dod

Military spending

Celebrate our mad trillion dollars in national security spending!

By / 8 Comments / 28 May 2017

Summary: Celebrate another trillion-dollar defense budget! Much of that spending is irrelevant to the wars we are actually fighting and disproportionately large vs. the spending of our potential foes. Yet our geopolitical experts scream for “more”! While we burn money on defense our infrastructure rots. It’s the fast path to national decline. Only more public involvement in …

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The “global commons” belongs to the world. Should America control it?

By / 1 Comment / 29 January 2015

Summary: Our DoD has rolled out another master plan. We’re oblivious to how aggressive these strategies look to our rivals; perhaps we’re oblivious even to the idea that our rivals have rights . That’s appropriate to a global hegemon, a role we no longer have the power to fill. The growth of rivals makes that …

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A step to getting an effective military. We might need it soon.

By / 4 Comments / 20 January 2015

Summary:  This post about the decayed state of the US military and its prospects for reform brings us full circle, describing the problem and a step on the path of reform. Although losing wars has not damaged America yet, let’s not tempt fate by delaying repair to our lavishly funded and massive forces. We can …

A step to getting an effective military. We might need it soon. Read More »

Why the Pentagon would rather hire a jihadist like bin Laden than reformer Donald Vandergriff.

By / 3 Comments / 22 March 2018

Summary:  Obama can take a bold step to begin reform of the DoD & so end our series of defeats at 4GW discussed James Fallows’ brilliant idea of appointing military reformer Donald Vandergriff (Major, US Army, retired) to a key post at the Pentagon. Today’s two posts discuss why that would be important, and why it …

Why the Pentagon would rather hire a jihadist like bin Laden than reformer Donald Vandergriff. Read More »

Obama can take a bold step to begin reform of the DoD & so end our series of defeats at 4GW.

By / 6 Comments / 20 January 2015

Summary: Our defeats since 9/11 in Iraq and Afghanistan again show the need to reforge the US military for a time when 4GW has become the dominant form of war. James Fallows proposes a bold step for Obama to start that process — appoint Donald Vandergriff (Major, US Army, retired; co-author on the FM website) …

Obama can take a bold step to begin reform of the DoD & so end our series of defeats at 4GW. Read More »

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