Defense
EVENT: Defense Acquisition Reform – Wednesday, June 24, 2015
The Lexington Institute is organizing a Capitol Hill forum on Wednesday, June 24th to discuss ways of streamlining management and procurement at the defense department. The forum will be a series of back-to-back presentations by subject matter experts. ...
Watchdog Agency Warns Of “Weaknesses” In Nuclear War Command Links (From Forbes)
U.S. nuclear strategy depends on the threat of retaliation to deter aggression. However, effective deterrence requires more than having an arsenal of bombers and missiles that can target potential attackers. It also requires being able to detect an a ...
The Marines Desperately Need A New Ship-To-Shore Fighting Vehicle (From Forbes)
The U.S. Marine Corps is the world's premier naval expeditionary force. But getting from ship to shore is a tricky task even when enemies aren't shooting at you, and the Marines have to assume that in future wars they will be. So it has to be a matte ...
What Do We Do The Day After ISIS Is Defeated?
Slowly, like a leaky faucet, U.S. and coalition forces are returning to Iraq. There is no reason to believe that the Obama Administration’s decision to deploy another 450 soldiers will be the end. Nor is there any reason to believe that the U.S. will b ...
ISIS, Ramadi and the Evolving IED Threat
It is time to stop referring to ISIS as Islamic extremists, terrorists or certainly the JV team. We can no longer afford to underestimate this adversary. This was the mistake the Byzantine and the Persian Sassanid Empires initially made when confronted ...
Crazy Crusade To Kill Ex-Im Bank Hurts America, Helps China (From Forbes)
If you want to understand why the economic recovery has been so anemic, look at America's trade deficit. It's so huge it shaved a full percentage point off economic growth last year, and the impact was even greater during the first quarter of this yea ...
A Big Week for Missile Defense
In case you haven’t noticed, missile defense has become mainstream. Israel has deployed the Iron Dome, a nationwide defense against short-range rockets and ballistic missiles. The Iron Dome system proved remarkably effective in last year’s conflict wit ...
SBIRS: The Pentagon’s Most Important Space Program For Preventing Nuclear War (From Forbes)
The United States lacks defenses against a large-scale nuclear attack. Instead, it depends on the threat of retaliation to deter aggression. But deterrence can't work unless U.S. command authorities have timely warning that an attack is under way. T ...
Air Force Acquisition Has Become A Hotbed Of Innovation (From Forbes)
The new millennium has not been a good time for the Air Force's acquisition community. Lack of funding, doubts about requirements, and a contracting scandal have made it hard to execute a balanced modernization program. However, a new generation of A ...
AT&L’s Effort To “Reform” IR&D Policies Actually Will Make Things Worse
The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L), Frank Kendall, has spent enormous time and effort trying to improve the way the Department of Defense acquires goods and services. AT&L has published three version ...