogue and sixth Consultation on People-to-People Exchange in Washington, D.C. In fact, Chinese President Xi Jinping particularly expressed his concern about strategic misjudgments between China and the U.S. to his counterpart, President Barack Obama, through this dialogue. Verbally, the two sides have again reached a consensus on cooperation — the same consensus that has been reached and more or less shelved many times in the past.

Top GOP Lawmaker: US Must Consider Building New Nukes

By Paul D. Shinkman

June 23, 2015

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Troubling times today for the Cold War-era weapon could mean certain dangers for the near future.

After years without talk of building new nuclear weapons, the U.S. should consider the issue, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said Tuesday.

America needs to replace a rotting arsenal of nuclear weapons and counteract an increasingly boisterous Russia, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Tuesday. For these reasons, it must consider the long-taboo prospect of building new nukes.

“Can we have a national conversation about building new nuclear weapons?” Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said in remarks at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. “That’s something we haven’t been able to even have a conversation about for a while, but I think we’re going to have to.”

COUNTERTERRORISM, BACKDOORS, AND THE RISK OF “GOING DARK”

Walter Haydock

June 25, 2015 

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The terrorist threat to the United States is evolving rapidly, especially in terms of the methods by which extremists communicate. Counterterrorism analysts and operators face a variety of technical challenges to their efforts. In Oct. 2014, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey warned of the growing risk of “going dark,” whereby intelligence and law enforcement agencies “have the legal authority to intercept and access communications and information pursuant to court order,” but “lack the technical ability to do so.”European Police Chief Rob Wainwright has warned that terrorists are using secure communications in their operations more frequently, a technique the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is apparently pioneering. The emergence of secure messaging applications with nearly unbreakable end-to-end encryption capabilities such as surespot, Wickr, Telegram, Threema, and kik highlights how rapid technological change presents a powerful challenge to security and counterterrorism agencies.

Official: Greatest cyber risks to national security involve handful of sectors

June 22, 2015

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The greatest cyber risks to U.S. national security involve about a third of the country's 16 critical infrastructure sectors, according to an FBI official.

The bureau's cybersecurity outreach program for critical infrastructure is focused on six sectors – banking and finance, energy, transportation, information technology, communications and public health – the program's leader, Stacy Stevens, said during a June 9 public meeting of cybersecurity professionals organized by the Department of Homeland Security in Cambridge, MA.

The FBI official's comments, as well as documents obtained by Inside Cybersecurity under the Freedom of Information Act, shed new light on how U.S. authorities view cyber risks in industry, a subject shrouded in secrecy that some argue is excessive. An Obama administration adviser, Richard Danzig, last year urged greater disclosure of cyber risks facing various sectors in the interest of enabling better policymaking.

Advice from Sun Tzu and John Boyd on winning at cyberwar

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Summary: While we’re enmeshed in 4th generation wars we don’t know how to fight, (let alone win) a new form of conflict arrives. Least we repeat our feckless habit of fighting then thinking, let’s develop strategies before serious clashes begin. Chet Richards helps us decide if the military classics can help us, or has new tech made them obsolete? {2nd of 2 posts today.}

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”— Sun Tzu in The Art of War.

The authors did a great job. I found nothing to argue with in their article. But they appear to have underestimated the power of Sun Tzu’s advice, even in the unique realm of cyberwar.

I can’t argue with their observation that if you try to follow the specific prescriptions of of The Art of War, you’re either going to be playing with analogies or you must find an opponent willing to act like a Chinese army of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC).

The Best Defense Is a Strong Defense. Never Fight a Land War in Cyberspace.

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Summary: Why defense experts obsess about the relative advantages of different military hardware (e.g., the A-10 vs the F-35), the US has unleashed the tools of cyberwar on Iran. We can expect more in the future, begun by friends and foes. So let’s learn the rules. Today Marcus Ranum explains the nature of attack and defense in cyberwar, and the advantages of each. {@nd of 2 posts today.}

My 2014 presentation “Never Fight a Land War in Cyberspace” compared key elements of warfare in the real world with warfare in cyberspace, exploring the interchangeability of tactics and strategy in those domains. I expected that “cyberwar” would have similar underlying principles as regular war, but found that “cyberwar” bears no resemblance to warfare at all — tactically or strategically. Of course it fits in the overall grand strategy of conflct and power, but our tendency to reason by analogy breaks down quickly here.

PENTAGON TO SILICON VALLEY: TEACH US BIG DATA

By Frank Konkel

June 18, 2015 

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In Washington, where tech buzzwords are dropped more frequently than phone calls in the Metro tunnel, it’s not surprising to hear the Pentagon wants to get better at big data.

What is interesting, though, is the Defense Department’s approach. Rather than ponying up big bucks and buying technologies as was once commonplace, the Pentagon is setting up shop in Silicon Valley to forge partnerships, identify new technologies and maybe even recruit some new talent.

As the Pentagon turns its eyes 3,000 miles westward, perhaps the biggest goal of all is also the simplest: learning.

With an emerging technology like big data, which itself is a blanket term that means different things to different people, getting beyond the buzzword to business value could be the difference between a failing or fruitful Pentagon initiative.

NSA Chief: Don’t Assume China Hacked OPM

BY PATRICK TUCKER

JUNE 24, 2015

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The U.S. military’s top cyber warrior says it’s merely an “assumption” that the Chinese government was behind the recent hack at the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM — and not necessarily one he shares. That puts Adm. Michael Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, in opposition to unnamed sources within the U.S. government who blamed Beijing in June 4 interviews with the New York Times and Washington Post.

Rogers spoke in response to a question about how the National Security Agency was going about attributing the breach to the Chinese government. “You’ve put an assumption in your question,” he said. “I’m not going to get into the specifics of attribution. It’s a process that’s ongoing.”

The OPM hack may have exposed as many as 18 million records of government employees and job applicants, including people who applied for—and received—top-secret clearances.

Rogers’s hedged response, given during a question-and-answer session at theGEOINT symposium in downtown Washington, comes in stark contrast to the NSA’s approach to attribution during the Sony hack. In that case the FBI, working with the NSA and DHS, quickly named North Korea as the perpetrator, resulting in the prompt issuance of sanctions.

THE INTERNET OF THINGS YOU DON’T REALLY NEED

By Ian Bogost

June 23, 2015 

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Atlanta turns yellow for two weeks in April. Streets, driveways, terraces, cars—everything cakes with pollen. It’s the trees that cause the worst of it. Pine, oak, sweet gum, sycamore, mulberry, hackberry, birch, willow. Prolific itching, sneezing, and car washing ensues.

Grilling season officially begins when the pollen subsides. This year’s was particularly grievous, and perhaps that’s why I was so eager to best it with seared meats. Come mid-April, I broke out the pressure washer, returned the yellow terrace back to slate grey, and unfurled the Broil King from its wintertime sheath.

Unlocking the potential of the Internet of Things

James Manyika, Michael Chui, Peter Bisson, Jonathan Woetzel, Richard Dobbs, Jacques Bughin, and Dan Aharon, June 2015

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The Internet of Things—sensors and actuators connected by networks to computing systems—has received enormous attention over the past five years. A new McKinsey Global Institute report, The Internet of Things: Mapping the value beyond the hype, attempts to determine exactly how IoT technology can create real economic value. Our central finding is that the hype may actually understate the full potential—but that capturing it will require an understanding of where real value can be created and a successful effort to address a set of systems issues, including interoperability.

To get a broader view of the IoT’s potential benefits and challenges across the global economy, we analyzed more than 150 use cases, ranging from people whose devices monitor health and wellness to manufacturers that utilize sensors to optimize the maintenance of equipment and protect the safety of workers. Our bottom-up analysis for the applications we size estimates that the IoT has a total potential economic impact of $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion a year by 2025. At the top end, that level of value—including the consumer surplus—would be equivalent to about 11 percent of the world economy (exhibit).

Achieving this kind of impact would require certain conditions to be in place, notably overcoming the technical, organizational, and regulatory hurdles. In particular, companies that use IoT technology will play a critical role in developing the right systems and processes to maximize its value. Among our findings: 

Interoperability between IoT systems is critical. Of the total potential economic value the IoT enables, interoperability is required for 40 percent on average and for nearly 60 percent in some settings. 

The double-edged sword of cyber warfare

BY MITCH GINSBURG 

June 24, 2015

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While Israel acknowledges ‘day-to-day’ use of offensive digital weapons, experts warn of its growing vulnerability 

One week after the Israeli army formally recognized cyber weapons as a fourth dimension of warfare, alongside land, air and sea, the defense minister on Wednesday sang the praises of digital weapons, saying that they can attack and conquer enemy assets without leaving a trace.

“Cyberspace enables the attack of another nation state in offensive action, even reaching victory without leaving any fingerprints, even if it is suspected,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Wednesday at the fifth annual Cyber Security Conference at Tel Aviv University, according to a conference statement. “We are already there; we are not talking about some distant future. We have experienced this in Israel’s day-to-day actions against its enemies.”

Universities should ban PowerPoint — It makes students stupid and professors boring

PAUL RALPH

JUN. 23, 2015

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Do you really believe that watching a lecturer read hundreds of PowerPoint slides is making you smarter?

I asked this of a class of 105 computer science and software engineering students last semester.

An article in The Conversation recently argued universities should ban PowerPoint because it makes students stupid and professors boring.

I agree entirely. However, most universities will ignore this good advice because rather than measuring success by how much their students learn, universities measure success with student satisfaction surveys, among other things.

What is so wrong with PowerPoint?

Overreliance on slides has contributed to the absurd belief that expecting and requiring students to read books, attend classes, take notes and do homework is unreasonable.

Courses designed around slides therefore propagate the myth that students can become skilled and knowledgeable without working through dozens of books, hundreds of articles and thousands of problems.

Japan's Top Military Officer: Joint US-Japanese Patrols in South China Sea a Possibility

By Franz-Stefan Gady

June 26, 2015

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Will the Japanese Navy expand into the South China Sea with regular patrols? 

Japan’s highest ranking military officer reiterated that Tokyo would consider joining U.S. Forces in conducting patrols in the South China Sea, the Wall Street Journal reports today.

According to Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of the Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, Japan remains deeply concerned over China’s recent constructions of artificial islands in the South China Sea.

While noting that China’s activities have created “very serious potential concerns” for Tokyo, he also emphasized that as of now there are no concrete plans for the Japan’s Maritime-Self Defense Force (JMSDF) to patrol the 3,500,000 square kilometers (1,400,000 square miles) of the South China Sea:

Reviewing Ghost Fleet

By Adin Dobkin

June 24, 2015

The field of strategy has, in recent times, encountered what some might call the catalyst for a renaissance. The Strategy Bridge itself has given voice to a new, diversified breadth of thinkers with the ability to communicate to new segments of the military, public, and policy-making communities. The military community is embracing innovation in new and exciting ways. Sure, there will always be talk of the next offset technology, but initiatives like Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s “Force of the Future” hope to drive that innovation through the individual servicemember. Lastly, in a world that continually prioritizes numbers and quantification, there has been a recent surge in the use of creative elements in the field of strategy.

Study: Pentagon Missing Target on Air Weapon Investments

By Sandra I. Erwin

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U.S. military power often is measured by the number of combat aircraft and ships in the inventory. While the United States has by far the largest air force and navy, that size advantage could eventually be negated by enemy air defenses and electronic warfare technologies that are now available in the open market.

The solution is not to buy more fighter jets, stealth bombers or aircraft carriers, but to arm existing Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps combat aircraft with high-tech bombs and missiles that can be dropped in large quantities from hundreds of miles away, suggest military analysts in a new study.

The military for decades has invested in an arsenal of short-range “direct attack” weapons on the assumption that they will be able to get close to targets. It also has acquired a large inventory of highly sophisticated autonomous cruise missiles that can travel more than a thousand miles to a target. Today’s standoff weapons keep aircraft out of harm’s way but, at a million dollars apiece, are too expensive to be able to fire in large numbers in a protracted conflict.

5 Takeaways From A Recent Command And General Staff College Graduate

By Brad Hardy 

June 22, 2015 

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Here are five observations for future Command And General Staff College students to consider.

The Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, provides the 10-month-long command and general staff officer course. The program serves as an Army officer’s mid-career, graduate-level, professional military education and fulfillscongressional, Joint, and Army requirements for officer development. Over the past few years, however, it received some considerable criticism over how it’s structured and operated.