Author Archive
Ideas
Beware of Pentagon techno-enthusiasm
A massive new drone effort, while laudable in its quest for simpler weapons, does not come without strings attached.
Ideas
Has Congress Learned the Lessons of the Iraq War?
Besides repealing the AUMFs, lawmakers ought to create new tools to curb U.S. military interventions.
Ideas
Let’s Put the Pentagon’s China Report in Context
What do the relative sizes of the U.S. and Chinese nuclear arsenals really suggest?
Ideas
Don’t Overinflate the Pentagon Budget
There are plenty of perennial problems draining the military’s coffers that need attention.
Ideas
Who’s Afraid of an ICBM Review?
It’s worth spending five figures to assess whether to move ahead with a program that could cost more than a quarter-trillion dollars.
Ideas
Milley’s Hypersonic Hyperbole May Have Been His ‘Missile Gap’ Moment
The United States must avoid another arms race based on untested or distinctly false premises.
Ideas
The New ICBM Is a Legacy System, And Should Be Cancelled
Antiquated strategic thinking must not be allowed to drain funding that could be put toward more pressing threats.
Ideas
Pushing Billions in Arms Sales Is Not an ‘Accomplishment’
It matters to whom the weapons are flowing and how they will be used.
Ideas
A $13 Billion Contract for ICBMs: What’s the Rush?
The deal needs closer scrutiny — as does the purported need for new long-range ballistic missiles at all.
Ideas
Congress Needs a Veto, Not a Notification, on Arms Sales
The Trump administration’s efforts to evade oversight show why more is needed.
Ideas
Time to Rethink Security Aid to Egypt
More than $40 billion over three decades has bought only dubious benefits to U.S. security.
Featured eBooks
Ideas
Overspending on the Pentagon Won’t Make Us Safer
We spend far more on the military than the countries we most fear, while shorting the things that would actually help us compete.
Ideas
Don’t Use the Iran Crisis As An Excuse To Boost Pentagon Spending
Use it to reconsider the American approach to national security.
Ideas
America’s Military Is Misdirected, Not Underfunded
U.S. strategy should be more focused on preventing conflict with nuclear-armed China than on spinning out elaborate war-fighting scenarios.
Ideas
Does America Need a Space Force?
A new service branch would put more bureaucracy between critical capabilities and the troops who need them.
Ideas
Who Needs ICBMs?
Spend the money on the other two legs of the nuclear triad, and improve global stability and U.S. security.
Ideas
Would a $700 Billion Budget Really Sink the Pentagon?
Resistance is already forming to a proposed decrease in 2020 spending. It’s important to understand just what that decrease means.
Ideas
NATO Already Vastly Outspends Russia. Its Problems Are Not About Money.
The alliance’s security issues can’t be fixed by a traditional military buildup.
Ideas
Thornberry’s Pentagon-Reform Plan to Nowhere
It's pitched as a way to cut waste — but would make the misallocation of our tax dollars more likely.
Ideas