Defense
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 ...
How Export Controls Can Hurt National Security (From Forbes)
The federal government regulates the export of items with potential military uses to assure they do not fall into the hands of America's enemies. The Obama Administration recognized early in its tenure that the export-control regime had become outdate ...
Pentagon Plan To Manage F-35 Sustainment Is A Good Move
Seventy percent of the lifetime cost of a weapons system is incurred after it is bought. There is the recurring maintenance that all complex systems require. If employed in combat, maintenance costs rise even if there is no real damage to be repaired. ...
Failed State: Five Reasons Iraq Can’t Be Fixed (From Forbes)
Over the course of its 8,000-year history, the area we now call Iraq has played host to at least a dozen major civilizations -- some indigenous, some imposed from afar. Knowing so many empires have come and gone there, U.S. policymakers shouldn't be s ...
The Pentagon Is Focusing On The Wrong Aspect of Commercial Innovation
U.S. companies are the most innovative in the world. Indeed, the locus of technology innovation has moved from government, particularly the Pentagon, to the private sector. This is particularly the case for computers, electronics and IT which are the h ...