Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel gave his first major speech since he was confirmed for the job in February. “The Department must understand the challenges and uncertainties, plan for the risks, and, yes, recognize the opportunities inherent in budget constraints and more efficient and effective restructuring,” he said. Secretary …
Former Senator Chuck Hagel (R–NE) will begin his nomination hearings before the U.S. Senate today. The Associated Press reported that if the Senate approves him, he will be the first Secretary of Defense to have publicly advocated that the U.S. get rid of its nuclear weapons, possibly even unilaterally. In …
Today, the threats to our national security are complex, fluid, and hard to fully comprehend. This requires a serious look at what the U.S. can do to affect events worldwide that would produce outcomes favorable to our interests, rather than allowing other nations to drive events, some of which are …
The Obama Administration is granting legitimacy to Chinese and Russian claims that strengthening U.S. missile defenses are aggressive and instigate conflict. More recently, it has done so regarding plans to place a second missile defense radar in Japan to defend against North Korean missiles. At a recent joint press conference …
This week, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski accused the Obama Administration of betrayal, saying, “Our mistake was that by accepting the American offer of a [missile defense] shield we failed to take into account the political risk associated with a change of president.… We paid a high political price. We do …
Last week, Chinese General Zhu Chenghu stated that China “will have to modernize its nuclear arsenal” as U.S. missile defense “may reduce the credibility of [China’s] nuclear deterrence.” Even if the statements reflected reality, it should encourage the U.S. to strengthen its defenses. U.S. missile defenses are still woefully inadequate …
The Fiscal Times recently published a hit piece attacking defense contractors who build ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems and the Members of Congress who support them. The three most egregious claims of the piece are as follows: 1. The system doesn’t work. 2. There is no threat. 3. Members of …
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Steven Pifer responded to Senator Jon Kyl’s (R–AZ) op-ed that argued that President Obama should refuse to provide written assurances to Russia that compromise America’s ability to defend itself. Pifer’s complaint with the Senate Republican Whip’s argument is that “an assurance could open a path …
Yesterday the “Global Zero” report, chaired by retired Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright, unpersuasively argued that the U.S. should reduce its nuclear arms to the dangerously low number of 900, of which only half would be deployed. The report also recommends “de-alerting” the U.S. …
