Atlantic Council blogs

McRaven Seeks Freer Hand in Deployment of Special Operations forces

By Eric Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti, and Thom Shanker, the New York Times

From Eric Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti, and Thom Shanker, the New York Times:  As the United States turns increasingly to Special Operations forces to confront developing threats scattered around the world

Head of US Army Cyber Command: ‘Cyberspace requires a world-class cyber warrior’

By Peter Apps, Reuters

From Peter Apps, Reuters:  With growing worries about the threat of "cyber warfare," militaries around the world are racing to recruit the computer specialists they believe may be central to the conflicts of the 21st century. But whilst money is plentiful for new forces of "cyber warriors," attracting often individualistic technical specialists and hackers into […]

Desperate or Serious? U.S. Must Drag Policies Out of Old Mindsets

By Harlan Ullman

A century ago, gallows humor about the inevitability of an otherwise avoidable world war permeated the upper ranks of the Kaiser’s Army. The German General Staff quipped that this gathering crisis, when viewed from Paris, was dismissed as serious but not yet desperate. In Berlin, however, conditions were seen as the opposite — desperate but […]

NATO says found Afghan children dead after air strike

By Rob Taylor, Reuters

From Rob Taylor, Reuters:  NATO-led forces in Afghanistan said on Monday they found the bodies of dead children after a coalition air strike that has enraged the Afghan government, and said their deaths may have been linked to an anti-insurgent operation in the area.

America’s First Trans-Atlantic, Encrypted Cable Cost $20,000

By Parapolitical

From Parapolitical:  The U.S. National Security Agency last month released a 1991 historical summary detailing the U.S. State Department’s first use of the Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable to send an encrypted message

Russian Officer Convicted of Spying for CIA

By the AP

The Pitfalls of Protests Without Leadership تطوير الهجوم بلا قائد

By Magdy Samaan

In the past two months, public appearances by members of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) have become increasingly rare, and they have grown accustomed to the insulting anti-military slogans emanating from persistent protests in public squares across the country.  This week, the revolutionary forces have decided to escalate their tactics by […]

Most French favor U.N. military action in Syria: poll

By John Irish, Reuters

From John Irish, Reuters:  A narrow majority of French people would back a U.N.-authorized military intervention in Syria, a poll showed on Friday, a higher percentage than those who had supported the NATO mission that helped oust Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

What’s Georgia Going To Get At The NATO Summit?

By Joshua Kucera, the EurasiaNet

From Joshua Kucera, the EurasiaNet:  Georgia’s prospects in NATO, after being more or less left for dead in the wake of the 2008 war with Russia, have lately appeared to be improving.