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Analysis
The Challenges After Gates
Spread of Weapons, Cyber Threats, Tight Budgets Await
Analysis
No-Fly Zone, No Problem
How to do it without putting a single coalition plane directly over Libyan territory.
Analysis
The Dangers of a Nuclear Iran
Although finding a peaceful way to preclude Iran from getting nuclear weapons is obviously desirable, Washington will likely have to decide between two unattractive options: pursuing a military strike to prevent Iran from going nuclear or implementing a containment strategy to live with a nuclear Iran. The resort to force is always risky, and it would be particularly so in this case because a substantial number of U.S. troops are deployed near Iran. Whether force should be used will depend on the answers to three difficult questions: How close is Iran to achieving a nuclear weapons capability? Would an attack be effective? How might Iran retaliate, and what costs would the United States and its allies and partners suffer as a result? The risks of war must be weighed against the likelihood that containment could preserve regional stability and avert further proliferation, the demands of implementing and sustaining a containment strategy, and the inevitable reduction in the United States’ ability to defend vital interests elsewhere.
Analysis
Security Can’t Stop With DoD
The newly released Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) is a welcome initiative by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to provide some strategic planning horizons for U.S. diplomats. That document correctly focuses on using the contributions of all U.S. agencies operating overseas and coordinating their efforts in-country.
Analysis
Protect JFCOM’s Mission: New Threats Require Innovative Responses
In the years leading up to World War II, the U.S. Navy staged elaborate mock battles to train its personnel, test its resources and refine its tactics. The nearly two dozen “Fleet Problems” exercises conducted between 1923 and 1940 also provided an excellent opportunity for the Navy to incorporate new equipment into its strategic thinking, and resulted in an increased reliance on the aircraft carrier as the most dominant force at sea.
Analysis
Avoiding a DoD Bailout
Secretary Gates said recently: “If the Department of Defense can’t figure out a way to defend the United States on a budget of more than half a trillion dollars a year, then our problems are much bigger than anything that can be cured by buying a few more ships and planes.” He has a point. The problems in the defense budget are much bigger than the recent debates over buying more F-22s, cancelling the Presidential Helicopter, or building an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In fact, the Department of Defense’s (DoD) problems are eerily similar to the challenges General Motors faced a year ago.