Simon’s Letter to President Trump

Winning the Peace (Ch. 5)

A feel good but secondary mission is to promote life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for the citizens of the various Partner Nations. Winning the Peace (WtP) Foreign Area Officers (FAOs) may support when feasible, freedom of religion with the end-state being that a Muslim could convert to Christianity and not face death for … Continue reading Winning the Peace (Ch. 5) →

Winning the Peace (Ch. 3)

Past being prologue, it is not likely that either the Department of State or CIA is going to beat back the onslaught of Salafism. The intent here is to provide leadership with a notion of the type of Foreign Area Officer (FAO) required to develop and implement strategy. The current “strategy,” whatever it may be, … Continue reading Winning the Peace (Ch. 3) →

Winning the Peace Ch. 1 (AKA: Not Nation-Building Ch. 96)

I’ve had opportunity to work overseas with many of Uncle Sam’s alphabet soup agencies (DEA, CIA, DOS, USAID, etc.) and have generally been underwhelmed by their lack of foreign language skills and understanding of the local culture. On the other hand they are filled with lot of really intelligent people with advanced degrees who speak … Continue reading Winning the Peace Ch. 1 (AKA: Not Nation-Building Ch. 96) →

Winning the Peace

Anyone who believes that we are winning the so called “Global War on Terrorism” has not endured an airport screening lately. Winning the peace would mean that you could board a plane as stress free as you did before 9-11. No, what we see and feel in today’s America is not what peace looks like. … Continue reading Winning the Peace →

Rethinking the DOD’s Foreign Area Officer Program

As I may have said once or twice before, since the end of World War II, our nation’s military has won almost all the battles while not really winning any wars. This suggests that it is high time to consider new strategies, even different tactics, techniques, and procedures. We are a nation at war whether … Continue reading Rethinking the DOD’s Foreign Area Officer Program →