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September 17, 2013  

Strategy: art, not science | Fiddler-crab effect | Fixing amphib warfare

Strategy isn’t a lost art — we’ve just forgotten that it was never a science, argues Antulio Echevarria at the Strategic Studies Institute. There’s a response from @zenpundit here. (Via @aelkus)

Why isn’t the U.S. better at whole-of-government approaches? It’s the fiddler-crab effect, says Breaking Defense’s Sydney Freedberg, summing up remarks by Kori Schake, Lincoln Bloomfield, and others at the Air Force Association’s annual conference.

Naval War College prof David C. Fuquea, writing at War on the Rocks, says we can restore U.S. amphibious power for the 21st century with a few surprisingly inexpensive steps.

Defense News’ Chris Cavas interviews SecNav Ray Mabus. Sample:

Q: You just got back from a to Middle Africa and North Africa. You did a big Asian trip earlier this year. You’re on the go an awful lot. You’re going to some places that are off the beaten track. What is tying these trips together?

A: …[Former CNO] Gary Roughead used to say you can surge people, you can surge equipment, but you can’t surge trust. What you can’t surge is interoperability and the working together that goes on over time. I can move the ball more in trips like this to places that people don’t go to as much perhaps more than I can in some of the more traditional areas…”

Warlord’s Quote of the Day

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” — Helen Keller

Contributed by Lt. Col. (ret.) Dave Duffy, who handles information warfare and special operations programs for Silverback7. From a list compiled by the Warlord Loop, a private email forum for national security experts.

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