Raw Intel

Today's guest is Stephen Carmel, Sr. Vice President Maritime Services at Maersk Line, Limited. With so few U.S.-Flagged ships and carriers, is America still a maritime power? A.T. Mahan is perhaps the most widely quoted and authoritative strategic thinker on the relationship between commercial shipping and maritime power. That is probably because today any discussions of maritime power outside of those promoted by parochial industry interests rarely touch on any dimension of maritime power other than naval. Thinkers today just don’t ponder that relationship in any serious way. Consequently there is no discussion of the actual condition of the foreign going US flag me…

Today's guest is Mike Petters, President and Chief Executive Officer of Huntington Ingalls Industries. How long would it take the shipbuilding industry to grow capacity and throughput if the nation faced a naval crisis or conflict? Anticipation, Not Reaction, is Critical The fact is the shipbuilding industry is not designed to respond rapidly to a crisis. Whatever the conflict, the nature of our business dictates that we play with the team we’ve got. Ours is a business of anticipation, not reaction. There is nothing magical about it. To meet tomorrow’s crisis or conflict requires continuous investment today to ensure we can deliver capability critical to our natio…

h/t Hot Air The official White House photo of the day for Memorial Day was A. a tasteful shot of Arlington Cemetery B. A pic of a Gold Star Mom at her son's grave C. An image of an inverted rifle and empty boots signifying the death of a soldier. NOPE! The answer and an F- for the Campaigner in Chief was: A picture of the Campaigner in Chief reflected in the Vietnam Memorial with a halo around his noble warrior, gutsy-call-making head. In addition to the F-, he gets a D for Disgrace. The entire purpose of Memorial day is to honor those who laid down their lives in defense of our freedom. Obama didn't serve and since his coronation has used the military as nothing m…

Seriously though, go read Ranger Up founder Nick's latest about Chris Hayes... MSNBC’s Chris Hayes proclaimed on Memorial Day that he was uncomfortable labeling fallen troops as heroes as he felt the term is used as an excuse to engage in “Unjust Warsâ€. Somewhere Michael Moore, Bill Maher, and the Westboro Baptist Church just had a Douchegasm... And it just gets better after that. Go check out ultimate in chops busting. View the full article

I came across the bit of pseudo-intellectual mental masturbation you called a thoughtful discussion just before going to be part of an honor guard for a parade and memorial service for those who fought and died for freedom. Part of what they died for is your right (and that of your fellow panelists) to display your intellectual and moral shortcomings to the world, and I would have that no other way. That said, I think your apology has far more to do with realizing you stuck another shortcoming into a 220 socket and flipped the switch, hurting both you and your struggling network. As such, I'm afraid I can't and don't accept it as I don't believe it. In fact, I have a …

Politics can be pretty disgusting on a good day, but this is a new low. My good friend, combat veteran and legitimate American hero David Bellavia is running for Congress in NY's 27th District. He would be an Allen West-ian breath of fresh air in the House and God-willing and the creek don't rise we will see him there. He is running against a rich guy (and kicking his ass) who is willing to throw money and now disgraceful allegations at David and a charity that we both helped found, the Warrior Legacy Foundation (WLF). There have been claims made by proxies and political tools of David's opponent Chris Collins that WLF is a scam designed to line David's pockets and defrau…

One of the core reasons more people have not joined the LCS bandwagon has been the ongoing contradictions and contrary sales points by its strongest advocates.Earlier this week we bounced the CNO's "not in harms way" off The Under's "LCS will be like Taffy 3" strange rally cry.Well - there is more to chew on that will help explain why LCS just cannot get traction. "If we needed a frigate, we would build a frigate." --- Undersecretary of the Navy Bob Work at the CATO forum: The Future of the U.S. Navy Surface Fleet. P 50 Section 2 of U.S. Navy Program Guide 2012 "Decommissioning of the remaining 26 FFGs is scheduled to occur prior to FY 2019. The LCS will repl…

From here. STRAIT OF HORMUZ (May 19, 2012) The guided-missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG 94) transits the Strait of Hormuz with Military Sealift Command missile range instrumentation ship USNS Invincible (T-AGM 24) and British Royal Navy ships HMS Ramsey (M110), HMS Pembroke (M107) and RFA Lyme Bay (L3007). Nitze is deployed as part of the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jeff Atherton/Released) It is very interesting that while …

The opposition we have voiced here towards the sectarianian agenda of the Navy's Diversity Bullies is just our part of a much larger socio-political scam.The nastier side effects of the Diversity Industry we have all seen, but for better or worse, it is good to see that it isn't just the Navy's issue - but one of our larger society. Running parallel to our arguments here over the years, Victor Davis Hanson wraps it up well. Read it all. For anyone familiar with the American university and its gospel of multicultural diversity, the revelation that Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren exploited her 1/32 Cherokee ancestry to pass as a minority is a dog-bites-ma…

Not by me - I went to see The Avengers at IMAX.Anyway - Burke over at StrategyPage does a fine job. For some reason, I like this. At this point, we should remember Mark Twain’s remark that Wagner’s music is better than it sounds. Battleship is actually more fun than a description of it sounds. Once the action starts it’s nonstop. The movie looks great, and you can sit there and ogle your choice of the special effects, the extensive Navy hardware, or Brooklyn Decker. It’s a summer movie, big, loud, mindless, and fun if you don’t think about it too much. It’s an unusual blend of patriotism and PC. The movie’s heart, at least, is in the right place. The i…

Oh, he's only a 20-yr BM1. Didn't even graduate from High School. Snuck in to the Navy at 16 even.Really? Define "only."What more can I say but what is in his Medal of Honor citation? JAMES E. WILLIAMS BOATSWAIN'S MATE FIRST CLASS UNITED STATES NAVY U.S. Navy, River Section 531, My Tho, RVN Mekong River, Republic of Vietnam 31 October 1966 for service as set forth in the following Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. BM1 Williams was serving as Boat Captain and Patrol Officer aboard River Patrol Boat (PBR) 105 accompanied by another patrol boat when the patrol was su…

... in the Navy, we have something kind-of like that when LT Murphy has the conn.Looks like all that CYA hiding of INSURV reports, "optimal manning" and "transformational" concepts about the skills ships company need to have vice workers ashore is working like gangbusters. Maybe that had something to do with it ... maybe not. Either way - just a good thing no Sailors were hurt. Crews assessed damage on a U.S. Navy assault ship and a refueling tanker that collided in the Pacific Ocean off California, after the steering apparently went out on one of the vessels, the military said. The Wednesday morning accident between the amphibious assault vessel USS Essex an…

New think tank papers on Asian security in China’s lengthening shadow: China and Iran [RAND], Defending the Philippines [CNAS, PDF]. The Washington Times looks at the size of the Pentagon’s civilian workforce which seems to move only in one direction. The latest CrossTalk features a series of articles on how to get the speed that comes with agile software development while retaining a healthy level of stability over the long run. (more…) View the full article

First - I am not happy that Galrahn scooped me on this message ... but hey, no one's spies are perfect ... ahem ....... but, this is not a shock to the front porch. 2. SENIOR INSPECTOR COMMENTS: USS FREEDOM (LCS 1) IS EVALUATED AS A "NO-GO" AND IS NOT RECOMMENDED TO PROCEED WITH THE SCHEDULED SPECIAL TRIAL (ST). FREEDOM'S CREW AND CONTRACTORS WERE NOT PREPARED FOR THE INSPECTION. BOTH ENTITIES WERE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE CONDUCT OF INSURV MATERIAL CHECKS. EXECUTION OF THE SOE WAS VERY POOR . THERE WAS CONFUSION BETWEEN CONTRACTOR AND CREW RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF EQUIPMENT CHECKS. THE INSPECTION EXPERIENCE LEVEL FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE CREW IS LOW AL…

U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, receives a mountaintop brief from U.S. and Afghan special forces on Camp Morehead, Afghanistan, April 23, 2012. DOD photo by D. Myles Cullen View the full article

Mark Steyn is painfully hilarious as always in his take down of the Secret Service and the general culture of entitlement to taxpayer money that is killing us. Unlike the government of the United States, I can’t claim any hands-on experience with Colombian hookers. But I was impressed by the rates charged by Miss Dania Suarez, and even more impressed by the U.S. Secret Service’s response to them. Cartagena’s most famous “escort†costs $800. For purposes of comparison, you can book Eliot Spitzer’s “escort†for $300. Yet, on the cold grey fiscally conservative morning after the wild socially liberal night before, Dania’s Secret Service agent of…

CENTCOM has asked for and will be getting some money for increased capabilities specific to Iran. In a “couple of cases,†Iran improved capabilities “faster than we anticipated,†he said. The Command requested the additional funds because “our growing reliance on our maritime forces requires an ability to project power against asymmetric threats, particularly in the confined and crowded sea lanes†of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, Major David Nevers, spokesman for the Central Command, said in an e-mailed statement. Funds were shifted from Pentagon biological and chemical weapons defensive programs and Navy and Air Force shipbuilding, …

Sea Shepherd appears to have executed another successful anti-whaling campaign in the Southern Ocean. "Japan's Fisheries Agency said the fleet was on its way home from the Antarctic 'on schedule', but admitted that at 267 the catch was way down on expectations. Whalers killed 266 minke whales and one fin whale, the agency said, well below the approximately 900 they had been aiming for when they left Japan in December." The Agency official goes on to blame bad weather and "sabotage acts by activists," as the reason for the lower than expected haul. At USNI's blog, LCDR Claude Berube, a Naval Academy professor and one of the subject matter experts on non-state maritime …

"Finally caught up with Matt. It was like trying to find Santa on Christmas Eve." - Uncle Ben, good friend (and reader) of Blackfive, on St. Patrick's Day in Chicago 2004 I may try to live blog St. Patrick's Day with my Irish Smart Device (photo below - patent pending...). Of course, the quality of posts may go down to Jimbo standards by the late afternoon... View the full article

China is officially announcing that its 2012 budget is increasing by 11.2% to about $106B. It is broadly agreed that this significantly understates total military spending. After about 25 years of double-digit growth China is now clearly the second biggest defense spender behind the US, with a budget that more than doubled in the last 5 years alone. There is more to it than just new kit though: some of that money is spent on improving quality of life for sailors to ease recruitment and retention, as China is facing serious demographic constraints and deep socioeconomic shifts. Associated Press | Bloomberg. The US DoD Inspector General is reviewing the F-35’s qualit…