Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
Two Cheers for Transformation – And Some Words of Caution Testimony before the Senate Armed Services CommitteeMr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to offer an assessment of military transformation.
“Transformation” is a tricky term.
The current popularity of the word within the Pentagon [Read More...]
How to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Article published in The Wall Street JournalSomeone tuned in to the breathless media coverage of the Bush administration’s nuclear report last week could be excused for assuming that Dr. Strangelove had taken control of the Pentagon. According to the [Read More...]
Killing Al Quaeda : The Navy’s Role Research StudyThe terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 confirmed expectations that future adversaries would favor “asymmetric” strategies in challenging American interests. The goal of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization and the Taliban government that sheltered it in Afghanistan was [Read More...]
Aging Aircraft: Clinton Decay Continues Under Bush Category: Defense Issue BriefIf the Bush administration’s proposed 2003 defense budget is adopted, it would fix many of the problems of the Clinton years. Military pay and benefits would rise to market parity, readiness accounts would be bolstered, science and technology [Read More...]
An Assessment of the Proposed 2003 Defense Budget Testimony before the U.S. Senate Budget CommitteeMr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to comment on the Bush Administration’s proposed defense budget for fiscal 2003. This morning, I want to briefly discuss three subjects: [Read More...]
The Media Versus the Military (Part Two) Issue BriefMany of the generals leading the American Expeditionary Force in World War One had been junior officers in the Spanish-American War. They remembered how sensational reporting had fed a war fever that McKinley could not ignore, and how [Read More...]
The Media Versus the Military (Part One) Issue BriefIf the American media and military were any more different, they might have trouble coexisting within the same political culture. The media favor freedom and full disclosure. The military prefers discipline and secrecy. They’ve been getting along fairly [Read More...]
Retaliation Isn’t Enough Article Published in The Wall Street JournalIt is now twenty years since President Ronald Reagan provoked controversy during his first year in office by proposing that the United States acquire the capacity to fight and win a nuclear war. [Read More...]
Key Technological Trends Since World War Two Issue BriefIn the years after World War Two, the industrial west simultaneously experienced three technological revolutions — a nuclear revolution, a biomedical revolution, and a computing revolution.
The interaction between these three hugely important developments largely defines the world [Read More...]
Origins of the Current Technological Revolution Issue BriefThe goal of this lecture is to provide historical context for the technological ferment we see all around us today.
As I told you last week, I believe we have arrived at a pivotal moment in human history, [Read More...]