Thomas P. M. Barnett, whose writing on the "non-integrating gap" has been gaining interest, has some insightful notes about the recent incidents in Mumbai. This man is one to watch for inclusion in the new administration and the national security staff.
It couldn’t get much clearer: the terrorists wanted to sever India’s growing globalization ties in [...]
A recent article by Greg Grant discussing the strategic vision of Frank Hoffman caught my eye. In it he notes that Hoffman warns against getting too hung up on China as the next “near peer” rival of the United States. Hoffman argues that the U.S. Navy needs to develop a “tri-modal” capability which would include [...]
The Navy’s recent decision to drop the DDG-1000 program and restart the DDG-51 program harkens back to something we talked about on these pages last year. We recommended the Navy do exactly that, as the DDG-1000 is not the vessel required for the future…too expensive, too hard to make in numbers, too many unproven technologies…not [...]
Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, is strengthening civilian control of the military in a far more effective method than did Donald Rumsfeld. Instead of running rampant over the Generals or belittling them publicly, as did Rumsfeld, Gates discovered wrong-doing or inefficient behavior, investigates, and then disciplines. This will send a stronger signal to the military [...]
Theoretical thought about "deterrence" falls into the same line as "grand strategy." We essentially have not had any grand strategy in the United States since the fall of the Soviet Union. Perhaps this will help stimulate some theoretical talk and writing on what we ought to be doing in the future. As noted by Dr. [...]
The entire logic behind bombing Iran is an assumption that it is possible to actually stop their nuclear program by such action. It can’t be done. Bombing a country from the air has not, cannot, and will not force it to submit to force. It could not be done in World War I when the [...]
Nuclear proliferation has been a nightmare scenario since the end of World War II. The thought of nuclear annihilation was a constant focusing mechanism during the Cold War. However, it appeared to be a manageable issue when the only two countries with such weapons were the United States and the Soviet Union. With more and [...]
The principle issues of the strategic environment which will impact military planning by the year 2025 are (1) decreased forward basing, (2) increased anti-access tactics, (3) increased asymmetric attack, and (4) increased technological development, particularly in information systems. This will drive the American force structure to obtain an ability to assure access to anywhere [...]
