Archive for the ‘Defense – National Security’ Category

This documentary, “Dishonorable Disclosures”, is very well done. And it’s getting a lot of traction out there. It was posted on YouTube on August 15, and already has more than 800,000 views as of today. Pass this video onto your friends and relatives. Every American should see this video.

Hopefully, these jerks will get plenty of time in Leavenworth to think about this.

Is this Obama’s Abu Ghraib? Or is it still Bush’s fault?

GEORGE WILL: Elevating the fallacy of the false alternative to a foreign policy, John McCain and a few others believe Republicans who oppose U.S. intervention in Libya’s civil war — and who think a decade of warfare in Afghanistan is enough — are isolationists. This is less a thought than a flight from thinking, which involves making sensible distinctions.

Last Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” McCain warned that the GOP has always had “an isolation strain.” He calls it “the Pat Buchanan wing,” which he contrasts with “the Republican Party that has been willing to stand up for freedom for people all over the world.” Rather a lot turns on the meaning of “stand up for.”

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WASHINGTON TIMES: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s ongoing release of the Guantanamo Bay prison files, and large numbers of classified State Department cables, attempts to expose what he calls American corruption.

But supporters of the George W. Bush administration’s global war on terrorism say the nearly 800 Guantanamo files show that “enhanced” interrogations of hundreds of captured operatives at secret overseas prisons and at the Cuban prison amounted to one of the most successful intelligence operations in history.

Before the interrogations, the U.S. knew little about al Qaeda in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Years later, the CIA and military had accumulated a large database of ongoing plots and the identities of terrorists, the WikiLeaks files show.

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WALL STREET JOURNAL: Osama bin Laden was killed by Americans, based on intelligence developed by Americans. That should bring great satisfaction to our citizens and elicit praise for our intelligence community. Seized along with bin Laden’s corpse was a trove of documents and electronic devices that should yield intelligence that could help us capture or kill other terrorists and further degrade the capabilities of those who remain at large.

But policies put in place by the very administration that presided over this splendid success promise fewer such successes in the future. Those policies make it unlikely that we’ll be able to get information from those whose identities are disclosed by the material seized from bin Laden. The administration also hounds our intelligence gatherers in ways that can only demoralize them.

Consider how the intelligence that led to bin Laden came to hand. It began with a disclosure from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), who broke like a dam under the pressure of harsh interrogation techniques that included waterboarding. He loosed a torrent of information—including eventually the nickname of a trusted courier of bin Laden.

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ERIC GREITENS-WALL STREET JOURNAL: At Camp Pendleton in California, where I
did my initial weapons training, we must have fired thousands of rounds at practice-range targets printed with the likeness of Osama bin Laden. To take the real shot, the one that brought down bin Laden, was the dream of every Navy SEAL.

The man who got that chance in Pakistan last weekend was a member of the SEAL community’s most elite unit. He and the others who descended on bin Laden’s lair would have put in relentless practice for weeks beforehand—assaulting mock compounds, discussing contingencies and planning every detail of the operation. Most of the men on that mission had dedicated the past decade of their lives to this fight, and they—and their families—had made great personal sacrifices.

Turning on my cellphone last Sunday, I got a text message with the incredible news: “OBL is dead. Hoo Yah!” Within minutes, a tidal wave of messages followed from fellow Navy SEALs and other military and nonmilitary friends. My own thoughts went back to James Suh and Matt Axelson (“Axe”), two members of my own SEAL training class. When Axe was pinned down by the Taliban in a firefight in Afghanistan in June 2005, Suh boarded a helicopter to fly in for a rescue mission. The helicopter was shot down that day and both men died. I thought to myself: Axe, Suh, they got him.

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What it takes to be a Navy SEAL

BUSINESS INSIDER: The military team that killed Osama Bin Laden is an elite special forces group unofficially called Seal Team 6.

Officially, the team’s name is classified and not available to the public, technically there is no team 6. A Tier-One counter-terrorism force similar to the Army’s elusive Delta group, Team 6′s mission rarely make it to paper much less the newspaper.

It shows how important the publicity about Bin Laden’s killing is to the U.S. that this morning, Team 6 is front-page news.

The members of Team 6 are all “black” operatives. They exist outside military protocol, engage in operations that are at the highest level of classification and often outside the boundaries of international law. To maintain plausible deniability in case they are caught, records of black operations are rarely, if ever, kept.

The development of SEAL Team 6 was in direct response to the 1980 attempt to rescue the American hostages held in Iran. The mission was a terrific failure that fell apart at many points and illustrated the need for a dedicated counter-terrorist team capable of operating with the utmost secrecy.

The Team was labeled 6 at the time to confuse Soviet intelligence about the number of SEAL teams in operation at the time. There were only two others.

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STEVE SMITH-MILITARY.COM: Here is the physical fitness test for the Navy SEALS’ training program, known as BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALs).

Are you up to it?

Navy SEAL Fitness Test Breakdown

Swim 500 Yards

Maximum time allowed is 12 minutes, 30 seconds — but to be competitive, you should swim the distance in at least 8 to 9 minutes, utilizing only the Combat Swimmer Stroke, sidestroke, or breast stroke. Recommended workout and training tips: Get technique training and learn to pace yourself. Try 5 to 10 sets of 100-yard swims, working on a pace that will get you below the competitive times. (Rest 10 minutes after swimming the 500 yard test before moving on to the next exercise.)

Push-ups

Minimum number is 42 in 2 minutes, but you should shoot for at least 100 for an average score. Do not pace yourself. Push as many push-ups out as fast as you can, but do not neglect proper form or the SEAL instructor will not count them. (Rest 2 minutes, then move on to the next exercise.)

Sit-ups

Minimum number is 52 in 2 minutes, but you should strive for at least 100 in 2 minutes for an average score. PACE yourself! Try doing 20 to 30 sit-ups in 30 seconds; that will put you within the 80-to-100-sit-ups range for 2 minutes. (Rest 2 minutes.)

Pull-ups

The minimum is eight pull-ups with no time limit, but you cannot touch the ground or let go of the bar. You should be able to do 15 to 20 to be competitive. Try a pyramid of pull-ups: work your way up from one pull-up the first set until you can no longer do any more sets, then return down the pyramid repeating in reverse order (1,2,3,4,5,6,5,4,3,2,1). (Rest 10 minutes before the last exercise of the test.)

1.5-mile run

Wearing boots and pants, the maximum time allowed for this one is 11 minutes, 30 seconds, but you should be able to cover the distance in 9 to 10 minutes to be competitive. Pace yourself: do not start off too fast on the first lap. Shoot for a 90-seconds quarter-mile run time around a standard high school track. Repeat this pace for six to 10 sets until you no longer have to rest in between quarter-miles.

One of the best workouts to assist increasing your scores in the PT and run is the following:

- 100 pull-ups in as few sets as possible Run 1/4 mile in 90 seconds in between sets of pull-ups

- 200 pushups in as few sets as possible Run 1/4 mile in 90 seconds in between sets of push-ups

- 300 sit-ups in as few sets as possible Run 1/4 mile in 90 seconds in between sets of sit-ups

This is a tough workout that can take 30-60 minutes to complete – if you can complete it.

There is very little difference in the type of person who joins the Army Green Berets, Marine RECON, Air Force Pararescue Jumpers, or Navy SEALs. There is one main thing that all of the Special Forces units have in common: Minimum standards are ignored, and they always push themselves to their maximum physical effort.

If you shoot for these minimums — you are destined to go to BUD/S and just TRY to survive each event of the day. That mentality will wear on you quickly and you will most likely quit or become injured from lack of training / overuse injuries.

Once again — you should go to BUD/S with high standards for yourself and COMPETE for the best scores of the class in several events. Do not go to BUD/S just wanting to survive the training!! You have to be more aggressive than that AND NOT let the mind games and verbal harassment of the instructors affect you negatively. You can only succeed by channeling any negative feedback from the instructors and turn it into a positive, self-fueling energy. You should think that nothing anyone will say will make you doubt yourself or your abilities. If you can do the above recommended standards you are more than half way to graduating. The next half of success is the internal drive and determination coupled with the understanding that you know you will be driven to discomfort most of the time.

Remember, the BUD/S PFT is a tough workout. As with any workout, if you know you are not up to it, do not try it. If you have doubts, consult your physician.

Official Site: SEAL Physical Screening Test Requirements

Related Navy Special Operations Articles:

- Navy SEAL Fitness Preparation
- How to Prepare for BUD/S
- Top Things to Know Before BUD/S
- Video: SEAL BUD/S Training
- Getting Fit for SEAL Training
- The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness
- Joining Naval Special Operations
- Navy SWCC Fitness Training
- All Navy Special Operations Fitness

PT programs to train for the Navy PRT can be found at the following Military.com links:

- Pull-ups / Flexed Arm Hang
- Pushups and Sit-ups
- Running
- Swimming

Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and fitness author certified as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. If you are interested in starting a workout program to create a healthy lifestyle – check out the Military.com Fitness eBook store and the Stew Smith article archive at Military.com. To contact Stew with your comments and questions, e-mail him at stew@stewsmith.com.

 

MARC THIESSEN-WASHINGTON POST: In normal times, the officials who uncovered the intelligence that led us to Osama bin Laden would get a medal. In the Obama administration, they have been given subpoenas.

On his second day in office, Obama shut down the CIA’s high-value interrogation program. His Justice Department then reopened criminal investigations into the conduct of CIA interrogators — inquiries that had been closed years before by career prosecutors who concluded that there were no crimes to prosecute. In a speech at the National Archives, Obama eviscerated the men and women of the CIA, accusing them of “torture” and declaring that their work “did not advance our war and counterterrorism efforts — they undermined them.”

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