Archive for October, 2011

First, Myers referred to “the alliance’s lackluster performance” in Libya. Clearly, national contributions to the NATO operations have varied. However, it may well turn out that NATO’s strategy in Libya — limited …

To the National Reconnaissance Office for developing a pair of effective anti-insurgent technologies — and then telling people about them.

In a breakfast meeting with reporters, NRO Director Bruce Carlson offered a …

Why ‘unmanned systems’ don’t shrink manpower needs

The promise of robots, intelligent machines and other kinds of autonomous systems has often been described as replacing humans in various kinds of jobs — …

To the Air Force for not working faster to field new HH-60 combat search and rescue helicopters to replace aircraft lost in combat over the last decade.

The program was launched in …

A complex world demands a different kind of decision-making

As the insurgency in Iraq gathered in late 2003, leaders struggled to understand the cause of this unexpected widespread violence.

One of the …

The industrial game changer you’ve never heard of

Two decades hence, the defense industry may look vastly different, thanks to shrinking Pentagon budgets, industrial consolidation and continuing globalization. But one of the …

After 10 years of war, it’s time to gather lessons

For the last 10 years, the United States has conducted a nearly unprecedented experiment: fighting two wars with a completely volunteer force. …

In 1998, as a youngish reporter, I circumnavigated the world on assignment for Navy Times. The project focused on the Navy, but my reporting covered service members of all branches doing their …

The U.S. has shifted from slowly winning to slowly losing

A central tenet of counterinsurgency warfare is that denying insurgents regular access to the population and a safe haven to rest and …

To the Army for failing so far to decorate Capt. Will Swenson, another hero of the Afghanistan battle for which Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer received the Medal of Honor.

After then-Corporal Meyer …