Defense
Why Missile Defense Makes More Sense Today Than During The Cold War
I want to spend ten minutes today explaining why missile defense is more feasible and desirable now than it was during the cold war. Let me begin with a little bit of history. The missile defense debate began in America about 50 years . . .
Aging Air Force Fleet Requires New Ideas To Sustain
As Air Force planners struggle to balance their final budget request for this disappointing decade, it is becoming increasingly apparent that many of the service's planes will require the aerospace equivalent of . . .
How The Air Force Fell So Far
The forced resignation of the Air Force's top civilian and uniform leaders last week is the latest chapter in a chronicle of decline that has been unfolding for decades. The political influence of U.S. air power has . . .
Hunting for Black Swans: Military Power in a Time of Strategic Uncertainty
The term Black Swan comes from a book by Nassim Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. The title derives from the fact that in Europe all swans were white. Therefore, it was . . .
Navy Destroyer Plans Don’t Make Sense
If you think that having three surface warfare officers in a row at the helm of the U.S. Navy has created a bias in favor of surface combatants, then you must not be paying attention to news about naval . . .
Missile Defense: The Navy’s Role Is Growing
The post-Bush missile defense debate is already underway inside the Beltway and the Pentagon. One of the primary focuses is what role the U.S. Navy will play in the wake of their highly successful Aegis shots . . .
Tanker Controversy: Questions The Air Force Must Answer
It is now three months since the Air Force shocked the world by awarding the contract for its next-generation aerial-refueling tanker to Northrop Grumman and the European parent of Airbus. Throughout that time, service officials. . .
A History Lesson On Why The F-22 Fighter Is Essential
Imagine that in 1902, Secretary of War Elihu Root had told President Teddy Roosevelt the difficulty of suppressing the Philippine Insurrection proved future weapons would need to be useful in conducting . . .
Doctor Gates Hangs Out His Shingle
Many of you may remember the famous Peanuts cartoons in which Lucy would play the psychiatrist, offering to diagnose Charlie Brown’s problems for five cents a session. Well, a new therapist has hung out . . .
Obama and McCain Share Many Views on Defense
The conventional wisdom about American politics is that the nation has become deeply polarized since the Vietnam War, with voters increasingly crowding to opposite extremes of the political spectrum. For . . .