Archive for July, 2012

Five rules for a sensible approach to acquisition

It probably goes without saying that the defense acquisition community wants to build “stuff that works good.” For that matter, we generally want our …

U.S. justifications for targeted killings are neither coherent nor sustainable

Over the past two years, prominent officials in the Obama administration — most of them high-ranking lawyers — have offered public defenses …

USAF combat support leaders must embrace a new TTP approach

While the Air Force does a remarkable job of capturing and codifying lessons within the flying community, the lack of a well-defined …

Rather than seeking one ‘true’ meaning, explore the views of friends and foes alike

The United States government still has not figured out how to educate its employees about Islam.

In recent …

TO THE CONGRESSIONAL INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEES for ginning up new legislation to restrict the flow of information among intelligence agencies.

In the wake of the New York Times’ June 14 article describing how …

It’s not too late to get useful low-end ships

The Navy is moving apace to stabilize the Littoral Combat Ship program and integrate it into a new fleet design. Upon reading LCS-focused …

TO CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS ADM. JON GREENERT for acting, at last, to tighten up the Navy’s process for selecting commanding officers.

For most of the past decade, the Navy has sacked …

TO SGT. MAJ. OF THE ARMY RAYMOND CHANDLER, who asked his troops what they think of their service’s year-old promotion-system reforms.

By opening up the controversial decision to public discussion on Facebook, …

Promoting conformity

THE JUNE ARTICLE BY BRIG. GEN. MARK C. ARNOLD, “Don’t promote mediocrity,” addresses a critical failure of the military bureaucratic mindset that treats leaders as if they were identical products …

Is it legal to use UAVs to kill suspected enemies in Pakistan and other countries where your country is not formally at war? It is a vital question in an area where …