Crosshairs - Military Matters in Review by Fred Edwards

Crosshairs
Military Matters in Review

by Fred Edwards

The mission of Crosshairs - Military Matters in Review is to enhance the military defense of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. This ambitious goal covers every aspect of U.S. and foreign military matters. It has filled my library of current sources with more than two dozen topics from which I draw to write my columns, such as:

* U.S. Armed Forces

* Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran

* Pakistan

* China

* Russia

* Western Pacific

* Latin America

* Cyberwar

* Energy

* Space

* Special operations

* WMD

* Islamic extremists

* Problem regimes such as Syria, North Korea, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban

The latest column is to the right. To see previous columns click here for the online archives.

Thank you for your interest.

Fred Edwards

Fred's book: The Buffie Brigade. Big Ugly Fragile Elephants, glazed, crazed and grazed in Vietnam.

See review by Armed Forces News

Buy from Amazon.com $10.95 plus shipping and handling

Here's a better deal! Get a special copy of The Buffie Brigade autographed by the author. $10.95 plus $2.00 handling. Click on book image to order.

Fred's book: The Bridges of Vietnam; from the Journals of a U.S. Marine Intelligence Officer

Buy from Amazon.com $18.95 plus shipping and handling

A better deal! Get a special copy of The Bridges of Vietnam autographed by the author. $18.95 plus $2.00 shipping. Click on book image to order.

Special from the publisher of Armed Forces News

"Fred Edwards has proved himself on the battlefield as an effective military leader and in the newsroom as a talented writer, superb reporter and keen-eyed columnist. As our Senior Associate Editor, retired Marine Lt. Col. Fred Edwards is an insightful observer of the military, whose global perspective provides readers with a deeper understanding of the issues that both divide and separate us in today's world."
Don Mace
Publisher
Armed Forces News

Armed Forces News provides military personnel with the latest news to inform them about their pay and benefits, as well as to alert them to developments in their military careers.

Letters to the Editor
From M.C. in California: "Fred: I am in continued admiration of your efforts to bring perspective, depth and balance to the complex world that is swirling around us but so poorly reported and badly understood. Our public is woefully uninformed and complacent, in part because we have done such a good job defending the nation. Two oceans don't hurt either -- and where we don't have an ocean, problems intensify -- Mexico pertains. But, that said, not a column goes by that I do not learn something new, gain a new insight, or better appreciate a problem that you have selflessly reported on.

From C.G. in Virginia: "Fred: I have to tell you that your reporting is way better than anything I can read in such rags as the NYT or WP. Great explanation."

From J.X.L. in Arizona: "Thank you for your great Crosshairs. I read and appreciate them with relish. Please keep me on your list.

From W.F.G., a retired U.S. Air Force colonel living in California: "Fred, Your columns are always topical and right on target."

From M.C., a retired U.S. Air Force general living in California:
"It is nothing short of astounding that you find time to do so much for our country . . .a towering contributor. You have a grand touch in helping us all tell our public about the commitment and sacrifice of our current generation in defending the national security interests of this nation. Warmest regards"

Letters regarding the Dec. 19, 2008 issue, "Purging the Pirates."

From D. M. in Virginia. "In a word, Fred: Brilliant. I have followed this issue in detail for many weeks and I think your idea is spot on. It is a very difficult problem and all these armchair Rambos don't have a grasp of how really tough the problem is. I think it will take first the international political will and then land attacks and indefinite occupation in the Somali lands and harbors to bring things under reasonable control. But even then it might be too late. Militant Muslims are about to grab Somalia for themselves. But we have to do something."

From A.T. in Florida. "Fred. I'm glad that you put in print what so many may be thinking. My first thought when I first heard about the most recent spike of piracy in that area was "Blackhawk Down" . I only hope that no one lets a fiasco like that happen again. Perhaps some of the other powers that aren't involved in our current wars can be made to take the lead."

Free Subscription! To receive future columns by e-mail click here and sign up.

A super intelligence agent: The UAV

by Fred Edwards

June 26, 2009 -- The United States never has enough human intelligence collectors (Humint), and the long war we are fighting makes this clear every day. But right under our noses -- or actually above our heads -- technology in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is compensating in spades for the Humint shortage. In fact, the UAV provides vital information that you would like to get from old fashioned agents if you had them and could trust them. Here's how.

At a national security seminar June 6, at St. Pete Beach, Fla., retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael W. Wooley explained. Wooley, former commander of the Air Force Special Operations Command, cited an example of a Predator conducting surveillance on a typical white Toyota pickup. The Predator follows the pickup through downtown Baghdad traffic and creates historical data about it, including who's driving, whether the passenger is always the same, and whether he always sits in the same place in the vehicle. If you build up thousands of hours of aerial surveillance on that vehicle, then lose it in traffic, your historical database can give you the probability of exactly where the vehicle will appear later in the city. The database can be just as accurate as the Toyota driver's memory -- and also more trustworthy.

Want to kill the guy in the Toyota? Just command the Predator to launch a laser-guided Hellfire missile. Why is he a target? Gen. Wooley said because you know he's a member of "the radical arm of Islam." He added, "We're not at war with Islam. We're at war with the radical arm of Islam. They're the ones we have to kill." He looked into the faces of some 200 people attending the seminar. "I can't say it any other way. We have to kill them."

In fact, killing the enemy with UAVs can be more efficient than killing them with our American warriors, because the UAV eliminates high-value targets. This makes it a force multiplier.

Wooley also said that a UAV such as the Predator might have a backup special ops team prepared to go and capture the guy riding in the white Toyota pickup. But why capture him? Because he might have the knowledge to lead us to another killer.

UAVs have not been perfected by a long shot. For example, former Pentagon chief of acquisition, technology and logistics, John J. Young Jr., argued April 27 that the Air Force had refused to budget for an autonomous landing capability for the Predator, even though a large percentage of Predators lost were due to landing accidents. According to Young's spokesman, Chris Isleib, "Since 1994, the Air Force has procured 195 Predators, and 65 have been lost due to Class A mishaps." He said that, of the 65 lost, 36 percent were blamed on human error, and "many of those attributable to ground station problems." About 15 percent of the total losses occurred during the landing phase.

So the UAV represents a technology that's being perfected in the middle of a war that Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz calls "the realm of danger, uncertainty, and chance." How many F-4 Phantom pilots and electronic warfare officers would have expected their successors to drive from home in middle America, kill the enemy by way of a joystick and a video screen, and drive back home for breakfast and a trip to the mall?

The drones are indeed in their infancy. For instance, an unseen Predator can focus on a license plate, but not simultaneously on the vehicle and its surroundings. Wooley, the national security seminar presenter, compared this to "a soda straw view" of the target, and said that we must improve the systems so that we can look at a wide area, then focus the soda straw on one individual. Even then, he said, "We will never have enough intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (UAV support) in Afghanistan and Iraq."

These systems may not replace Humint but they are filling in for Humint when it's absent, and augmenting it when it's there. Let's give UAVs the funding they need.

The content of Crosshairs - Military Matters in Review may be copied or retransmitted for information purposes, but may not be used for any commercial purpose without my written permission. Please credit the source as "Crosshairs - Military Matters in Review" at www.milmat.net by Fred Edwards.

Free Subscription! To receive future columns by e-mail click here and sign up.

Fred Edwards is a military columnist and journalist. He has contributed articles to more than two dozen periodicals and has written six books. His most recent are The Buffie Brigade and The Bridges of Vietnam: From the Journals of a U.S. Marine Intelligence Officer.

Check these questions for the author about:

The Buffie Brigade

The Bridges of Vietnam

Top