Author Archives: Daniel Gouré, Ph.D.
Obama “Surge” Looks More Like A Trickle First we were told the withdrawals would definitely begin by July, 2011 but then we were told that the date did not mean much and we would be supporting the government in Kabul for years to come. Now we are [Read More...]
Air Force Should Stick With Performance-Based Support Of F-22 One of the truly revolutionary changes in military logistics over the past two decades has been the institution of performance-based logistics (PBL). Traditionally, the military bought parts or services, much from the private sector but also from its own depots, [Read More...]
Time To Get Started On The Next Ballistic Missile Submarine The U.S. Navy has suddenly discovered it has a must-pay bill of some $80 billion for a next-generation ballistic missile submarine or SSBN. Even with an extension to the service life of the Ohio-class SSBN from 30 to 40 years, [Read More...]
The Future of Unmanned Aircraft Is Flying Over Afghanistan Today Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have transformed modern warfare. The military is concerned about the potential ability of adversaries to shoot down our UAS’s. One of the two principal reasons for employing UAS’s is that they can go in harm’s way [Read More...]
JSTARS Is Protecting The Troops In Afghanistan One of the criticisms of U.S. defense procurement over the last twenty years is that the military continues to buy weapons systems designed for the Cold War that are not relevant to the current era of counterinsurgency campaigns and terrorist [Read More...]
Will Obama Expand The War Into Pakistan? Although I generally hate attempts to compare Afghanistan to Vietnam, the analogy might be more apt than I would like to acknowledge. Today’s New York Times reports that the Obama Administration has told the Government of Pakistan that if it [Read More...]
The Hidden Costs Of Withdrawal From Iraq The U.S. military is about to begin one of the most complex operations in its repertoire: the withdrawal of a major portion of its forces from Iraq. The only condition that would render this effort more difficult is if it [Read More...]
Is There An Obama Doctrine? The media loves to synthesize statements on national security policy by presidents into sweeping “doctrines.” The so-called Bush Doctrine, which emerged from various presidential statements after the September 11 attacks, was based on the premise that the intersection of radicalism [Read More...]
Congress Deforms The Acquisition Process In recent years, Congress has been on something of a crusade to reform the weapons systems acquisition process. Its efforts were sparked by a series of problems with high-profile weapons systems including schedule delays, cost overruns and performance issues. The [Read More...]
Victory In Afghanistan Versus Obama’s Domestic Agenda President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan was a mass of contradictions. On the one hand we were told no less than nine times how serious is the threat posed by the Taliban and its Al Qaeda ally. These groups were, according [Read More...]