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Analysis
Defense Cuts Could Be Only the Beginning
President Obama unveiled the Pentagon's new defense strategy last week, calling it a moment to "turn the page" on the past decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The new strategy places a greater emphasis on Asia and reduces ground forces in favor of air and sea forces. It accepts greater risks in some areas -- most notably in abandoning the policy that the United States must be able to fight two major, protracted ground wars at once. The Pentagon argues that a two-war construct does not do justice to the complexity of the current threat environment. It has to be able to adapt to a wide, complex array of global threats rather than prepare for an arbitrary number of simultaneous wars.
Analysis
DOD Must Protect Industrial Base
As sequestration looks more likely by the day, the Defense Department faces the challenge of a new fiscal reality. After more than a decade of increasing budgets, the Pentagon has been slow to react. Its five-year budget plan, released last February, planned for continued growth — despite calls from both parties to cut federal spending and the deficit.
Analysis
Why Obama Should Take Out Iran’s Nuclear Program
The Case for Striking Before It's Too Late
Analysis
The Way to Respond to China
The Pentagon should spare AirSea Battle from cuts. The military concept is America's best chance of ensuring peace and stability in the Western Pacific.
Analysis
The Terrorist Threat Beneath The Waves
The world's vast undersea energy infrastructure—oil and gas platforms, wellheads, pipelines and pumps—is now vulnerable to attack by cheap submarines and unmanned vehicles.
Analysis
Get Ready for the Democratization of Destruction
As Niels Bohr famously observed, "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." But we need not be caught entirely unaware by future events. The rapid pace of technological progression, as well as its ongoing diffusion, offer clues as to some of the likely next big things in warfare. Indeed, important military shifts have already been set in motion that will be difficult if not impossible to reverse. Sadly, these developments, combined with others in the economic, geopolitical, and demographic realms, seem likely to make the world a less stable and more dangerous place.