National Security and Defense

A few Members of Congress, motivated by American combat in the Middle East, have called for the reinstatement of a compulsory military draft. The case for coercing young citizens to join the military is supposedly based on social jus­tice?that all should serve?and… Read more

Heavy deployments of American troops to the Middle East are an essential part of the global war on terrorism. However, the duration of troop deployments has been a source of controversy within the United States. There is controversy about whether there are too many or too few soldiers in Iraq,… Read more

The proposed global redeployment of U.S. troops coupled with the open question of how long U.S. forces will stay in Iraq highlight the need for objective data on force deployments, objectives, and results. Surprisingly, no comprehensive time series data on U.S. troop deployments by year and country seem to exist… Read more

The long-awaited Department of Defense (DOD) annual report on Chinese military capabilities, required under the fiscal year (FY) 2000 National Defense Authorization Act, was finally released last week. Although an August publication means it is several months late, the report makes up for its tardiness by providing China analysts with… Read more

A pillar of conventional wisdom about the U.S. military is that the quality of volunteers has been degraded after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Examples of the voices making this claim range from the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and New York Daily News [1] to Michael Moore's pseudo-documentary Fahrenheit… Read more

This month, several individuals detained as "enemy combatants" will make their appeals for freedom to the highest court in the land. Perhaps now, more than any other time in recent memory, the eyes of the world are intensely focused… Read more

Abstract: President Barack Obama’s defense budget request perpetuates a long-standing pattern of underfunding defense needs. Defense spending is already near historic lows, and the Administration’s budget would reduce it to levels unprecedented during wartime. Furthermore, Congress appears poised to repeat the past mistake of… Read more

Abstract: President Barack Obama has said that America would reach out to other countries as “an equal partner” rather than as the “exceptional” nation that many before him had embraced; that “any world order that elevates one nation… Read more

Since the completion of the human genome project in 2003, there has been a surge of investment and discovery in both the gene sequencing and synthetic biology sectors of biotechnology. While the information contained in genome databases is not inherently dangerous, it can be used for destructive purposes. With synthesis… Read more

The long-awaited Department of Defense (DOD) annual report on Chinese military capabilities, required under the fiscal year (FY) 2000 National Defense Authorization Act, was finally released last week. Although an August publication means it is several months late, the report makes up for its tardiness by providing China analysts with… Read more

Abstract: The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has repeatedly adapted to meet a range of national security concerns. First created to confront the growing Soviet bomber threat, NORAD’s mission has been expanded to provide aerospace and maritime warning for North America. However, U.S.… Read more

Ballistic Missile Defense Technical Studies Series Study 5 This study is part of a series of technical reports commissioned by The Heritage Foundation to examine programmatic issues related to ballistic missile defense. Since the George W. Bush Administration withdrew the United States from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty… Read more

The U.S.–U.K. Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty, which was signed in 2007 and ratified by Britain in 2008, has the support of the Obama Administration. But the Administration has not worked hard enough to allay the concerns that have so far prevented the U.S. Senate from ratifying the treaty. … Read more

A close examination of the White House’s National Space Policy[1] released on June 28 reveals that national security is subordinated to policies for seeking cooperation, transparency, and most of all, arms control agreements regarding space systems and operations. Putting arms control at the center of the National Space… Read more

Abstract: In 2007, Congress mandated that the Trans­portation Security Administration must screen 100 percent of all… Read more

Under the current Administration, domestic entitlement programs and interest on the national debt remain firmly entrenched as the fastest growing portions of the federal budget; only discretionary programs are at risk for budget cuts. Accounting for 60 percent of discretionary funds, national security is the most at-risk slice of federal… Read more

Abstract: President Barack Obama’s defense budget request perpetuates a long-standing pattern of underfunding defense needs. Defense spending is already near historic lows, and the Administration’s budget would reduce it to levels unprecedented during wartime. Furthermore, Congress appears poised to repeat the past mistake of… Read more