Um, right. We're going to make the eventual transfer more wide-ranging and more synchronized. So there's that cleared up.We were scheduled to transfer in April of 2012, but at the request of the Korean government, we agreed to slide the date to 2015 and also make the relationship more robust in terms of exercises, command and control, capabilities, and so on.
I continue to believe that the Koreans are fully capable and a professional military ready to lead the combined defense. But I think this additional time will allow us to make the eventual transfer more wide-ranging and more synchronized and ultimately better for the alliance.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
SECDEF clarifies adjustment to Korea OPCON transfer
As I wrote about last week, Geoff Morrell's had a hell of a time dancing around the reasons why we've decided (mutually with our Korean allies) to delay the OPCON transfer from 2012 to 2015. Don't worry, Geoff, the boss has come in to bail you out, and I'm sure now that things are clarified, there won't be any more questions on the subject.
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Oh come on, Gulliver!
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful example of bureaucrat-ese! And here I mean no disrespect (I don't want to invoke Schmedlap's ire re: Gates.)
I could not survive TWO SECONDS in that environment because of my tendency to, er, say what I want to say. Discipline is important. I'm not joking. I really do wish I had his skillz.
One of my favorite hobby-horses (or pet-peeves, whatever) is bureaucracy, and yet, our system does need good civil servants. Someone is going to have to say all of those smooth sounding words.
You know what? The Ink Spots crew should host a bloggy Bulwer-Lytton contest for best government mumbo-jumbo. Oh, the entries a contest like that would generate, especially with the wry crowd that hangs out here!
Regarding the other thread, I was recently skimming the following (I'm on a Whit Stillman kick. I suspect the lot of you would like his films, of which there are only three and Gen Xer's like me routinely complain he should make another one, or at least write another novel! You are a demi-god, Whit Stillman!)
ReplyDelete"The common parlance for nightclub gatekeepers in those days was "door-Nazi." Not terribly complimentary, but that was the general feeling then. Both Rick and especially Van, his boss, really looked the part - tall, angular features, dark blond hair, early-Wehrmacht good looks. Van wore his hair longer than the Black Shirt norm and affected a black-blue cashmere overcoat (much like mine) draped over his shoulder rather than the standard black leather. Of course, describing them this way implies feelings of hostility and resentment I did not yet have. I was still then at least nominally part of the in crowd who admired Van's taste and good judgement in always raising high the velvet rope on our behalf."
Whit Stillman, The Last Days of Disco with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards
Offensive or no? I can see the offense, except that the entire novel is in Whitman's trademark dry style which is to make very dry comments about very big things (and minor things all at the same time).
Given Whitman's sensibilities, he would (most definitely) NOT be the sort of modern "soft anti-semite" that exists in some corners of academia today. And they do exist. normblog has a write up of a terrible incident. The hate directed is unbelievable.
And...if you wait three years many of the senior personalities on Pen will be gone. So a 'KORCOM' can be created in 2012 to meet the requirements of a 21st Century National Military Strategy for Korea as opposed to making another Geographic Combatant Command to staff.
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