Our military is second to none, but eight years of negligence, lack of accountability, and a reckless war in Iraq have left our ground forces facing shortfalls in both recruitment and readiness. Every service is out of balance and ill-prepared. We need a new strategy to give the military the tools it needs for the challenges we face today. And we need leadership that meets our obligations to the men and women who put their lives on the line.
Report
30 June 2009
North Korea is likely to grab headlines over the coming July 4th weekend, as the regime has pledged to fire a missile toward Hawaii. But as David Sanger explains, “if your holiday plans call for spending the day on Diamond Head, it is probably not worth cancelling your plans: There is no evidence yet the North’s missiles can reach that far, and their aim is singularly unimpressive.” Nevertheless, North Korea is a real and serious security challenge – a challenge that worsened greatly over the last eight years under President Bush.
Report
26 June 2009
The White House issued its first veto threat yesterday, telling members of Congress that the president would not approve a defense budget containing wasteful Cold War-era weapons. President Obama and Secretary Gates are attempting to move the Pentagon in a direction that better prepares and equips our forces for both the challenges they are in and the 21st century challenges they are most likely to confront. After eight years of the Bush administration not making any tough choices, the Obama administration has laid out a strategy, set its priorities, and is making the tough tradeoffs.
Report
10 June 2009
13 former Generals and Admirals assert that "for too long our military's budget priorities have been beset by an out of date mentality"
Press Release
Washington, D.C. 10 June 2009
Report
20 May 2009
Progressives’ disadvantage on national security issues has been a cliché of American political life for a generation. But new polling on national security now shows that the political gap on national security has been eliminated, with conservatives holding no advantage over progressives. The onus rests on progressives to flesh out public understanding and maintain support for progressive policies, particularly among younger voters who are likely setting preferences for life.
Report
15 May 2009
In a tremendous departure from Rumsfeld, Secretary Gates’ first priority has been to ensure that the troops on the ground get all the equipment and resources they need to do their jobs. Through his focus on the immediate challenges of the current wars, Gates hopes to rebalance the military, better positioning it to address both the conventional and irregular threats of the 21st century.
Report
14 May 2009
As the Obama administration continues to weigh its options for cleaning up the mess left behind by the Bush administration – including how to deal with photos of detainees as well as how to try and detain terror suspects – experienced interrogator Ali Soufan yesterday gave the most detailed, professional critique to date of how bush Administration torture was both ineffective and counter-productive. Soufan, who through traditional interrogation techniques of Abu Zubaydah discovered that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, made clear that once interrogators began torturing Zubaydah he stopped talking. Soufan also explained that the Bush “enhanced interrogation techniques” were much slower than the knowledge based approach professional interrogators had developed for such situations, thus refuting the “ticking time bomb” straw man that is often used to justify torture.
Report
8 May 2009
The President’s 2010 defense budget marks the beginning of a strategic shift that attempts to offer a new vision for the 21st century, institutionalize the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, and attack inefficiency and waste. The conservative response – instead of engaging in a forward –looking debate – clung to an approach that is rooted both in the Cold War and in the discredited vision of former Secretary Rumsfeld.
Report
4 May 2009
Nuclear proliferation presents a grave threat to American and global security. Unsecured stockpiles of weapons and materials are vulnerable to terrorists who can steal or buy a weapon on the black market and use it on a civilian population.
Report
30 April 2009
Over the last eight years the defense acquisition process has deteriorated dramatically. 95 percent of the Pentagon’s major weapons programs are running two years behind schedule and $300 billion over budget.
Military