Obama’s New Defense Plan: Drones, Spec Ops and Cyber War

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/pentagon-asia-strategy/

By Spencer Ackerman
Danger Room Wired.com
January 5, 2012

The President announced his vision for the future of the U.S. military 
today. Kiss big counterinsurgencies goodbye. Get ready for more shadow 
wars, drone attacks and online combat, with the military’s eyes on the 
Pacific, rather than Afghanistan.

In a rare visit to the Pentagon, President Obama declared that the U.S. 
will be “strengthening our presence in the Asia-Pacific,” while “turning 
the page on a decade of war.” In practice, that means cutting the Army 
and Marine Corps and unspecified “outdated Cold War systems,” part of a 
broad effort to cut what the Pentagon now calculates as $487 billion 
over 10 years from its budget.

But it also means that the U.S. is going to lean hard on other military 
specialties between now and 2020. Obama identified those as 
“intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, counterterrorism, 
countering weapons of mass destruction, and the ability to operate in 
environments where adversaries try to deny us access.”

Translated from the defense wonk: lots of spy tools including drones; 
lethal special operations forces; offensive cyber weapons; jammers; and 
a presence to deter and confront Iran — and maybe China, which seeks to 
keep the Navy and Air Force off its shores.

[...]

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