01/19/2011 by Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake The Second Line of Defense team spent the week of January 8th talking with USN and USMC planners and operators involved in Bold Alligator 2012. Visits to USMC Forces Command and to 2nd US Fleet Forces in Norfolk were combined with a visit…
01/17/2011 by Vince Martinez Defense reform is both possible and necessary as the force is restructured. Indeed, NOT doing so will lead to a hollow force. Now that the cards have been played relative to the defense budget cuts and service level downsizing, it is time for government and industry alike…
01/16/2012 by Ed Timperlake Every Midshipman in the US Navy has learned in the "Miracle at Midway" that in just four minutes on June 4th 1942 the Pacific war changed in favor of America. In just those four minutes, with a tremendous sacrifice of US carrier pilots, three Japanese fleet carriers…
By Dr. Richard Weitz 01/16/2011 - Limited international backing contributed to the failure of the past Afghan-led reintegration and reconciliation initiatives. Until recently, these processes encountered strong opposition in many Western countries. Meanwhile, reconciliation confronted the issue of previous Taliban misrule and the organization’s ties to the al-Qaeda perpetrators of…
01/08/2012 by Robbin Laird As the country prepares for the Presidential and Congressional elections, the world will move on oblivious to the logic of the debate inside the Beltway and the country. The national debt has become a more important focus than national security. In fact, for many the two have…
01/15/2011 - by Richard Weitz Editor's Note: In the first of four parts, Richard Weitz looks at the prospects and challenges for an Afghan peace process in 2012 and the reality of the 2014 target goal of withdrawal. If it is not real now, what will 2014 magic bring that…
01/15/2012 by Richard Weitz Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent five-day, four-country Latin American tour, his fifth to the region as president, has been designed to bolster his reelection chances by showing his supposed global clout, achieve economic gains through bilateral deals, and circumvent international sanctions, which are becoming increasingly severe.…
01/15/2012 by Richard Weitz Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s failure to secure Chinese government support for imposing sanctions on Iran should come as no surprise. The Chinese government has long resisted sanctions that are not approved by the UNSC, which gives Beijing the right to veto them. And within the UNSC…
