The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a paper last month urging the Department of Defense (DOD) to centralize the management of the Military Health System (MHS).[1] GAO has long held the view that the management structure for supervising the MHS is too de-centralized to impose the discipline necessary…
The U.S. House of Representatives showed strong support for national security when it voted through a reconciliation process to override the sequestration cuts scheduled for defense in January 2013. By following the House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) lead in raising the top-line budget for defense over the…
As America faces its first full decade post-9/11, how ready is she to protect her place in the world? The tragedy of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the events that were precipitated by them—Iraq, Afghanistan, worldwide terrorist campaigns, the Arab Spring, and the continuing reordering in the Middle…
Abstract: President Barack Obama has proposed a woefully inadequate budget for missile defense for FY 2013, neglecting his duty to defend the United States against foreign military threats. This is consistent with the President’s overall neglect of missile defense and his willingness to subordinate…
Throughout history, as in many other parts of the world today, political rule was the privilege of the strongest or the most powerful. Property was the possession of kings, barons, and lords. Each was born to his or her destiny, and almost all were subject to someone else. …
Testimony before Senate Budget Committee March 6, 2012 James…
Abstract: Despite Administration claims to the contrary, President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for FY 2013 would reduce national defense to the lowest of the major budget priorities of the federal government. The combination of the budget request and the Budget Control Act of 2011 would reduce the military’s personnel levels…
The National Security Cutter (NSC) is the Coast Guard’s flagship for the future. Commandant Admiral Robert Papp recently declared, “The NSC is proving to be a vital instrument for protecting American maritime security and prosperity.”[1] Yet in his fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget request, the President cuts the…
President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget request uses inadequate metrics to evaluate the strategic objective to “maintain a safe, secure, and effective nuclear arsenal to deter attack on the U.S. and on our allies and partners.” Two categories being evaluated are: …
On February 8, the United States and Japan jointly announced changes to the existing bilateral accord for realigning U.S. Marines on Okinawa. While both sides affirmed commitment to relocating a Marine air unit on the island, more significantly, the Obama Administration abandoned longstanding U.S. insistence that Japan fulfill pre-conditional commitments…
Abstract: For more than 200 years, the United States has successfully preserved and protected its navigational rights and freedoms by relying on naval operations, diplomatic protests, and customary international law. U.S. membership in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)…
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…
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…
Abstract: An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) over the United States could end modern life in America overnight. Whether caused by an enemy attack (a nuclear device detonated above the atmosphere) or by a natural phenomenon (a geomagnetic storm), an EMP can cause entire regions of…
Abstract: The Obama Administration’s FY 2012 budget request suggests that the Administration has subordinated the nation’s defense needs to budget goals. The proposed budget continues the trend of reducing defense spending below safe levels while allowing entitlement spending to grow unchecked. To begin correcting…
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…
Iran is rattling sabers. Iraq may be falling apart. In North Korea, one of the world’s most inexperienced and unpredictable leaders has his thumb on the country’s nuclear button. Talks with the Taliban look like an instant replay of the Paris peace negotiations with Hanoi. The Arab Spring has turned…
Abstract: In passing the FY 2012 defense authorization and appropriations bills, Congress missed an ideal opportunity to reverse the damage that the Obama Administration inflicted on U.S. missile defense programs in 2010. Congress specifically failed to move the U.S. toward a more defensive nuclear…
The youngest B-52 bomber rolled off the assembly line 50 years ago. Remarkably, it’s still flying. Like many of the...…
Yesterday marked the 60th anniversary of the B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber’s first flight. The last B-52 came...…
Two years ago, the United States Department of Defense “discovered” mineral deposits in Afghanistan—gold, iron, copper,...…
A March 11 editorial The New York Times appears to support the idea that the nuclear arsenal of the United States acts...…
Defense officials need to rethink the way they award contracts, says Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington...…
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's comments earlier this week were a very revealing insight into the Obama...…
In discussing the Department of Defense’s upcoming budget request, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated “our approach...…
The future is not bright for the U.S. military. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave America a glimpse of the...…
Beneath the President’s bully pulpit in the House of Representatives last night must be a very thick carpet under...…
President Obama’s new national defense strategy is a budget-driven exercise masquerading as a strategic plan, writes...…