[Intelforum] Secrecy News -- 02/03/12

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SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2012, Issue No. 9
February 3, 2012

Secrecy News Blog:  http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/


**     SPECTER OF A "HOLLOW FORCE" CALLED INTO QUESTION
**     CONGRESS CALLS FOR ACCELERATED USE OF DRONES IN U.S.


SPECTER OF A "HOLLOW FORCE" CALLED INTO QUESTION

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and other officials have warned that if
U.S. military spending is cut significantly, the unacceptable result would
be a "a hollow force incapable of sustaining the missions it is assigned."

	http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=14928

But a new critique from the Congressional Research Service suggests that
the use of the term "hollow force" is inappropriate and unwarranted.

"Historically, there were two periods-- post-Vietnam and again in the
1990s-- when the term 'hollow force' was used to describe the U.S. armed
forces."  It referred to "forces that appear mission-ready but, upon
examination, suffer from shortages of personnel and equipment, and from
deficiencies in training."

But a close review of the circumstances that generated a hollow force in
the past does not support the use of the term today, the CRS said.  "Most
of the conditions that existed in the 1970s do not exist today."

Among other things, defense procurement spending has surged in recent
years to enable significant modernization of military forces.

"Even if modernization funds become more limited in future defense
budgets, overall budget data suggest the Services would enter this period
after having invested in modernized forces about as substantially as in the
weapons-driven buildup of the 1980s."

"CRS has calculated that when recent amounts for weapons modernization are
compared to amounts in the mid-1980s, the total inflation-adjusted dollar
value of relatively modern equipment available to forces today (i.e.,
equipment purchased within the past 10 years) appears relatively robust."

"Given these conditions, it can be argued that the use of the term 'hollow
force' is inappropriate under present circumstances," the CRS report said.

A copy of the new CRS report was obtained by Secrecy News.  See "A
Historical Perspective on 'Hollow Forces'," January 31, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42334.pdf


CONGRESS CALLS FOR ACCELERATED USE OF DRONES IN U.S.

A House-Senate conference report this week called on the Administration to
accelerate the use of civilian unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or "drones,"
in U.S. airspace.

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2012/02/faa-uas.html

The pending authorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration
directs the Secretary of Transporation to develop within nine months "a
comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned
aircraft systems into the national airspace system."

"The plan... shall provide for the safe integration of civil unmanned
aircraft systems into the national airspace system as soon as practicable,
but not later than September 30, 2015."

The conference bill, which still awaits final passage, also calls for
establishment of UAS test ranges in cooperation with NASA and the
Department of Defense, expanded use of UAS in the Arctic region,
development of guidance for the operation of public unmanned aircraft
systems, and new safety research to assess the risk of "catastrophic
failure of the unmanned aircraft that would endanger other aircraft in the
national airspace system."

The Department of Defense is pursuing its own domestic UAS activities for
training purposes and "domestic operations," according to a 2007 DoD-FAA
memorandum of agreement.  ("Army Foresees Expanded Use of Drones in U.S.
Airspace," Secrecy News, January 19, 2012.)


_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web:    www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email:  saftergood at fas.org
voice:  (202) 454-4691
twitter: @saftergood