Recent Posts
-
Freeland: Globalization, Technology and Global Politics Driving Growth of the Super Rich
August 9, 2013 -
Ghattas: U.S. Foreign Policy Must Adapt to the 21st Century, Rising Superpowers
August 8, 2013 -
DoD Memo Sheds Light on New Whistleblower Protections
August 7, 2013 -
Whistleblowing Study Examines Fairness vs. Loyalty
August 7, 2013 -
Y-12 Security: Time to Give Federalized Guard Force a Shot?
August 6, 2013 -
Goodman: America's Bloated Military Spending Hurts U.S. Mission
August 5, 2013 -
POGO and Allies Urge Improvements to Surveillance Law
August 2, 2013 -
POGO Obtains DoD Memo on 20 Percent HQ Spending Cut
August 1, 2013 -
New Report Slams Contract Oversight in Afghanistan
August 1, 2013
The "Generic" Country
TweetOctober 24, 2005
Al Kamen's column today recounts a mildly humorous moment that I had on July 26, 2005 at an Air Force briefing. Three of the Power Point slides used in a presentation on the Air Force's Future Total Force plan (pdf) featured an unnamed country littered with targets in a hypothetical US air attack. These slides were meant to show that National Guard and Reserve units need the best aircraft since they will be facing the same threats active duty forces do and are deployed almost as often too (nowadays, Reserve and Guard units often get second-hand aircraft, rather than the latest).
As an aside, I asked Air Force Brig. General Allison Hickey and two Air Force public affairs officers if the country featued in the slides was indeed Iran. There initial response was a defensive no, it's a "generic country" an artist drew up for the presentation. But as I pointed out the countries surrounding Iran, strengthening my observation, the Air Force officers moved the presentation on, but did say they should probably change the slides considering tensions with the country. Oddly, they let me keep the slides though.
At the time of publication, Nick Schwellenbach was Director of Investigations for the Project On Government Oversight.
Authors: Nick Schwellenbach
Stay Connected
Browse POGOBlog by Topic
POGO on Facebook
Latest Podcast
Podcast: How The Intelligence World Came to Rely on Contractors
POGO's Scott Amey talks about the growing private intelligence industry that includes major federal contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, the former employer of Edward Snowden. Podcast with Joe Newman, Aimee Thomson, Jana Persky and Andre Francisco.
