Misplaced Blame: The Politicization of Counterfeit Electronics

12/14/2011
12/14/2011 - By Leonard Zuga and Michael Pecht After more than a decade of neglect, counterfeit electronics has become a high profile issue, thanks to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee’s investigation of counterfeit electronic parts in military weapons systems and the proposed U.S. Senate Bill S.1228, known as the…

Happy Birthday Nunn-Lugar! Another Case of Second Line of Defense In Action

12/13/2011
12/13/2011 by Richard Weitz The optimal strategy for averting WMD threats is to cooperate with other countries in reducing them. In this respect, the cooperative threat reduction (CTR) projects between Russia and the United States stands out as one of the most successful examples of peacetime security collaboration between major…

Strategy for the Arctic, 2011-2020

12/13/2011
12/13/2011 The Kingdom of Denmark has articulated a strategy for the Arctic.  The Arctic is a key domain for the future of the Kingdom.  Denmark is a member of the 5-member Arctic Council whose members control 80% of the known Arctic resources within their EEZs. The strategy can be found…

Empowering an Arctic Strategy

12/13/2011
12/13/2011 by Robbin Laird Strategy without capability or a plan for crafting capability is vaporware.  With significant wealth, power and eco-threats on the table, the Arctic 5 are in a pole position to shape an important part of the future.  The Arctic is clearly an area in which presence assets,…

Bold Alligator 2012: Charting the Future

12/12/2011
12/12/2011 In early 2012, the USN-USMC team will have the largest Amphibious exercise in many years.  This is the largest Amphibious exercise since before 9/11 had such a major impact on military operations. The exercise is being conducted as several USN and USMC assets prepare for deployments.  This means that…

Russia Doubles Down on Assad

12/12/2011
    By Dr. Richard Weitz 12/08/2011 - While the possibility of foreign military intervention in Syria is small, it is growing. In this context, Russia’s considerable military, diplomatic, and economic ties with the Syrian regime weigh heavily on everyone’s minds. The Syrian Dynamic is a Major Fault Line for…

Russia-US Relations: Hypotheses and Recommendations

12/12/2011
[caption id="attachment_12920" align="alignleft" width="90" caption=" "][/caption] By Dr. Richard Weitz 12/12/2011 - Editor’s Note: Starting next year on the Second Line of Defense Forum (http://www.sldforum.com) we will start a series of pieces debating key decisions to be made after 2012 in the United States about foreign and defense policy.  We…

The Evolution of Maritime Robotic Systems

12/09/2011
12/09/2011 - In a wide ranging discussion with General Heinz, former PEO of the F-35 program and now head of Maritime Systems in I Robot (and working for the former head of NAVAIR, now the COO of I Robot), the current state of Maritime Robotic systems was discussed as well…