The revelation of a secret nuclear facility near the holy city of Qom, and the likely existence of other advanced facilities across Iran, makes more urgent the need for a quick solution to the nuclear impasse. The Obama administration appears to be following a strategy...
Many senior members of the U.S. military, defense officials, members of Congress, and analysts have long-warned of the growing fighter gap facing the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps and its implications for U.S. national security. A fighter gap is essentially a deficit between...
With all of the talk about the newfound determination of the major powers to really put pressure on Iran--including Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's admission last week that sanctions are sometimes needed--what will it really take to get other members of the P-5 process on board?...
The Obama Administration made a bombshell revelation on the eve of the G-20 summit about Iran's continued lying about its nuclear program. Anonymous "American officials" disclosed to the New York Times that U.S. intelligence agencies had uncovered another secret Iranian nuclear facility that Iran...
A major US effort in Afghanistan makes no sense in its own right: a faraway country with very limited resources and a history of hostility to invaders. But Afghanistan was intimately involved with the World Trade Center attack - a major psychological blow to the...
Hits at my blog always spike when news of alleged hydrogen peroxide bombing al Qaeda men make the front page. "Terrorism suspect Najibullah Zazi plotted for more than a year to detonate homemade bombs in the United States, had recently bought bomb-making supplies from beauty...
As global leaders convene in Pittsburgh to address the global economic crisis for the third time in less than a year, there is cause for both optimism and a heavy sense of responsibility to sustain early signs of a global recovery. Follow-up measures from Pittsburgh...
Read all of "South Korean Leadership in the G-20 and the U.S.-ROK Alliance" »
IntroductionWith concern in the West mounting over Iran's nuclear ambitions, some lawmakers and policy advocates are pushing for a fresh round of sanctions aimed at halting Tehran's uranium-enrichment program. In March 2009, President Barack Obama, like President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton before...
Heads of state and government from the Group of Twenty (G-20) advanced economies meet in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh on Sept. 24-25 to discuss continuing efforts at coordinating action to combat the global economic crisis. The meeting builds on summits held in Washington in...
The publication of the confidential U.S. strategy review in Afghanistan in today's Washington Post affirms what is already largely known--U.S. military commanders are worried about the course of the war and are signaling the need for thousands more troops. But the assessment from Gen. Stanley...
The president just announced America will no longer be building a missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. No matter how President Obama tried to frame it, stressing the decision was based on changes to the Iranian threat and improved American technological capabilities,...
This week, President Obama reneged on a long-standing agreement with America's allies and formally abandoned the "third site" missile defense plan. The U.S. will no longer be deploying 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic, a plan formerly regarded as...
Read all of "Obama Administration's New Missile Defense Plan Is a Losing Proposition" »
By Rosemary Freitas Williams After eight years of war, the mental wellness of today's service member and to a lesser degree, his or her military family is garnering increased attention. Whether as a national security issue or moral imperative, it is quickly becoming evident that...
Read all of "War's Silent Stress: Healing The Military Family" »
IntroductionSince its inception more than sixty years ago, the United Nations General Assembly has been a forum for lofty declarations, sometimes audacious rhetoric, and debate over the world's most vexing issues, from poverty to peace and security. In the 2009 session, attention will likely focus...
President Barack Obama has confirmed a willingness to press ahead with negotiations to try to end the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program. Talks between the United States, Iran, and world powers are scheduled for October 1, possibly in Turkey (Reuters). And while the Islamic Republic...
IntroductionIran's leaders have worked to pursue nuclear energy technology since the 1950s, spurred by the launch of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace program. It made steady progress, with Western help, through the early 1970s. But concern over Iranian intentions followed by the...
US national strategy is http://sitrep.globalsecurity.org/articles/090202168-strategic-myopia.htm">myopic - short sighted and fragmented. It rests on overall US strategic objectives that are broad and dated. The most authoritative statement is in President George W. Bush's introductory letter to the last National Security Strategy, published in March 2006. He...
The U.S. Senate appropriations committee recently approved its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2010 defense spending bill, and the legislation now awaits floor time in the full Senate. Section 8056 of the bill includes authorization for the U.S. Air Force to use appropriated funds...
Read all of "The F-22 is Not Dead Yet: Congress Should Support the Development of an Allied Variant" »
America may not be ready for a pandemic like the 1918 Spanish flu, but the US government should be good enough to get through a really bad seasonal flu. That is the conclusion of recent research study by The Heritage Foundation. In a paper called,...
The Obama administration's decision to levy tariffs of up to 35 percent on imported Chinese tires and Beijing's threats of reprisal against some U.S. products have raised concerns about a sudden escalation of protectionism between two of the world's largest economies.Roughly 17 percent of tires...
In North Korea's totalitarian system, political stability depends on the health of the leader more than on any other factor. For this reason, Kim Jong Il's rumored health problems have drawn careful scrutiny since he failed to appear almost exactly one year ago at public...
Read all of "The Challenge of Preparing for Instability in North Korea" »
Congress is back in session and completing work on the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization and appropriations bills. The Senate defense appropriations bill will be marked up this week. While few expect any tough votes if the defense appropriations bill arrives on the Senate floor...
Global warming can significantly exacerbate security challenges facing the nation. Previous commentaries addressed global warming problems within the United States caused by water and storm issues, including floods and firestorms and forced shifts in population and agricultural patterns. The extent to which these natural challenges...
IntroductionThe African Union (AU), formed in 2002 from the vestiges of the Organization for African Unity (OAU), aims to protect the security of the continent, rather than the sovereignty of individual states. Though the AU still is struggling to reform its governing bodies, it plays...
From the start of his presidency, Barack Obama has promised more troops for Afghanistan and called for a new direction in the way the conflict is being waged. This week, his top commander laid the groundwork for a new military strategy (VOA), which could see...
Authors
- Richard Andres
- Benjamin Bahney
- Cheryl Benard
- Bruce Bennett
- Linda Bishai
- Jonah Blank
- Tim Brown
- James Jay Carafano
- Steven R. Charbonneau
- Christopher Chivvis
- Lindsay Clutterbuck
- Sam Cohen
- James L. Cook
- Walton Cook
- Ed Corcoran
- Ralph Cossa
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Rafiq Dossanip
- Charles Dunlap
- Amitai Etzioni
- Gareth Evans
- Nikolas K. Gvosdev
- Larry Hanauer
- Scott Warren Harold
- Brian Michael Jenkins
- David Johnson
- Terrence Kelly
- Michael Krepon
- Stephen Larrabee
- Mackenzie Eaglen
- Jeffrey Martini
- Arthur G. Martirosyan
- Ralph Masi
- Ali Nader
- Aram Nerguizian
- Ori Nir
- Olga Oliker
- Jim Phillips
- Isaac R Porche
- James T. Quinlivan
- Reset Defense Bulletin
- Charles Ries
- RSIS
- Paul Saunders
- David Schenker
- Ghassan Schbley
- Mark Schneider
- Daniel Serwer
- George Smith
- Scott Snyder
- Jon Soltz
- Julie Taylor
- Alexander Thier
- Charles P. Vick
- Rosemary Freitas Williams
- Charles Wolf, Jr.
- Elizabeth Zolotukhina
