Brett Velicovich

is not a "drone specialists", because he never operated a drone in dense EW and Air Defense environment in his life and his expertise in drone "operations" is distilled into blowing the shit with impunity from some third world shitholes' inhabitants. Nor he is a real "intelligence specialist" who has proper tools to assess anything Russia related because he, for all his combat exploits against people with AK-47s and sandals in Afghanistan and Iraq, never saw a real war in which even EMCON and even secure directed communications are not a guarantee against enemy's forces from receiving targeting, resolving uncertainty and then doing a nasty to drone operations outlet. Like blowing it to smithereens. He should ask his Ukie "sources", those who survived.

Velicovich also, for all his "intelligence analyst" title in Delta Force has zero qualifications to estimate, underestimate or overestimate, for that matter, what Putin wants and how Russian Armed Forces fight. He simply has zero background and knowledge for that, after all, his main degree is in Business Administration from Duke and they don't teach Operational Art, Operational Research, Weapon Systems' Integration, Resolution of Uncertainties and Developing of Firing Solutions (half of those disciplines requiring graduate level STEM, degree in military science and clearance to boot) there. Nor do they in intel schools, especially with narrow tactical and operational focus, such as drone operations. So, he is basically more "credentialized" FOX News' version of MSNBC's very own Malcolm Nance. 

Yet, he is pretending to know what REAL combined arms operations are (he doesn't) and, basically, parades himself as clueless blabbermouth, who wouldn't be able to hold any meaningful operational (or strategic) level "conversation" on issues of theater-wide operations by "peer" competitor, but that doesn't prevent him from abusing his "contributor" sinecure at Fox. I can totally assume that some of the US Generals who parade themselves as amateurs in the US media may actually know the real score. Some certainly do. They just have to follow the script for the sake of their own personal gravy train, but I doubt Velicovich knows anything, other than rumors here and there from 404 and backstage conversations somewhere in D.C.,  and hardly understands issues pertaining to war correlates and how they manifest themselves on tactical, operational and strategic levels. 

So when "expert" like him begins to wax all "strategic" my advice is always the same--how about getting your facts straight for starters and not trying to sell yourself bigger than you really are. Albeit, I have to admit, it is the only way in the US establishment, media, political and military, to achieve anything--self-promotion. But then again, what do I know, right? I never was in Iraq flying drones and hunting terrorists.