Defense and the National Interest

Sometime within the next few weeks, the Center for Defense Information will publish a major anthology by the A-List of the shadow defense establishment.  Plus, I have a chapter.
This is a unique volume by a collection of authors that have never collaborated to this degree before and, it is safe to predict, will never again.  [...]

by William S. Lind
October 28, 2008
While the world’s eyes are fixed on the American election coming up soon, another election with equal importance for America’s future crawled onto the calendar over the past weekend (don’t expect a monarchist to think highly of elections). Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni gave up her efforts to form [...]

What they are, and why” has just been published in the International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management.
For those of you with access to the academic press, the citation is:
Richards, C. (2008) ‘Operations other than war: what they are, and why’, Int. J. Risk Assessment and Management, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp.376-393.
The article as published [...]

By William S. Lind
October 20, 2008
I have suggested in previous columns that the al Qaeda model of 4GW may be failing for inherent reasons, i.e. for reasons it cannot fix. “Tom Rick’s Inbox” in the October 19 Washington Post offers some confirmation of that assessment. Ricks writes:
Where did al Qaeda in Iraq go [...]

By William S. Lind
October 15, 2008
As the military situation in Afghanistan deteriorates, there may be at least the possibility of better news on the political front. Nightwatch for October 7 reported that
Multiple news services have reported meetings hosted by Saudi Arabian King Abdallah between representatives of the Kabul government and the Taliban. Both [...]

Oct. 17, 2008
By Elaine M. Grossman
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Health and Human Services Department early this month moved to shield government, industry and business officials from lawsuits filed by those who have received the anthrax vaccine (see GSN, Sept. 5, 2007).
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt established legal [...]

Jay Soloman and Siobhan Gorman have an interesting piece in today’s WSJ entitled, “Financial Crisis May Diminish American Sway.”  Your first reaction might be “Ya think?”  followed by “What can we do about it?”
I think a better reaction might be “So what?”  Being the world’s only remaining superpower — and $3.75 — will get you [...]

Oct. 16, 2008
By Elaine M. Grossman
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON - A U.S. government advisory panel next week could recommend that state and local public health officials consider administering anthrax vaccines to as many as 3 million first responders nationwide, Global Security Newswire has learned.
The panel, convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would leave [...]

Fabius has an interesting post today where he notes that we have tried 16 remedies for our deteriorating financial condition, all of which fall into the “too little, too late” category.  To paraphrase his conclusion, the financial environment is operating inside our OODA loops.  This isn’t anthropomorphism but a shorthand way of saying that financial [...]

An impassioned yet well-researched plea by E. E. Riccioni, a veteran AF fighter pilot and charter member of the Fighter Mafia (99 KB PDF).
About the author:  I first met Rich Riccioni about 35 years ago, when I was a junior staffer doing grunt work for a tac air shop in the Office of the Secretary [...]