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August 14, 2013  

How many troops in Afghanistan?

As top U.S. and NATO generals wait for the end of the fighting season in Afghanistan, James Stavridis, the former NATO supreme commander-turned-Fletcher School dean, argues in Foreign Policy that the time has come to decide how many troops will remain there after 2014 — he suggests 15,000 — and make it public.

At Lawfare, Jack Goldsmith predicts that the Snowden revelations will actually, if eventually, help boost the NSA’s role in protecting U.S.-based companies and organizations from online attacks. (See also Zach Fryer-Biggs’ Defense News interview with Christopher Painter, the State Department’s coordinator for cyber issues.)

Meanwhile, Army Times reports that the Army is looking at new options for “pocket artillery”: essentially, small tube-launched drones.

Warlord’s Quote of the Day

“Never interrupt your opponent while he is making a mistake.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

Contributed by David Betz, a senior lecturer and head of the Insurgency Research Group in the War Studies Department, King’s College London. Betz is a member of the Warlord Loop, a private email forum for national security experts.

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