Many of the challenges of traditional warfare are magnified in the cyber realm. Chief among these is the challenge of situational awareness. Cyberspace is a vast, incredibly complex and rapidly changing battlefield. …

To the Pentagon for making the job of leading the new Cyber Command an adjunct to heading the National Security Agency. Gen. Keith Alexander has the skills and the expertise for either …

The fight can only be won by listening to Afghan voices

Afghanistan operations have evolved from a Special Forces-centric campaign to one that extends across the general-purpose forces. This shift came when …

Paula Thornhill made the case in “Improving Capstone” [April] that the “charm” school for newly minted brigadiers and rear admirals should be turned into an opportunity to train strategic leaders. My counter …

Retaining an apolitical stance is the armed forces’ key priority

As part of the law widely known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” military members are required to be briefed on the homosexual …

Curtis Gilroy’s response to Lt. Col. Paul Yingling’s article “The founder’s wisdom” presents a strong, factual defense of an all-volunteer military [April]. Unfortunately, Yingling persists in clouding the manpower policy issues in …

To Defense Secretary Robert Gates for saying publicly that the Pentagon is being eaten alive by ballooning health care costs, which have soared from $19 billion a decade ago to $50 billion …

Nervousness over nuclear moves

At a near-breathless pace over a month’s time, the Obama administration released a nuclear strategy, inked a new strategic treaty, hosted an all-world atomic affair and attended a …

To Congress for continuing to keep alive the Airborne Laser, a program so plagued by problems and delays that it was all but canceled last year. Defense Secretary Robert Gates stopped everything …

Gates’ plan to reshape the sea services ignores superpower realities

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has shifted the target of his budget cross hairs from the Air Force (a service that has long …