Lessons and warnings from the post-Vietnam era

By 1973, when the last U.S. troops departed Vietnam, the Army was close to collapse. Widespread opposition to the war, indiscipline in the ranks and …

To the Army for working to move the Rapid Equipping Force into the base budget.

Army acquisition has taken its lumps in recent years — among other things, for wasting more than …

To Leon Panetta for proposing a mini-BRAC.

Wisely is it said, “Let no crisis go to waste.” The defense secretary’s recent announcement that DoD’s 2014 budget proposal will include a new round …

France’s Mali intervention could have been avoided

From most perspectives, France’s recent intervention in Mali has been wildly successful. Within days of their arrival in January, French forces turned back al-Qaida-led fighters …

Mobility, protection and precision firepower are a winning combination

Increasing fiscal constraints, perceived changes in the character and capabilities of future adversaries, and the national strategic shift to the Asian-Pacific lead some …

America has a can-do military, by tradition and inclination, and so when the combatant commanders ask for assets, the service chiefs and their forces provide. But more than a decade of war, …

To the White House for refusing to explain the legal underpinnings to its targeted killing program.

In early January, a federal judge became the latest expert to pronounce herself flummoxed by the …

The authors of “Unloved Aerial Vehicles” [November 2012] appear to have lost link with reality. They argue that a biased Air Force leadership, blinded by tribal loyalty, is retrograding the service into …

Preparing a smaller U.S. force for a more diverse set of tasks

The American armed forces have once again come full circle on counterinsurgency doctrine and operations. They became involved with counterinsurgency …

The Joint Operational Access Concept, which describes how the U.S. military will approach anti-access and area-denial challenges, identifies three trends that require a joint force solution: the growth of anti-access and area-denial …