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From a pure economic standpoint, the tariffs are supposed to be akin to a flat tax. According to the CBO, the increased revenue / lost GDP from tariffs should about equal and cancel out the lost revenue / increased GDP of making the TCJA permanent. The end result is a less progressive tax...

We frequently strip down the weapons systems we send to allies, especially cutting-edge platforms, so I'm not sure why this article is shocking. The 51st state was a joke. But I don't understand why we are posturing toward Canada as some kind of competitor and imposing tariffs on natural...

This is why I hate the spin that Russia is merely a completely incompetent military. We had a lot to do with Ukraine's success in stopping the assault. But at least it's good to know the intricate details.

I think that you missed the point. CJCS is going to offer a hawkish solution for the reasons you state, and institutionally that's because he comes from a military background and we can see in this thread that people in our profession lead to the "fuck Russia at every opportunity to keep the...

I actually think the comparisons and differences are quite interesting. Obama came into his presidency in 2009 with a campaign promise to get out of Iraq. The beltway bureaucracy fought him tooth-and-nail over it, and he mostly deferred to their experience in his first term. In his second...

First time? Can't tell you how many times I couldn't get travel approval to send enlisted sailors to required schools that would also help them advance, but meanwhile the senior leader's travel that could have been a VTC is apparently mission critical. Every time the DoD talks about tightening...

Thanks. Apparently cabinet members can also be impeached. But that's not happening with a Republican House, not that they'd ever get 67 votes to convict in the Senate anyway.

What I gleaned from the convo: VP thinks no and it's a waste, but also can't have honest conversations with the President. Michael Walz thinks yes and it's worthwhile. ODNI and CIA are of the opinion "shrug, here to support." And SECDEF doesn't have any opinions about international commerce...

I like how you're attributing opinions to me that don't exist just because I'm trying to remain logical or analytical about the whole thing. Emotions got us sucked into Iraq. I'm reminded of a congressional staffer who told me over drinks: Americans love the idea of servicemembers but they...

Cheers! 🍻

Personally, I try not to get overly emotional and try to reason through these things with existing beaurocratic processes. That was the nature of my question. I'm willing to be convinced that Hegseth committed some egregious legal violation. But best I can surmise is that he's just an idiot...

I don't know what emoji to respond to this... but I'm in agreeance.

I mean, I mentioned that. Michael Waltz is the adult discussing international commerce and economic impacts. JD Vance and Hegseth go back and forth about how to best advertize the size of America's schlong while trying to embarass a no-longer relevant politician that no one cares about anymore...

There's no double standard. In military land, signing an agreement carries the effect of a lawful order. Not so in civlant or civpac. But anyway, you're dodging my question... Thought experiment: I'm President and you're my AG. I want to hold Hegseth accountable to the maximum extent of the...

I can't speak to what the SECDEF does or does not sign. It's also not particularly relevant. What I'm asking about is that the SECDEF has declassification authority. He could have read a document with classification / SCI markings and decided that he was going to release the information. So my...

Well, the only policies that Hegseth has to adhere to are federal statute or executive orders. And from what I can find, classification guidance is signed by appointed cabinet members and their subordinates. That's why I asked a somewhat stupid but also legitimate question: what lawfully stops...

I said 'scaled up example.' An analogy on how someone can do something morally shitty while not being illegal.

What I was trying to say is that there is a legal and moral aspect to this. From a legal standpoint, I can't get to a clear-cut way in which Hegseth violated the law or regulations that apply to him. Which means accountability measures like prosecution, DOJ investigation, or even resignation...

It's relevant when discussing the appropriate amount of accountability. The buzz around many parts of the internet is that Hegseth should be jailed for some grave violation of statute and DoD regulations. I don't see it based on what I understand of DoD regulations and SECDEF's classification...

No idea how that works. Can the Secretary of Defense or President unilaterally decide to read a high-level OPLAN to the public at a press conference? I don't think that Hegseth was being that deliberate in his thought process here.

Where it gets muddy is this is SECDEF, who doesn't have to adhere to how CENTCOM defines normal / serious / grave damage in a way that balances risk with ease of communication for his subordinates. It doesn't belong on signal either way, but this isn't like something under a SAP was leaked...

My contention was that if we're being strict about definitions of classification levels, it should be confidential due to elevating risk to force and risk to mission, but the impact of that risk would not be felt above the tactical level. This presumes the mission actually supported some...

Is it your contention that there exists an adversary that.... Lacks the technology for persistant ISR capabilities to have previously observed military operations in Yemen Lacks the intel community framework to analyze and predict US cyclic operations in Yemen that have been occuring for well...

Of course not. The world has watched us conduct operations like this for the last quarter of a century. That's part of the deterrence mission.

You think they weren't already watching? You think a U.S. aircraft carrier goes anywhere without the other major world powers knowing about it?

I mean, that's really the million dollar question as to whether this was classified, and to what level? Does knowing the time on top of an impending strike somewhere in a 204,000 square mile radius really provide an adversary with the capabilities of the Houthis anything of substance to U.S...

I was particularly latching onto the anecdote of him removing someone's NEC and security clearance for sending an email to some buddies back home to watch CNN at 330 because it corresponded to the TOT of a TLAM strike (which, based on the info provided, was a piece of info only known to people...

The OCA piece means that the info isn't classified unless they say it is. If we're adhering to the actual definitions of 'grave / serious / normal damage to national security if disclosed' and not the fact that we over-classify everything out the wazoo to cover our own asses, the TOT...

The most damning part of that exchange on Signal is that apparently we are spending tens of millions of dollars to turn people in a failed state into red dust primarily because we need to stick it to former President Biden and his fellow Democrats. Of course the press isn't focusing on that part.

Meh, some of the anecdotes seem extreme based on the information provided. It screams of a community whose only interaction with enlisted sailors is through a CMC. It reminds me of an anecdote at a fleet command where a skimmer E9 wanted to send an E5 to mast because the E9 thought the E5 was...

So something interesting I discussed that provides a common explanation of the Hillary case with this... Government communications on official devices are subject to record keeping rules. Most of us peons think nothing of that when sending emails, but when your position is high in the political...

This. The instances where we hammer someone is not only when they create spillage, but they willfully attempt to give or sell it to someone who isn't cleared to have it, usually a foreign actor. Which didn't happen in this case.

I think that a public apology and some words about tightening up security protocols are sufficient. And I've never seen a butter bar's career ended over an accidental security violation.

Did I say there wasn't a breach? We don't revoke people's licenses and throw them in jail for getting a ticket for 75 in a 65 because speeding could have killed someone. We take action appropriate for the violation based on actual events and impact. The breach is being spun as if the...

Everything so far sounds as you describe. I highly doubt this is the first time that high-level leaders got sloppy with what they perceive to be secure communications among trusted colleagues. They just happened to get caught this time. Remember the whole snafu with Hillary Clinton's emails...

Meh, this seems marginally worse than accidentally bringing a PED into a SCIF or having some classified notes in an unmarked wheelbook. We almost never court martial people over that. Also, the media shitstorm from the fact that it's SECDEF is significantly higher than a random butter bar that...

https://www.hardlinecrawlers.com/threads/look-at-my-striped-shirt-ing-look-at-it.1428/

Pretty sure that it's Jake Gyllenhaal's face with a more stragly beard in Navy garb. There is potential for the beard to look professional if it were properly trimmed like the British officer's beard.

"How come the sir can have a beard and I can't?" "Well, he's 40 years old and his facial hair makes him look manly. You're 20 and your beard looks like stray ball hair stuck on your cheeks after a blowjob." "Rules for thee, not for me. I see how it goes" [files IG on his smartphone connected...

We need to have a CNO in order to be able to answer any of these questions. But apparently firing exceptionally talented senior leaders was the way for the current administration to send some kind of message ...

We were technologically capable of adapting the Heny Ford assembly process well before the VA class submarine. What prompted the change was the fall of the Soviet Union and political pressure inside the beltway in the 1990s whereupon policy makers kept asking "why do we need submarines?" instead...

I didn't say building a submarine is the same as building a car. What I implied was that 60 years was far too long for the Navy to discover that building a sub in modules and assembling it at the end saves a ton of money. Especially when the technology improvements over its LA class predecessor...

How I envision diplomatic relations between the current administration and China...

That makes two of us.

I'll invite you to the next planning conference.

Taiwan's standing has nothing to do with American military support, and everything to do with the fact that they don't have a separatist political will. We could decide to deploy 0 naval ships to the western pacific for the next 5 years and the geo-political situation between the PRC and ROC...

China's not watching anything. There's not a single ally or partner in the Pacific who will commit to joining the U.S. in a defense of Taiwan or South China Sea territorial integrity conflict. China knows this. Their calculation has nothing to do with what is happening in Europe because they...

Mostly because of a Republican House speaker who stonewalled his fiscal policy and an historic economic boom that dramatically increased tax revenue yet crashed as soon as he left office.

In layman's terms: The navy discovered a 1940s manufacturing process in the 00s to save money. Apparently this required a hull change from the seawolf class to virginia class. Everyone high-fived themselves about this "novel" discovery. The engineering of ship's hull and propulsion systems is...

The Virginia class submarine is a downscaled version of the Seawolf class submarine. I'll never forget doing a tour at Naval Reactors where the engineer was ecstatic that the Navy discovered that it could save a ton of money by incorporating Henry Ford's assembly line process toward building...