Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
Plan to Stop Buying Strategic Missile Motors is a Mistake Issue BriefHere’s a quick quiz about national security. What is the single greatest danger to America’s survival? Global terrorism? Biological warfare? Cyber attacks? Nope, none of the above. The biggest threat by far is still the Russian nuclear arsenal. [Read More...]
Netting the Navy Research StudyThe Navy and Marine Corps are implementing network-centric warfare concepts to cope with a diverse array of emerging threats. Wireless networks enable the sea services to apply limited warfighting assets more flexibly and precisely.
Networks potentially enable each [Read More...]
Decaying Air Power Reflects Larger Problems Presentation to the Air Force Assn. Annual ConferenceThe topic of today’s panel is the decline of American air dominance and its implications for the Air Force’s future roles.
Since my friend Rebecca Grant has already explained why it is [Read More...]
Rumsfeld was Right: Candidates Embrace Bush Worldview Issue BriefPresidential campaigns are so much about posturing that it’s easy to miss what’s really going on. Take national security policy. John McCain and Barack Obama want you to think they represent diametrically opposed approaches to national security, when [Read More...]
Helicopter Troubles Traceable to Government Mistakes Issue BriefDuring its eight years in office, the Bush Administration has tried to transform every facet of the military enterprise. In some areas, such as joint cooperation against irregular threats, it has made real progress. In other areas, it [Read More...]
Low-Cost Solution to Missile Defense has Many Advantages Issue BriefThe United States currently accounts for nearly half of all global military expenditures. There is reason to believe that the armed forces will need to make do with less money in the future. But the core missions of [Read More...]
Economic Security: Candidates Aren’t Facing The Facts Issue BriefSurveys of public opinion indicate that consumer confidence is very low and four out of five voters think the nation is on the wrong track. President Bush gets much of the blame for the public’s pessimism. But maybe [Read More...]
Cluster Bomb Treaty Could Be Hazardous To Children Issue BriefSome of the saddest stories to come out of recent military conflicts concern children who found the unexploded remains of cluster bombs. Cluster bombs are designed to neutralize a wide area by carpeting it with many small explosive [Read More...]
Further F-22 Production Is Crucial To Winning Future Wars Issue BriefThis summer marks the tenth anniversary of a powerful metaphor for the decline of U.S. air power. Air Force Gen. David Deptula was piloting his F-15C fighter (supposedly the best fighter in the world) over Iraq in 1998 [Read More...]
Tanker Fiasco: Five Steps to Fix the Problem Issue BriefThe Government Accountability Office’s stinging rebuke of the Air Force tanker competition last week was so sweeping that some observers say a new award may not be made for years. That would be very unfortunate, because the 500 [Read More...]