Logo

American Security Council Foundation

Back to main site

Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

US seeking Iraq's permission for missile defenses to protect troops

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats Missile Defense

Comments: 0

The United States is working to get the Iraqi government's "permission" to put Patriot missile defense systems in the country to protect U.S. forces there from possible Iranian attacks, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday. 

"One of the things we need to do is make sure we have permission from the host government, and that's one of the matters we have to work on and work through," Esper told reporters at a Pentagon press conference. "We need the permission of the Iraqis."

The U.S. military did not have Patriots deployed at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, which houses American troops, during a Jan. 8 missile attack from Iran.

At least 50 U.S. service members have since been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) following the missile strike, which was retaliation for the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran's elite Quds Force.

Since Soleimani's killing, U.S. leaders are preparing for any future retaliations from Iran. The Defense Department also has Patriot systems to protect forces in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, who spoke alongside Esper, said there were also logistical aspects to work out in moving Patriot systems into Iraq.

"A Patriot battalion is not a small organization, it's relatively large, so the mechanics of it all have to be worked out, and that is in fact ongoing," Milley said.

Milley also said that the service members suffering from TBIs caused by the Iran missile strikes have all been diagnosed with mild cases.

"The diagnosis we have so far for all of the folks that had been diagnosed to date is 'mild traumatic brain injury,'" Milley said. "That's the diagnosis that's been reported to us so far."

The newest numbers on troops suffering TBIs come in the wake of President Trump's comments downplaying the injuries, saying the troops had "headaches" but nothing "very serious." That prompted the Veterans of Foreign Wars to demand an apology for what the group said were comments that minimized the dangers of TBI.

Asked about Trump's comments, Esper said he's spoken with the president and that he "is very concerned about the health and welfare of all our service members, particularly those who were involved in the operations in Iraq, and he understands the nature of these injuries."

 

Photo: © Getty Images US seeking Iraq's permission for missile defenses to protect troops

Comments RSS feed for comments on this page

There are no comments yet. Be the first to add a comment by using the form below.