Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
Maritime Security Policy Gains Money & Muscle Issue BriefThe war in Iraq so thoroughly dominates public discussion of national defense that many Americans (even some members of Congress) are unaware of other big changes the Bush Administration has made to the nation’s security posture since 9-11. [Read More...]
Marine Corps Equipment After Iraq Research StudyThe United States has understandably focused on the tremendous human costs of the war in Iraq, yet there are other costs that must be addressed as well. Earlier this year the Center for American Progress and the Lexington [Read More...]
Crusade In Arabia: The Hard Lessons Issue BriefAs the fifth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks approaches, the Bush Administration’s “global war on terror” is not going well. Key Al Qaeda leaders are still at large. The Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan. Hezbollah guerrillas have fought [Read More...]
Fate of Secret Radar Reflects Transformation’s Waning Role Issue BriefHistory will remember Donald Rumsfeld as a dedicated defense secretary whose vision of military change was derailed by his own self-defeating idiosyncrasies. Rumsfeld’s prescription for what needed to be done — better intelligence, better teamwork, better technology — [Read More...]
Air Force Plans for Surveillance Planes are in Disarray Issue BriefYou can learn a lot about the management skills of rival organizations by comparing the way they pursue similar goals. Consider airborne surveillance. Each of the military departments maintains a fleet of aircraft for conducting various forms of [Read More...]
Where The Defense Sector Is Headed Issue BriefThe defense business is virtually the only sector of the U.S. economy where demand is driven by non-economic forces. In defense, the key driver is threats to national security. As a result, defense activity often expands at precisely [Read More...]
Joint Radio Will Save Money and Lives Issue BriefYou know that cell phone that you can’t live without — the one that has an annoying way of chirping smooth jazz right after the boss has asked everyone in the room to quiet down? It’s actually a [Read More...]
Unfinished Business Issue BriefChatham, Massachusetts is so beautiful in late summer that visitors often stop and stare at the brilliant interplay of sun, surf and sand along Cape Cod’s outer shore. It was in that perfect setting that David and Lynn [Read More...]
After Many Mistakes, Military Space is Coming Back Issue BriefThe people running America’s military space program haven’t exactly distinguished themselves by making smart moves in recent years, but they made such a move last week. Rather than deciding to kill or cutback a next-generation weather satellite program [Read More...]
Trading Places: Republicans & Democrats Rethink Defense Issue BriefOn the morning of November 3, 1920 America awoke to discover that Republican Warren Harding had won a landslide victory in the presidential election. A map of how each state had voted on page one of the New [Read More...]