Uber-brainy defense intellectual Bernard Finel arrives at LoD to dish on the Pentagon, former SecDef Bob Gates and the F-22 program. How do we develop a strategic culture at DoD?

The Smiling Cobra, Clifford Stanley, resigns as the Pentagon’s Personnel & Readiness boss. What this might mean for you. And our country.

Generals, the time has come for you to honestly share with your troops the metrics culled from the war in Afghanistan. What is your strategy? How long will it take? Where are we now? What are the costs?

No, it’s not a spoof by The Onion. Small Wars Journal features an op-ed so giddily optimistic, you’d almost think the author wasn’t in Afghanistan.

A Congressman working late at on Capitol Hill takes my call and explains with wonkish detail — and some delight — what the statute does and how it helps vets. Yeah, I know!

The Line: The national news media had to jump on the story, once a Los Angeles TV station reported a mystery missile launch off the California coast, and the false report was largely the fault of the Pentagon who failed to knock it down fast enough.
Where I Depart: The widespread attention given this story was due to the lack of expertise in cable television newsrooms, and the failure to do basic fact-checking before rushing to air. It was an embarrassing indictment of the low standards of news operations, who are too often in a race to be wrong.

There will be a lot of handwringing inside and outside media circles about the new Pentagon rules will make the missions of both the military and the media more difficult. But the truth is little will change. Meanwhile the whole episode serves as reminder to both sides of the military/media divide just where their loyalties should lie.

I have obtained highly-unclassified PowerPoint slide outlining the internal Pentagon strategy for dealing with the news media. I am publishing the briefing slide EXCLUSIVELY to pull the curtain back on the techniques the powerful Pentagon press office uses to successfully influence news coverage.

The dirty little secret is that what saved the Pentagon from disaster was the fact the gunman was unaware of a gaping hole in Pentagon security, and therefore fortunately didn’t know how to exploit it.

A minor skirmish in the Obama Administration’s war on Fox: feeling the chill in the Pentagon briefing room…