Lessons from a Forgotten Churchill Speech

Why Churchill’s Lessons on War and Peace Still Ring True Today, Fox News, May 13, 2011. "One of Churchill’s greatest speeches during this struggle came in 1934. His subject was simple: “The Causes of War.” In this broadcast, he dismissed the idea that the way to prevent war was to focus on teaching Britons to hate violence, for the threat to peace did not stem from Britain. It stemmed from “a nation which with all its strength and virtues is in the grip of a group of ruthless men preaching a gospel of intolerance and racial pride, unrestrained by law.” It stemmed from the nature of the Nazi regime. Americans would do well to remember, when we wonder at the actions of foreign regimes, that they behave as they do not because of our failures, but because of their own."

On Defence Procurement

"Is Reform Enough? Assessing the Gap Between Challenges and Response in Defence Acquisition Reform", RUSI Defence Systems, June 2010, Vol. 13, No. 1. "The current enthusiasm for defence acquisition reform in the US and, especially, the UK cannot be understood outside the broader challenges facing the defence establishment in both nations. Indeed, while it is obviously important that the defence acquisition process be efficient, the hopes currently entertained for increased efficiency are out of proportion with the likely gains. In other words, there is a substantial gap between the broader challenges and the response in the realm of acquisition reform. The hopes persist because they promise to diminish the pain of the gap, and because they offer a way to justify strategic choices that would be less appealing if presented on their own terms."