‘Black Hawk Down’ Commander’s forthcoming book
Posted by editor on 25 August 2010 at 12:35 pm UTC
Col. Danny McKnight, one of the heroic figures of the battle of Mogadishu, has written a superb leadership-primer for all chiefs and up-and-coming leaders, which will serve them well from the battlefield to the boardroom.
Details will follow as we near the publication date.
More about McKnight at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37375
Posted by editor on 6 August 2010 at 7:34 pm UTC
Maj. Gen. O. Eugene Powell, Jr., Joint Services Detachment, S.C. Military Dept.
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
[Maj. Gen. Powell - photo by John Powell]
Each month, a group of just under two dozen field-grade and general officers – all volunteer members of the S.C. Military Dept. (SCMD) – gather in Columbia to discuss ways in which specific SCMD initiatives might be advanced at no cost to the South Carolina taxpayer.
Members of the group – the Joint Services Detachment (JSD) – receive no compensation for their services; and the discussion topics range from the 2010 national Medal of Honor convention (to be held in Charleston next month), to helping troubled youth get their lives back on track, to providing assistance and support to soldiers returning from tough overseas deployments, to expanding an awareness of – as well as the exhibits at – the S.C. Military Museum (adjacent the Adjutant General’s headquarters building on Bluff Road).
But these officers are not simply talking; they’re doing. And in many instances, that ‘doing’ equates to leading those initiatives.
Maj. Gen. O. Eugene Powell, Jr. – a career attorney, retired judge, retired U.S. Army officer, and now commander of JSD – explains why in many ways JSD may be one of the state’s most important assets in terms of the leadership and combined professional experience of the group. Yet few have ever heard of JSD.
WDR: What is the Joint Services Detachment, and how does it serve the S.C. Military Dept.?
Maj. Gen. O. Eugene Powell, Jr.: The Joint Services Detachment (JSD) is part of South Carolina’s State Defense Force. It is a volunteer administrative support group composed of military officers, appointed by both S.C.’s governor and the adjutant general.
JSD provides legal, medical, financial, military, and law enforcement staff support to the S.C. Military Department (SCMD), and JSD’s officers provide professional assistance to the SCMD allowing it to operate more efficiently and at no additional expense to the SCMD.
The detachment was created by Maj. Gen. Stan Spears, the Adjutant General, in 1996, and since its inception, it has been a valuable force multiplier for the SCMD. Notably, JSD members receive no pay for the services they provide.
WDR: What are JSD’s front-burner missions?
MG Powell: The primary missions involve special projects that benefit the SCMD and/or promote the professional military image, historical significance and reputation for reliability of the SCMD.
Currently, our officers are working – in conjunction with the S.C. State Guard (SCSG) Foundation and The Citadel – to promote the Medal of Honor Society’s annual convention, which – hosted by the SCSG and The Citadel – will be held in Charleston, during the week of Sept. 29 through October 3, 2010. The kick-off event will be here in Columbia on Sept. 27.
For this event, JSD officers have worked tirelessly providing leadership; assisting with fundraising, public relations, planning and execution of this special event, as well as organizing numerous pre-convention events all honoring the recipients of America’s highest military award for valor in combat.
JSD is also focused on raising awareness regarding the threat of terrorism. In the near future, our programs will feature presentations to the SCMD made by many of the nation’s most respected counterterrorism analysts like former U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Jed Babbin, former CIA director Porter Goss, and international terrorism analyst Dr. Walid Phares [regularly seen on FOX News] among others.
Former CIA operations officer Clare Lopez [also a FOX News terrorism analyst and a contract consultant to DoD agencies] briefed us in Dec. 2009.
WDR: What have you - as commander of JSD - found to be the most challenging (and most rewarding) particulars associated with working for the S.C. Military Dept?
MG Powell: Serving as commander, JSD is, in itself rewarding. The officers of JSD are skilled professionals.
Among our number are physicians, lawyers, judges, legislators, retired and active executives, the sheriff of Richland County, writers, and public information and photography experts. Most of our officers have prior active or Reserve military service under their belts, or they are retired from the military.
Among our officers are veterans of the Vietnam War and Persian Gulf War eras. At least one officer served in Kosovo. Another was embedded with U.S. and British forces in Iraq. They all give untiringly of their time and efforts. One officer generously donated an invaluable collection of military and law enforcement arms and memorabilia to the S.C. Military Museum.
Mission rewards have been multiple. A JSD senior executive/officer worked through his employer to raise $3,600 for phone cards for deploying S.C. National Guard soldiers. And when a Korean War POW donated his book to the museum, JSD’s Legal Directorate processed the copyright from the donor to the museum.
Government Directorate officers, through a JSD legislative member, sponsored a bill, which passed in 2006, approving a State income tax deduction for volunteer members of the SCSG who meet their yearly obligation. More recently, the Government Directorate, through legislative members, introduced a bill to award tax exemptions for S.C. Medal of Honor recipients who served during any war. The bill passed this year.
The JSD Provost Marshal through the Richland County Sheriff’s Dept. provided basic military police training for SCSG members to enhance their ability to perform State or local government missions.
The Medical Directorate provided skin cancer examinations for SCSG.
The challenge in providing volunteer services of the quality found in the JSD is always the underlying issue of resources. Without a budget, JSD members donate not only copious amounts of time but contribute their own resources, money, supplies, etc. But, we have always met – and I am confident will continue to meet – the challenge, no matter the cost.
WDR: How have your experiences as a lawyer and a judge better equipped you for the challenges of command?
MG Powell: I would say my primary experiences that best equipped me to command JSD stem from being a retired colonel, U.S. Army, and a graduate of the Army War College.
During my tenure as colonel, I was privileged to serve as commander of the 12th Military Law Center and as Staff Judge Advocate, 120th Army Reserve Command, and during Desert Storm and Desert Shield, Staff Judge Advocate, U.S. Central Command [Rear Element].
These senior assignments provided opportunities for both leadership challenges and work with and advising General officers in the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
In JSD, many of our missions have been legal in nature, and so my background as a lawyer and a judge [now retired], enhanced my understanding of the issues and increased my ability to work toward resolution.
On balance, being the commander is easy, because I am surrounded by outstanding professionals who are dedicated to whatever missions may be tasked by the governor, the adjutant general, or the SCMD.
WDR: What would South Carolinians be surprised to know about JSD, and to a greater degree, the S.C. Military Dept. which is served by JSD?
MG Powell: JSD has a significant impact in its outreach to military oriented causes and events.
For instance, South Carolinians might be surprised and pleased to know the extent to which the men and women of JSD devote themselves, their time, and energy by serving on boards and committees of the Youth ChalleNGe Academy, the S.C. Military Museum Foundation, the S.C. Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, the S.C. USO, the S.C. Association of the U.S. Army (including its current president), the American Society of Journalists & Authors (the nation’s premier organization of professional writers, in which one of JSD’s officers is the military liaison), and various roles in BEYOND VALOR (the Medal of Honor Society’s annual convention).
The collective value of these services, if compensated, would run into the tens-of-thousands of dollars, and that’s a conservative estimate. However, each serving JSD officer is rewarded by seeing a young man or woman graduate from the Youth ChalleNGe Academy, watching the smiling faces of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines who transition through the USO from basic training or some overseas theater like Iraq or Afghanistan, knowing that an employer will welcome back a National Guard or Reserve employee returning from deployment, witnessing the growth of the S.C. Military Museum as each new exhibit is added, and shaking hands with the real heroes of our military, America’s Medal of Honor recipients.
– Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.
A Tribute to my father, a member of Rogers’ Raiders
Posted by editor on 29 July 2010 at 12:29 pm UTC
By LTC Thomas S. Mullikin
July 14, 2010, Normandy, France – A cold, rainy day greets my wife and I – a day that might have easily resembled the conditions encountered by Allied soldiers as they fought their way from the sea onto the enemy held shoreline, followed by the inexorable grind inland toward the goal of ending the tyranny of Nazi Germany.
Today, more than 66 years after the Normandy Invasion, we begin our journey attempting to get our heads around the experiences of my father, Charlie Mullikin, an American soldier who landed here on the Normandy coast and was ultimately wounded in action.
On this day, we SCUBA dive onto the great shipwrecks lying offshore.
White caps are pounding our small, rubber Zodiac boat. Visibility is near zero—no more than five feet at best. I can only imagine the violent and terrible cold shock to those American, British, and Canadian soldiers carrying their packs, weapons, and ammunition through the bloody, churning surf.
I am also reminded of the Navy frogmen who suffered 50-percent casualties as they removed the defensive obstacles placed on the beach and in the surf by the Germans.
I made this trek to celebrate my 50th birthday. More importantly, I wanted to recognize the price of freedom and remember the selfless contributions made by my father and other citizen soldiers of his era—appropriately christened, “The Greatest Generation.”
I am particularly proud of my father, a member of a special reconnaissance unit of the 407th Infantry Regiment, affectionately known as “Rogers’ Raiders.” Their actions – though little known – were stellar at Normandy, and the fame of the exploits would spread Army-wide during the period of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.
The Raiders – composed entirely of volunteer combatants trained for direct action operations and deep reconnaissance – were led by 1st Lt. Roy “Buck” Rogers.
Army records describe one of their night raids:
“At exactly 0300 Buck Roger’s Night Raiders of the 407th Infantry pushed out into darkness, out into the narrow torrential Roer (River). … A German machine gun opened up not 50 yards away … Two long minutes later … the boats hit the Roer’s east bank. …With clocklike precision dark figures fanned out around the ominous machine gun. …One man returned the fire. Another grasped his grenade. A good throw. A dull thud. A scream. Silence.
“One group… swung toward the railroad bounded by a dense minefield … The rest of the patrol slugged south mopping up one nest after another. At H-hour—30 minutes later—the first assault wave of the 407th Infantry crossed without a hitch. Their bridgehead, the first across the Roer, was established.
“When the 30 minutes of intense action had ended, the Raiders had destroyed five machine gun nests along with six other automatic weapon positions, killed 15 and captured eight of the enemy … all without losing a single American.”
In spite of the accolades and decorations awarded my father—among them the Purple Heart for wounds suffered from an enemy grenade, and a Bronze Star for heroism— he, like so many Americans of his generation, never considered himself a hero. He was simply doing his job, he would modestly say.
But for the rest of us – as well as future generations – my dad’s accomplishments protected our freedom and way of life.
As I stroll these same beaches and feel the same salt-wind and spray that thousands of surely-frightened young men must have felt nearly seven decades earlier; it becomes starkly apparent to me that the freedom and way of life I speak of will continue only with the same courage required here in 1944, the same blessings from God, and our continued appeals for those blessings.
– LTC Thomas S. Mullikin – deputy director, Legal Directorate, Joint Services Detachment (JSD), S.C. Military Department – serves as civil affairs officer for the Counterterrorism Advisory Team, JSD. Mullikin previously served as Assistant Judge Advocate for the 360th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) USAR, United States Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations, U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Why was this national story missed?
Posted by editor on 18 July 2010 at 11:23 pm UTC
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Convicted felon Hassan Jamile Salame of Dearborn Heights (just over five miles from the city of Dearborn), Michigan, reportedly has been charged with attempted “smuggling of guns and ammunition out of the United States” and “being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition,” according to U.S. Attorney William Nettles (as reported in only two South Carolina publications last week).
According to the indictment, Salame allegedly tried to smuggle weapons and ammunition from the U.S. to Lebanon while he was in South Carolina.
But the 800-pound gorilla in the room (pardon the cliche) is that Hassan Jamile Salame (clearly a Muslim name) is from Dearborn Heights- Dearborn, Michigan (a hotbed of Shia Islam with an increasing number of Hizballah sympathizers which concerns intelligence and counterterrorism experts nationwide). Hizballah (which is an Iranian-supported Shia terrorist army, which the U.S. State Dept. has officially designated a terrorist organization) is based in Lebanon (Hizballah’s primary base of operations) where Salame allegedly tried to smuggle “the guns and ammunition.”
But what’s even more disturbing is that there were only two publications nationwide that covered this story – the Charleston (S.C.) Post Courier and WIS-TV’s website (the NBC affiliate in Columbia) – and neither mentions or even attempts to make the starkly obvious Hizballah connection.
—— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at http://uswriter.com/
Lopez named deputy director of U.S. Counterterrorism Advisory Team
Posted by editor on 25 June 2010 at 6:26 pm UTC
[Clare M. Lopez]
BY THOMAS S. MULLIKIN
Clare M. Lopez, a retired operations officer with the CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (CIA), has been named deputy director of the newly formed U.S. Counterterrorism Advisory Team (USCTAT), a 10-plus member council composed of nationally recognized military, counterterrorism, and intelligence experts, serving as the ascendent organization to a variety of subordinate counterterrorism initiatives, including a research arm, a special branch, an executive tasking branch, and Counterterrorism Task Force-SCMD (which is responsible for providing information to - and briefing - the Joint Services Detachment, S.C. Military Department).
USCTAT’s expert advisors include - among others - Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely (U.S. Army, Ret.), former FOX News military analyst; Dr. Walid Phares, professor and international terrorism expert; Jed Babbin, former U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense; and Col. Danny R. McKnight (U.S. Army, Ret.), the battalion commander (portrayed by actor Tom Sizemore in the movie, BLACK HAWK DOWN) in Task Force RANGER, Mogadishu, 1993.
“Like all of our advisors, Clare brings years of real world experience to the USCTAT table and is a leading voice in terms of educating the public about the terrorist threats facing us,” says USCTAT director and nationally recognized counter-terrorism expert, W. Thomas Smith Jr., a former U.S. Marine who today holds a commission in the S.C. Military Department. “She not only served 20 years with CIA, but it was operational service here in the U.S. and overseas involving counterintelligence, counternarcotics, and counter-proliferation issues with a regional focus on the former Soviet Union, Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. She speaks several languages - Spanish, Bulgarian, French, German, and Russian, and currently is studying Farsi. And she’s been working with the team since before we were a team.”
In addition to her deputy directorship, Lopez serves as both vice pres. of the Intelligence Summit and professor at the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (CI Centre) where she teaches courses on the Iranian Intelligence Services, and the expanding influence of Jihad and Sharia in Europe and the U.S. She is the former executive director of the Iran Policy Committee, and she is a consultant to DoD contractors that provide clandestine operations training to military intelligence personnel.
The U.S. Counterterrorism Advisory Team is an initiative of the Family Security Foundation, Inc. (FSFI).
Among FSFI’s other national security initiatives is an ongoing partnership with the U.S. Congress’s bipartisan Anti-Terrorism Caucus.
— LTC Thomas S. Mullikin – deputy director, Legal Directorate, Joint Services Detachment (JSD), S.C. Military Department – serves as civil affairs officer for the U.S. Counterterrorism Advisory Team (USCTAT) and USCTAT’s Counterterrorism Task Force-SCMD. Mullikin previously served as Assistant Judge Advocate for the 360th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) USAR, United States Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations, U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Archives:
"Hunt for the Somali Pirates" airs soon on the National Geographic Channel.
When Somali pirates hijack the Maersk Alabama -- and international headlines -- Navy SEALs launch a sneak attack to rescue the ship's American captain. Pirate Hunters recounts the harrowing five days from hijack to final fatal shots, and reveals sophisticated Navy SEAL training methods that prepare the world's most elite reconnaissance teams for daring missions with no second chances.
J. Peter Pham, Ph.D. : 'Strategic Interests'
Ballots and Bullets: The Tale of the Two Somalias
[06 Jul 10]
Walid Phares, Ph.D.
Iran Global Terrorist Reach
[15 Jul 10]
Abigail R. Esman : 'International Desk'
Islamophobia
Is the rejection of radical Islam "anti-Muslim"?
[27 Jul 10]
Rabbi Daniel M. Zucker
The Roots of Washington's Failures in Dealing with "Rogue Regimes"
[01 Apr 10]
W. Thomas Smith Jr.
'Beyond the DropZone'
Intelligence and Analysis