You can't kill your way to success in a counter insurgency effort. You have to protect the people, get the civil military balance right, train the locals, and practice effective strategic communications.
Some have called Afghanistan 'the graveyard of empires,' and it probably is the graveyard of empires.
As a 4-star admiral, I visited over a hundred U.S. embassies all around the world, and I never failed to see lines of locals seeking visas to our nation.
The most important thing I learned was the value of personal friendships and working cooperatively with your peers - the Academy has a saying, 'cooperate to graduate,' and that remains a very important central core in my thinking today.
I don't think anyone would look at Colombia today and say that it is failing. This positive outcome is an example of the effective application of smart power - it is succeeding.
As a geographic location, Greece offers the best bases in the NATO Alliance from which to operate in the trouble spots of the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
I spent much of my life - almost 40 years - as a military officer. My specialty was in the part of the Navy that operates ocean-going ships, and as a result, I was at sea for many months at a time.
It is an ambitious agenda, but the approach to Russia should be, 'Confront where we must, but cooperate where we can.'
Sleep is a key part of the requirements for resilience and good decision-making.
The NATO treaty is crystal clear on this one: An attack on one nation shall be regarded as an attack on all of them.
In any insurgency there will be people who are irreconcilable and who pose a clear and present threat to the U.S. and our allies.
During the early 1990s, Mexico's domestic political sensitivities meant that it rarely extradited people who had committed crimes in the U.S. After NAFTA, extradition numbers began to increase until they surpassed 100 a year in the late 2000s.
In the 20th century, we built a lot of walls - we endlessly tried to build walls between us and people we perceived, correctly or incorrect, as our enemies. In the 21st century, because of the advent of networks, the free movement of goods and people across the globe, we need to build security by building bridges instead of building walls.
Thinklogical's systems play a key role in the delivery and visualization of mission critical data used every day by military and intelligence communities worldwide.
I would not be surprised to see Syria break apart entirely.
When I get up, the first thing I do is open up Gmail and check my personal email.
I am a huge consumer of social networks, and I utilize Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I'm interested and am learning more about Tumblr and other visually dominant sites.
I tend to gravitate toward reporters who cover all aspects of the story: from personal aspects to the big picture that answer the 'so what' of a story.
I've never been in a 'Twitter fight,' though I've witnessed my fair share. I do enjoy vigorous and informed debate, but the benefit is lost when the exchange becomes a series of petty ad hominem attacks. I don't see much value in it.
What's the third largest nation in the world after China and India? It's the Facebook nation - 430 million people on Facebook.
