Not Next Ten, But Next Two

A Cliché About Military Spending, Newsday, July 31, 2017. "It’s often observed that the United States spends as much on defense as the next 10 or so nations combined. As Congress begins to consider the annual National Defense Authorization Act, it should recognize that this commonplace is simplistic, inaccurate, and serves only to undercut our own defenses."

Accountability Time

My Questions for the New Year, Newsday, January 1, 2017. "Commenting on current affairs is an ongoing lesson in humility. It’s a big world, and anyone who writes about it should be prepared to be wrong a lot. So at the end of the year, I like to practice some accountability by looking back to my last New Year’s column, and forward to the coming year."

Neither Binges Nor Purges

U.S. Does It Again On Military Spending, Newsday, May 8, 2016. "The United States needs to spend more on defense. Not a lot more, but more. And it needs to spend more in a predictable way. Today, as in the past, we’re swinging up and down. That’s wasteful, and it’s dangerous."

Recommendations on ATT and Land Mines for FY 2017 NDAA

The 2017 NDAA Should Begin Rebuilding America’s Military, with lead co-author Justin Johnson and others, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3105, March 28, 2016. "It is the responsibility of Congress to ensure that the armed forces have the capacity and capability to protect the nation’s vital interests. Congress should specifically preserve military capacity and maintain options so that the next President can grow the military and improve American security. The fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) should focus on building a stronger military that can better protect America while bolstering partnerships with friends and allies around the world."

A Fair and Balanced Consideration of Barack Obama's Innumberable Miserable Failures

One Area Barack Obama Hasn’t Screwed Up, Newsday, January 31, 2016. "Conventional wisdom says that if you want to be an influential president, you should be a success. But in some ways, the influence of failures is greater. Because of that, one of the areas ripe for debate in the 2016 presidential race is trade. And for that, we have President Barack Obama to thank."

ATT and Land Mine Recommendations for NDAA FY 2016

10 Objectives for the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, with Steven P. Bucci, Dean Cheng, Brian Slattery, Michaela Dodge, Luke Coffey, David Inserra, and Charles Stimson, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3002, March 16, 2015. "The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is a central piece of legislation for Congress each year. The NDAA is one of the last remaining bills that enjoys true bipartisan consensus, in part because Congress understands the critical need to set defense policies and guidelines for national security. The FY 2016 NDAA will continue in this tradition. The NDAA does, however, face a range of problems. A team of Heritage Foundation national security experts have compiled a set of 10 objectives—addressing issues from military morale to missile defense to Taiwan and China—that Congress should support."

A Tale of Two Strategies

What’s At Stake in U.S. Strategy in Syria, Newsday, October 4, 2014. "The Obama administration's strategy for Syria relies on using U.S. air power to support local forces. If this approach fails, as it has failed in the past, the United States will find itself still lacking an effective, politically viable strategy for fighting Islamist terror more than a decade after 9/11 attacks."

Develop First, Cancel Second

Tomahawk Cancellation an Error of Defense Strategy and Alliance Policy, with Steve Bucci, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4190, April 2, 2014. "Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy announced that it will stop buying Tomahawk cruise missiles in fiscal year (FY) 2016 and will seek to field a replacement within a decade. This decision is an error of both defense strategy and alliance policy. Congress should reject the Navy’s plans and require it to continue buying a sufficient number of Tomahawks annually to keep production lines open and unit costs affordable until a replacement can be effectively deployed into service, and until Britain and Australia (which use or plan to use the Tomahawk), after close consultation with the U.S., are satisfied that this replacement will affordably offer them equivalent or superior capabilities to the Tomahawk."

Understanding American Security

Understanding American Security, with Luke Coffey, Heritage Foundation Special Report, November 29, 2012. "As long as Americans value independence and liberty, the U.S. will need powerful armed forces to deter and defeat its enemies. But what we have to do to stay secure changes over time. A hundred years ago, we did not need an air force. Today we do. We know we need to provide for the common defense. But how should we do it now?"

Pre-Debate Post on US Role in the World

Debate Prep: The U.S. Role in the World, Heritage Foundation Foundry, October 22, 2012. "At the Heritage Foundation, we agree on the centrality of American leadership. But leadership is just a word: anyone can say that they believe in it. To be real and effective, leadership needs to be backed up by priorities, by policies, by budgets, and by the strength of the nation. And that is a good place to start."

Rapid Debate Responses

LIVE BLOG: Biden, Ryan Square Off in Vice Presidential Debate, Heritage Foundation Foundry, October 11, 2012. Instant reaction on various subjects, including Afghanistan, Libya, Iran, and the economy, raised in the debate.

Arms Control and the Need for Verification

Missing the Point on Arms Control, Contentions, September 13, 2012. "Over the last several weeks, Rose Gottemoeller, the Acting Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, has given speeches in Stockholm and Helsinki that, while focusing on Europe, set out the Administration’s broader philosophy on arms control and verification. This philosophy is profoundly misguided."

The US, Britain, and the Security of the 2012 Olympic Games

U.S. Should Assist Britain in Meeting Security Threats to the 2012 London Olympic Games, with Steven Bucci, Luke Coffey, Jessica Zuckerman, and Robin Simcox, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2711, July 16, 2012. "The 2012 Summer Olympic Games and the Paralympics will be held from late July through early September in London. They are an obvious target for attacks by radical Islamist terrorists, as well as anti-capitalist anarchists, supporters of various national causes, and other groups. Britain is one of the world’s most experienced and capable practitioners of counterterrorism, and though the threats to the Summer Games are serious, Britain is well-placed to cope with them. But the scale of the threat and the strain that they will place on Britain’s armed forces mean that the U.S. can and should provide supporting assistance to British authorities."

Thirty Year On, Lessons from the Falklands

Falklands War: Lessons of Liberation Ring True for U.S. Today, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3639, June 14, 2012. "The Falklands War illustrates the fundamental point that, in international affairs, one should always treat one’s friends better than anyone else. But it also offers a number of lessons for America as it struggles to avoid the devastating effects of defense sequestration and to maintain a military that provides for the common defense."

Obama's Dirty Trick on UK Defense Strategy

Obama Retreats from Old Military Alliances, Yorkshire Post, February 10, 2012. "For the first time since the mid-1950s, Britain has a defense strategy that fails to mesh with America’s: it is best able to wage the kind of wars that the U.S. says it no longer cares to fight. The sad, sudden American retreat has badly dented the basis of Britain’s defense planning, and served a much wider notice that the U.S. would prefer to spend more on welfare and less on warfare. Unfortunately, its enemies are unlikely to share those priorities."

A Case Study of Media Error (Or Bias)

Politifact’s Pants on Fire, Contentions, January 20, 2012. "I’ve worked with PolitiFact before, and while I’ve not agreed with previous pieces, they were at least defensible. What it comes down to is that Romney’s claim is factually correct, but assessing the context would require a book-length analysis that would be subject to a wide amount of legitimate dispute over many factors, some of them fundamentally unknowable. Even if applied earnestly and knowledgeably, fact-checking is terrible at assessing this kind of context, precisely because the facts are not known: it’s why Churchill described strategic leadership as an art, not a science. Fact-checkers would have a better sense of their potential contributions and limits if they bore Churchill’s wisdom in mind, and recognized that checking facts is not the same thing as criticizing art."

Christmas Wishes to the UK on Defense

Lessons on Defence Policy from America in 2012, Centre for Policy Studies, December 29, 2011. "My wish is that Britain will in 2012 learn a lesson from America on its defence policy. The lesson is not simply that Britain should spend more money on defence. It certainly should do that, but Britain’s limited and steadily shrinking defence budget is only a symptom of Britain’s underlying problem. Its real problem is that, while America regrettably takes defence less seriously than it used to, it is still far better off than Britain, which no longer treats defence as a centrally important political issue. The lesson Britain should learn from America, therefore, is that defence is a core duty of the state, and it is worthy of appropriately serious political care and attention. My policy wish to Britain thus takes the form of three Christmas wishes."

Britain's Defense and Obama's State Visit

What President Obama Should Tell Prime Minister Cameron About Britain’s Defense Cuts, Heritage Foundation WebMemo #3265, May 20, 2011. "During his state visit to the United Kingdom on May 24–26, President Barack Obama should speak clearly to Prime Minister David Cameron about the serious damage that the latest round of British defense cuts is doing to Britain’s armed forces. The Special Relationship between the U.S. and Great Britain rests in part on the desire of each nation to play a leading role in the world. Without capable armed forces, Britain cannot play this role. Thus, Britain’s defense cuts are bad not only for its forces but for the Anglo–American alliance."

The Long-Term Defense Problem

Britain’s Decline: Entitlements and the Armed Forces, BigPeace, April 13, 2011. "Byron York has a fine piece in the Examiner pointing out that, while Britain has taken a leading role in the Libyan intervention, there is almost nothing left militarily behind the curtain. The entire British stockpile of cruise missiles amounted to 64 when the war began, and Britain was careless enough to fire off 12 of them at the start of the conflict. That’s 20 percent of Britain’s entire arsenal, shot off in a single volley."

How Must America Practice Diplomacy?

How Must America Practice Diplomacy?, Heritage Foundation, Understanding America Series, Essay Number Six, March 3, 2011. "The purpose of American diplomacy never changes: It is to secure the national interests of the United States. The fundamental American interest is to ensure that America remains independent and governed by the American people."