By Dr. Richard Weitz 07/07/2011 - Notwithstanding his achievements during his more than four years as Defense Secretary, Robert Gates left some unfinished tasks for his successor, Leon Panetta.He has many tough challenges ahead. The Senate’s 100-to-0 vote in favor of Panetta’s confirmation showed strong confidence in Panetta’s ability to…
Extended Deterrence and Assurance in Korea By Dr. Richard Weitz 07/06/2011 - The growing nuclear threat from the North Korea, the rising power of China, and the Obama administration’s policy of generally de-emphasizing the role of nuclear weapons in world politics has led some South Korean security experts to question…
07/05/2011 MONDAY, MAY 9, 2011 As one of the Coast Guard’s newest assets, the national security cutters bring operational capabilities the fleet needs for mission success. Compass has asked the wardroom of Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf, the service’s first NSC, to share their unique perspective on how the fleet’s newest…
07/05/2011 by Robbin Laird Participating in a recent symposium, where I proposed that a core approach which would allow the US to build new capabilities, whilst saving money, would be to sell off old assets, I was characterized as proposing “missives” rather than solutions. I was then told that the…
Criminalized States and Terrorist-Criminal Pipelines By Douglas Farah Senior Fellow, Financial Investigations and Transparency International Assessment and Strategy Center Adjunct Fellow, Americas Program, CSIS http://www.ndu.edu/press/emerging-alliances.html The Criminalized State 07/04/2011 - The cases from Part I show the connectivity among these disparate groups operating along different geographic parts of the overall…
07/03/2011 The Arctic is a key strategic area, and fundamental to the energy and resource foundation for 21st century growth. And the US is lacking core capabilities to operate in the region, but we will hold off investing in core capabilities. What seems to be missing is the Pentagon study,…
07/02/2011: During the Paris Air Show, Second Line of Defense talked with Experimental Test Pilot Hervé Jammayrac of Eurocopter. Jammayrac provided an update on the aircraft and the test program. In many ways, the new helicopter was a star at the airshow, bereft of many new flying aircraft. The X…
06/29/2011 - While attending the Paris air show in June, Second Line of Defense sat down with a senior Eurofighter executive to discuss Eurofighter in the Indian fighter competition. A special focus of our efforts has been upon the intersection between the future evolution of the Eurofighter and the Indian…
