A number of severe readiness challenges continue to affect the Navy, in terms of its vanishing cruiser force, crippling redesign of the Constellation-class frigate, poor readiness of the amphibious fleet and problems with the Landing Ship Medium program.
No analysis has yet proven that the new auction of the lower S-band spectrum won’t impair vital military systems, now and into the future. Done wrong, an auction could disable some of America’s most advanced capabilities.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are doing the right thing as they seek to cut billions from budgets. Here are five areas they should focus on that can help guide cuts and reshape the military, with national treasure spent on capabilities and force structure we need, rather than on what we don’t.
Artificial intelligence should have a role in any unified threat intelligence strategy for the U.S. military, because of its incredible potential to accelerate production of actionable intelligence and decision-advantage workflows.
The Navy may need to produce prototypes and deploy them to combat zones like the Red Sea in order to make rapid decisions in shipbuilding acquisition.
The advent of a new medical records-keeping system for veterans might sound like a minor, logistical turn of the screw. Far from it. It will change lives and it could save many.
Provoking conflicts with friends and disrespecting leaders of close allies like Canada is no way to conduct foreign policy.
The United States has ceded its leadership position in space-based positioning, navigation and timing, with stark ramifications for most all U.S. critical infrastructures and the U.S. military.
The U.S. must conduct aggressive on hypersonic and counter-hypersonic weapons, especially since adversaries have adopted precisely this mindset. A risk-averse mentality that demurs on military development will lose the United States the next war.
Ensuring our allies adopt semiconductor export controls that mimic the U.S. policies regarding these primary adversaries, especially China, would provide a nonpareil military advantage to the U.S.
The Purple Star School Program, a successful state-sponsored effort that military families rely on when moving from one installation to another and that also plays an important role by bolstering military readiness, needs an upgrade.
The Navy has had long-established conventions for naming ships. But the Navy has increasingly named warships for living people, including political figures, which has become a divisive issue. The next Navy secretary needs to get control of the dysfunctional naming process and restore a sense of order.
With the looming prospect of war with China in the near future, it’s time to focus on what the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships can do for the Navy and Marine Corps.
Now that Donald Trump has won a second term, the Alabama congressional delegation is already lobbying to have the U.S. Space Command headquarters moved from Colorado Springs in Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama. That would be an unnecessary, expensive and disruptive move.
Taiwan should speed up adoption of a “porcupine” approach to its own defense, enabling it to inflict substantial damage to any invasion force through development of asymmetrical capabilities.
With many enemies seeking an opportunity to cause harm to the country, the U.S. faces a heightened threat of a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives attack on its soil.
For decades under a religious dictatorship, Iranians have demonstrated a profound resilience and a steadfast desire for democratic change. The United States has a pivotal role to play in supporting these aspirations.
U.S. policy is burdened by strategic dithering — supporting Ukraine enough to not lose, but not enough to be victorious.
The next Navy secretary should create a group of upwardly mobile Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine captains and Marine Corps colonels to experiment with new concepts of naval strategy and operations. The increasing tensions with China demand it.
Millions of military servicemembers and veterans could be targeted by foreign governments, unless the government does everything possible to crack down on unaccountable data brokers who collect and sell extremely detailed personal information on all Americans.
President-elect Trump and his national security team want change in the U.S. military. They can score fast wins by correcting major defense program mistakes made by the Biden administration.
Here are a set of top priorities the new Trump administration should consider for the first 100 days in the Department of Defense.
Among the first actions it takes in the Pentagon, the incoming Trump administration should commission a top-to-bottom review and reform of the Navy bureaucracy that develops new warships.
It’s now almost impossible to imagine a time in Air Force Special Operations without the CV-22 Osprey. The Osprey has been at the forefront of the toughest missions since its first combat deployment in 2009.
Americans face a pivotal choice at the ballot box that will shape the future of our nation’s veterans.
The next administration must do dramatically better in understanding both the semiconductor industry and its fundamental role in the modern world with robust national security policies reflecting this understanding.
Military readiness is much more than the effective training of forces for deployment. As one community in central Missouri demonstrates, it includes ensuring that military-connected children have an excellent public school experience, giving their parents peace of mind that a career in the military doesn’t have to mean sacrificing a child’s education.
The next U.S. president will be faced with a stark choice – whether or not to rebuild what was once a vital commercial merchant marine fleet to support U.S. trade interests around the globe and buttress U.S. military operations when needed.
An important American national security institution stands at a crossroads. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which for decades has protected key domestic industries against potential threats from foreign investments, has been thrust into uncharted territory.
It will take years to purge the myriad military systems containing content from our adversaries. In the meantime, we remain at risk for a catastrophic event that could disrupt military operations and cripple critical infrastructure.
