Free Republic

FORT HUACHUCA -- As the future of warfare continues to evolve, on a local level, it’s nice to know that one thing is certain: “the future looks bright” at Fort Huachuca. These words were shared by Gen. Mark Milley, the 39th Army chief of staff, during yesterday’s visit to the Fort. “(Fort Huachuca) is the heart and soul of our intelligence community,” he said. Milley’s visit, which he said was initiated by U.S. Rep Martha McSally, was established so that he could gain a better understanding of Fort Huachuca’s mission and role within the Army as well as an opportunity...

Detail by painful detail, the CIA is coming to grips with one of the most devastating episodes in its history, a botched cloak-and-dagger flight into China that stole two decades of freedom from a pair of fresh-faced American operatives and cost the lives of their two pilots. In opening up about the 1952 debacle, the CIA is finding ways to use it as a teaching tool. Mistakes of the past can serve as cautionary tales for today's spies and paramilitary officers taking on al-Qaida and other terrorist targets. At the center of the story are two eager CIA paramilitary officers...

...As [Lilley] explains, "It was ambiguity over whether the U.S. would defend South Korea from attack -- created when Secretary of State Dean Acheson left the Korean peninsula outside the U.S. "defense perimeter" he described in a 1950 speech -- that convinced Kim Il Sung he could act with impunity. And when Saddam Hussein in 1991 informed U.S. ambassador April Gillespie that Kuwait was in his sights, and she gave an ambiguous response, tragedy also ensued. By contrast, there was nothing ambiguous about mutual assured destruction; and it worked for decades. Ambiguity [is] what Mr. Kerry offers on the subject...