December 2011 Issue
In this issue
A decade of war has vaulted unmanned aircraft from intriguing peripherals to integral players, at least in the U.S. way of war, and yet we have barely begun to imagine the uses to which they...
A decade of war has vaulted unmanned aircraft from intriguing peripherals to integral players, at least in the U.S. way of war, and yet we have barely begun to imagine the uses to which they...
Losing sleep
At the U.S. Army Ranger School, one of the military’s most renowned courses for combat arms and special operations forces, soldiers are trained and tested on individual and small-unit...
By Maj. Stephen C. Flanagan
At the U.S. Army Ranger School, one of the military’s most renowned courses for combat arms and special operations forces, soldiers are trained and tested on individual and small-unit...
By Maj. Stephen C. Flanagan
Cutbacks and crises
The subject of the hour in defense circles is guessing how deeply the defense budget is going to be cut as the U.S. economy retrenches, and which services will be winners and losers. There...
By Robert Killebrew
The subject of the hour in defense circles is guessing how deeply the defense budget is going to be cut as the U.S. economy retrenches, and which services will be winners and losers. There...
By Robert Killebrew
The 7,000
Here we go again. As active participation in Iraq and Afghanistan fizzle out, the defense intellectual community casts about looking for the next enemy. Picking tomorrow’s enemy is big...
BY ROBERT H. SCALES
Here we go again. As active participation in Iraq and Afghanistan fizzle out, the defense intellectual community casts about looking for the next enemy. Picking tomorrow’s enemy is big...
BY ROBERT H. SCALES
Perspectives: A French idea worth stealing
The U.S. would do well to emulate France in at least one way: by creating an American version of the French military’s coopérant officer.Such officers would serve a tour in...
By Lt. Col. Jean-Philippe Peltier
The U.S. would do well to emulate France in at least one way: by creating an American version of the French military’s coopérant officer.Such officers would serve a tour in...
By Lt. Col. Jean-Philippe Peltier
Perspectives: Looped back in
The October 2011 AFJ article “Goodbye, OODA Loop” should have set off alarm bells across the U.S. defense community. In their well-written article, Kevin Benson and Steven...
BY LT. COL. DAVID J. LYLE
The October 2011 AFJ article “Goodbye, OODA Loop” should have set off alarm bells across the U.S. defense community. In their well-written article, Kevin Benson and Steven...
BY LT. COL. DAVID J. LYLE
Unready to stop UAVs
America’s wars of the last decade have vaulted the UAV from novelty to workhorse. Yet too little is being done to prepare for the inevitable day when our enemies turn these weapons,...
BY MAJ. DARIN L. GAUB
America’s wars of the last decade have vaulted the UAV from novelty to workhorse. Yet too little is being done to prepare for the inevitable day when our enemies turn these weapons,...
BY MAJ. DARIN L. GAUB
Perspectives: A better way to buy IT security
By the time the federal government buys an IT security product, it is several generations obsolete.It takes the Pentagon an average of 81 months to buy commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)...
BY DAVID HOLLIS
By the time the federal government buys an IT security product, it is several generations obsolete.It takes the Pentagon an average of 81 months to buy commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)...
BY DAVID HOLLIS
Yoda in the Pentagon
There are numbers that count, and numbers that don’t. Andrew Marshall has spent a lifetime trying to assess which ones are which. In October 1973, Arab states attacked Israel with...
BY ZACHARY SHORE
There are numbers that count, and numbers that don’t. Andrew Marshall has spent a lifetime trying to assess which ones are which. In October 1973, Arab states attacked Israel with...
BY ZACHARY SHORE
2011 in commentary
Two decades after the Cold War and 10 years since 9/11 “changed everything,” strategists are still casting about for the next grand strategy: a clear vision of the American...
By BRADLEY PENISTON
Two decades after the Cold War and 10 years since 9/11 “changed everything,” strategists are still casting about for the next grand strategy: a clear vision of the American...
By BRADLEY PENISTON
Protecting whistle-blowers To the Office of Special Counsel, for its work in protecting whistle-blowers.