Rapid Fire 2012-02-10: Energize This

• The Brookings think tank, on the proliferation of IED attacks in 2011: “[D]anger will not disappear even after the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan ends. […] It is unsustainable to keep throwing billions of dollars to fight a technology that costs the other side tens of dollars. […] We need […] solutions […] that are cheap and scalable.”

• The inherent cost asymmetry imposed by mines is also on the Naval War College Review’s mind in their overview of mine warfare in China’s near seas [PDF]. Duly filed under the fashionable “anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) in Asia” category.

• US Congressman Mike Coffman [R-CO] is urging [PDF] Secretary Panetta to be bolder in applying his own Strategic Guidance and get US troops out of Europe. Coffman sits on the Armed Services Committee and is a former member of the Army Reserve then served in active duty in the Marine Corps.