Admiral Mullen Speaks Obama's New Nuclear Policy

Relief Supplies Reach Haitians

Mobile texting has contributed about $10 million so far.

Then there's this, slow progress:

Admiral Michael Mullen tells what the military brings to Haiti:

Admiral Michael Mullen Enthusiastic Support for Obama

Yesterday after Obama's speech Mullen tweeted:

@thejointstaff Fully support the President's strategy for Afghanistan. Ready to EXECUTE.

Mullen explains the exit, or what he and many are calling the transition strategy--it sends the message we're not going to be there forever and it tells them that they need to ramp up and be prepared to take over. Mullen discusses the plan with the Pentagon Channel:

Obama Holds an Evening Meetup on Afghanistan

Update: Obama is expected to announce strategy/troops for Afghanistan Dec. 1.

In addition to a just-added meeting with all the Afghanistan bigwigs tonight at 8 pm eastern, Obama is meeting with his cabinet and his national security team. He's also having lunch with Joe Biden and having a one-on-one meeting with Hillary Clinton. This could be a signal that Obama will soon announce a strategy in Afghanistan. Obama will also speak about science, math and engineering at 11:40 am.
The attendees of this evening's meeting, according to Politico:

Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton, Defense Secretary Gates, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke, Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen, Joint Chiefs of Staff Deputy Chairman Gen.James E. Cartwright, CENTCOM Commander Gen. David Petraeus, Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson, National Security Adviser Jim Jones, Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan and Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, special assistant to the president for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mullen and Gates Talk About Twitter and Social Networking

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says social networking is a huge win for freedom around the world. Gates says he doesn't Twitter but he's trying to hire staff more savvy about social networking. Admiral Michael Mullen, on the other hand, says he Twitters. Mullen says the speed of communications is crucial.

Mullen Concerned About Soldier Stress

Obama's Other Problem: Mexican Drug Cartels

This problem could be solved if demand was lowered. Who's demanding all the drugs? Why we are of course. We help keep poppy fields flourishing in Afghanistan too. I know, that's a simple way to look at the problem. But even more simple is blaming Mexico, which the republicans like to do. Mexican drug cartels are just meeting our insatiable demand. It's free market principles.

CNN: The conversation, which Obama initiated within hours of Mullen's return to the United States from a visit to Mexico City, underscores the growing concern with which the United States views the situation.

"The president was eager to get the chairman's observations on what he found out," the official told CNN.

The president expressed interest in military capabilities that the U.S. has that could help Mexican forces, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technology, the official said.

Mexico's military and police have been embroiled in increasingly violent clashes with cartels, which are battling among themselves for control over an ever-growing market in the United States.

This week, a U.S. citizen was among the three decapitated bodies found in Tijuana, Mexican authorities said Saturday. Growing drug violence has made beheadings in Tijuana, Juarez and other Mexican towns more commonplace over the past year.

Obama Talks To Military Heads About Iraq and Afghanistan

Aside from the stimulus bill, Obama's meeting today with military leaders:

CNN: Obama will be sitting down with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to get what the White House calls a "comprehensive view of the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the impact on our forces."

The administration plans to decrease troop deployment in Iraq and focus on the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, an environment that Adm. Michael Mullen, the head of the Joint Chiefs, says "grows increasingly perilous every day."

Robert Gates says Afghanistan is now the priority:

Going after drug labs and drug lords:

Afghans are very skeptical:

Military Leaders Sizing Up Obama

They're sizing him up and finding relief.

WaPo: Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, went unarmed into his first meeting with the new commander in chief -- no aides, no PowerPoint presentation, no briefing books. Summoned nine days ago to President-elect Barack Obama's Chicago transition office, Mullen showed up with just a pad, a pen and a desire to take the measure of his incoming boss.

There was little talk of exiting Iraq or beefing up the U.S. force in Afghanistan; the one-on-one, 45-minute conversation ranged from the personal to the philosophical. Mullen came away with what he wanted: a view of the next president as a non-ideological pragmatist who was willing to both listen and lead. After the meeting, the chairman "felt very good, very positive," according to Mullen spokesman Capt. John Kirby.

Military officers are looking forward to debate, not Kool-Aid.

"Open and serious debate versus ideological certitude will be a great relief to the military leaders," said retired Maj. Gen. William L. Nash of the Council on Foreign Relations. Senior officers are aware that few in their ranks voiced misgivings over the Iraq war, but they counter that they were not encouraged to do so by the Bush White House or the Pentagon under Donald H. Rumsfeld.

"The joke was that when you leave a meeting, everybody is supposed to drink the Kool-Aid," Nash said. "In the Bush administration, you had to drink the Kool-Aid before you got to go to the meeting."