Preventing Nuclear Terrorism – The Quest for Realistic Policy Tools?

04/15/2012
By Richard Weitz “Global Nuclear Security and Preventing Nuclear Terrorism” was the subject of an April 6 expert panel at the National Press Club. The speakers noted some progress in this area but considered the recent Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul inadequately ambitious to meet this problem. Yet, the solution…

Preventing Nuclear Terrorism: How Useful are Nuclear Summits?

04/15/2012
By Richard Weitz One of the useful innovations of the Obama administration was to convene meetings of senior national leaders to focus their attention on what both the Bush and Obama administrations have called the number one threat to U.S. security -- the possibility that terrorists will use acquire and…

How to build a Nike perspective for rebuilding the post-Afghanistan US military?

04/13/2012
The Nike perspective – Just Do It – is the appropriate perspective to re-building the US military after Afghanistan.  Make no bones about it, a major cultural shift and re-orientation is required. One can take the approach of debating at 50,000 feet whilst doing nothing practical to rebuild the force,…

China: Hard Landing and Turbulent Political Transition?

04/13/2012
By. Dr. Harald Malmgren China’s exports of high labor content, low value added manufactures are no longer internationally competitive. A shift in export orientation to lower labor content, higher value added manufactured exports will take time measured in years.  A shift in export priority to infrastructure projects in the Third…

Super Tucano, the US and the Global Fighter Market

04/13/2012
by Francis Tusa One has to assume that Boeing is shaking its corporate head in dismay, as its chances of a deal to sell the F/A-18E/F to Brazil took a nose dive. The key thing that has affected the aircraft’s chances has been the abrupt cancellation of the deal for…

Knowing You Better and Liking You Less: South Korea and China

04/13/2012
A key element of the evolving Asian situation is the relationships among the Asians themselves which has little to do with the United States.  Unfortunately, Inside the Beltway usually debates the US approach to China as if it is the only or even key definer of reality in the Pacific. …

The Tail Waging the Dog: Or How Logistics Support to Afghanistan Gets Harder

04/11/2012
4/11/12 by Richard Weitz The Strategic Warning from Astana, Kazakhstan. The logistics trail to Afghanistan is long and costly.  The role of Pakistan and Kazakhstan is crucial in providing the “highway” to support Afghan operations.  But both nodes are in trouble. The problems dividing the United States from Afghanistan and…

The Making of U.S. National Security Policy: “We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us.”

04/09/2012
The PNSR Case Studies: The Bottom Line By Richard Weitz The case studies cover a necessarily limited number of national security challenges and analyze a correspondingly finite record of U.S. government performance. This limitation excludes extensive quantitative analysis. Even so, the issues covered, the geographic scope, and historical diversity of…