Genuinely embarrassing that no senior leaders I interact with actually read anything (yes this also applies to Biden appointees). No one responds to emails, no one reads past two sentences, no one does anything. The rest of the Pentagon follows along.
It's an interesting point, because a whole bunch of analysts kept repeating "Russia would never do this, they aren't *that* stupid" to themselves prior to the invasion.
They very well may be that stupid, and not stupid people can still do very stupid things.
It shouldn't, but it surprises me how many people in the "innovation" community in the Pentagon have absolutely 0 clue this is happening. Diligence is nerd shit.
This is yet another reminder that Elbridge Colby believes in nothing so much as he believes in Elbridge Colby’s career, and it’s been okay to not take him seriously since January 6, 2021. www.politico.com/news/2025/09...
Either match your budget to your strategy or your strategy to your budget. It's a simple equation at the end of the day, but no one wants to face that math.
Turns out a standing military getting about 1 trillion a year requires some conceptual system that allows for some level of integration between services and competing equities.
Sigh. JCIDS reform, SPEED Act, FORGED Act, all that stuff just misses the point. What we face are largely human issues, and Congress still wont be clear eyed about its own role in exacerbating them. Shuffling around concepts and structures wont fix it.
Group is generally in the 22-33ish range. Policy/political hopefuls for the most part. Interested in defense but not much knowledge about the mil side of things. I'm trying to bring in more people from that side of the ledger to these conversations.
Eh there's a lot to unpack in that answer, and I don't think it's the same answer for Sullivan/Rhodes. Rhodes is a great example of a person with no expertise or ability in the things he advised on. He did the main thing you can do to get to power asapwhich is luck into a powerful person liking you.
