Carriers versus Amphibs

Bryan McGrath has a fantastic article at RealClearDefense discussing the substantial differences between aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. I've written about some of these issues before ((Austerity and Naval Strategy, A Strategic Dialogue: Force Strength and Structure, and Carrier Aircraft and Economies of Scale), but McGrath's article is truly indispensable, and it's a fairly quick read. As I noted in some of those earlier posts, the current threat environment provides some opportunities for assets less costly than a supercarrier (for example, amphibs and "mobile landing platforms") to fill strategic gaps. However, they don't represent a one-for-one swap with supercarriers, and the supercarriers will remain the foundation of American naval strategy well into the foreseeable future. Put quite simply, they offer indispensable capabilities that alternative platforms can't replicate.

Recent BBC Documentaries

In the last month or so, the BBC has released a number of podcast documentaries of interest to both strategists and security practitioners. I wanted to share a few of these in case they're of interest to any readers out there.

Preparing for Disaster examines the Prepper Movement in the United States. I've written on this topic previously. I'm skeptical of the prepper movement, and I think that it's drawn in a lot of the same survivalist and revolutionary types who were active in the latter years of the Clinton Administration, talking about "black helicopters" and the "New World Order". The BBC documentary is similarly critical. I think it's worth noting, though, that when such documentaries are made, they tend to find the most extreme, fringe folks to interview - particularly because those folks are the ones who are most public about their views and lifestyle. The value of preparing one's home for disasters shouldn't be controversial; the value of preparing in advance to evacuate in case of an emergency shouldn't be controversial, either. I get the impression that the Prepper Movement is putting some people off of these reasonable measures, even as popularizing such measures encourages others to prepare for such contingencies.

If you're interested in the uses and drawbacks of online mapping utilities, you may enjoy Mapping the Void. I'd say it's the weakest of the documentaries I'm highlighting today, but it may be of some interest to some folks out there.

One of the most interesting selections is one entitled Crypto Wars, which discusses the early history of data encryption, the conflicts between data openness and confidentiality, the role that the American government has played, and so on. For the BBC, it's surprisingly even-handed, and absolutely worth your time, particularly if you're interested in some of the recent disclosure cases (Manning, Snowden, Assange), or if you have any interest in network security.

And finally, Egyptian author Tarek Osman has done a fascinating series that I have yet to finish listening. The episodes, in chronological order, are as follows: The Rise and Fall of Arab Liberalism, The Rise and Fall of Arab Nationalism, The Rise of Islamism, and The Rise of the Arab Spring. From what I've heard so far, it seems to do a pretty good job of compressing the last hundred years of Arab politics into a nutshell. If you're interested in issues relating to the Arab World, these are definitely worth your time to listen to.

Target Breach: Physical Security Meets Network Security

A good friend posted a great article (Bloomberg Businessweek: Missed Alarms and 40 Million Stolen Credit Card Numbers: How Target Blew It) about Target's recent data breach. The hackers who breached Target's system are believed to have gotten access to Target's infrastructure by impersonating HVAC repair workers. This is a key element of network security that's often overlooked: if you don't maintain physical control of your system, you no longer have a secure system, regardless of how well you may think your software controls are working.