Speak And Remove All Doubt

There’s an old and very wise proverb that goes,

 

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to speak and remove all doubt.

 

After reading the latest memo from SecDef Austin, it is clear that he is in the process of removing all doubt.

 

Austin issued a memo to the Department of Defense in which he outlined his priorities.  The memo has no redeeming value, whatsoever, and removes all doubt about the SecDef.  He lists three top level priorities (1):

 

• Defending the Nation
• Take Care of Our People
• Succeed through Teamwork

 

Well, that pretty much says nothing but let’s see what Austin's more detailed priorities reveal:

 

 

Defending the Nation

 

Defeat Covid-19 – Austin has this to say about the virus,

 

The greatest proximate challenge to our Nation’s security is the threat of COVID-19.

 

I’m sorry but that’s garbage and patently false.  The virus has certainly disrupted our economy [well, the virus hasn’t, it was the media driven panic frenzy that led to the draconian measures which disrupted our economy – none of which had any positive impact on the virus] but it is not a threat to national security.  That’s not even remotely true.  For 99% of infected people, the virus is just a nuisance and for a very large percentage, it is asymptomatic.  This virus is barely worse than the common flu.

 

Prioritize China as the Pacing Threat – I’m on board with this although Austin reduces the topic to a PowerPoint cavalcade of nearly incomprehensible buzzwords,

 

We will ensure that our approach toward China is coordinated and synchronized across the enterprise to advance our priorities, integrated into domestic and foreign policy in a whole-of-government strategy, strengthened by our alliances and partnerships, and supported on a bipartisan basis in Congress. (1)

 

Address Advanced and Persistent Threats – This appears to be addressing the remaining threats of Russia, Iran, NKorea, and terrorism.  That’s great but, unfortunately, the method of addressing those threats would appear to be appeasement,

 

… using all of our tools to lower the risk of escalation with our adversaries … (1)

 

You don’t address enemies by doing everything you can to ‘lower the risk of escalation’.  That’s the definition of appeasement.  You address enemies by demonstrating that you have the courage, will, and capability to crush them and then you put that determination and capability into action from time to time so as to impart a bone-deep lesson.

 

Innovate and Modernize – The scary part of this priority is,

 

Where necessary, we will divest of legacy systems and programs that no longer meet our security needs, while investing smartly for the future. (1)

 

This is the same failed policy we’ve been pursuing of abandoning firepower in pursuit of some magical offset that will grant us victory through technology and ignores our enemy’s plans and capabilities.  For example, the Marines have dropped legacy tanks in pursuit of some kind of magic hidden outpost where they will perform anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare in some unexplained, invisible manner.

 

Tackle the Climate Crisis – Setting aside the utter lack of proof that there is such a thing as climate crisis (go study historical climate cycles dating back millions of years and you’ll see that we’re not experiencing anything noteworthy), it is not the job of the military to solve a climate issue.  This is a betrayal of the military’s responsibility to the nation.

 

 

Take Care of Our People

 

Grow Our Talent – This is just PowerPoint garbage.

 

Build Resilience and Readiness – This would be a great priority except that it doesn’t mean what it says.  Here’s what it really means,

 

We maintain and enhance force readiness and develop the capabilities we need to protect America when we fully embrace a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and thought. (1)

 

This is diversity and social engineering masquerading as a military goal.  Readiness is a function of repair depots, maintenance, training, etc., not diversity. 

 

Ensure Accountable Leadership – Well this one is already out the window.  If there was any accountability, Austin would be gone after penning this piece of garbage.  Instead, this is all about political removal of conservative beliefs.

 

… working to stamp out extremism … (1)

 

 

Succeed Through Teamwork

 

Join Forces with Allies and Partners – This is the completely discredited concept of sharing the military responsibility so that we don’t have to maintain as strong a military and can redirect our funding to social programs.  The Thousand Ship Navy was a failed example of this.

 

Partnership with Our Nation - ?????  Partner?????  Would the military 'partner' with someone else?  Are they taking bids from various countries?  This is some kind of garbage about … well … I really don’t know what this is other than it’s a waste of the paper it was written on.

 

Unity Within DoD – More compete meaningless gibberish.

 

 

 

Conclusion

Well, there you have it … the defining tome from your top military figure.  Impressive, huh?  I would have a hard time intentionally writing a more worthless piece of garbage and Austin meant this to be serious.  I had to check to see if it was April Fool's Day but, sadly, it wasn't.  Almost none of the memo addressed warfighting, the DoD’s main responsibility, and what little touched on it was so corrupted by social engineering and utter gibberish as to be incomprehensible and worthless.  As worthless a document as I’ve seen. 

 

SecDef Austin has spoken and removed all doubt.

 

 

 

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(1)USNI News website, “SECDEF Lloyd Austin’s Message to the Force”, 4-Mar-2021,

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/04/secdef-lloyd-austins-message-to-the-force