Stevenson’s army, December 9

Biden defends it.
Dean Cohen opposes it.  As does Fred Kaplan.
Politico explains it. Austin also developed a close relationship with Biden’s late son, Beau, when he served on Austin’s staff in Iraq in 2008 and 2009, said one source close to the discussions, who asked not to be named to discuss private matters. Austin and the younger Biden attended Mass together, sitting side-by-side almost every Sunday, and they kept in touch after Beau returned from his deployment.

And Biden doesn’t want push-back from DOD.

My take: most Biden appointments reflect his preference for people he knows and is comfortable with. Austin also seem more likely to be compliant than someone  who is independent-minded and has a separate base.
Here’s a 2 year old FP story telling how civilians were being sidelined in DOD.
Senate votes today on the NDAA conference report and on blocking the UAE arms sale. Gen. Mattis is lobbying on the issue.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).