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National Security Architecture
The tools with which Washington implements foreign policy have a determining effect on that policy. When the American capacity to rebuild after conflict resides in the Department of Defense, reconstruction looks like occupation. When the White House abdicates global economic policy to the Federal Reserve, it is easier to de-value our currency than to increase our global competitiveness.
Perhaps more important, the question of what decisions are eventually made is dependent on how those decisions are made. Today, the "interagency process" has been wrecked by years of misuse and neglect, while the underlying bureaucratic infrastructure dates back to 1947.
In the coming years, Washington will have to re-build the process of national security decision making and the tool box for implementing those decisions. In an ideal world, any new design will reflect a new consensus on national strategy, in the meantime, we know that crises will emerge and demand new responses and new configurations of power.
The American Strategy Program seeks to monitor, diagnose, and adapt the nation's national security architecture to meet the needs of the coming era. Our initiatives will look at current problems, viable solutions, and build consensus that gets decision makers the tools they need to deliver security and prosperity to the nation.
For more on our work on National Security Architecture, please click on the following links.
On the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall I think back to the electrified atmosphere on the streets of Berlin. I was there, watching throngs of East Germans swarm through border crossings. A Fulbright scholar and social anthropologist based in Warsaw in November 1989, I drove with a friend through gas-rationed Poland and East Germany to bear witness. Back then many of the excited East Germans I interviewed -- even some border guards -- looked to the United States… more
Twenty-five years
ago, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick famously
lambasted Democrats as "blame America firsters" and a party plagued by
"self-criticism and self-denigration" of America. It was a speech at
pace with an emerging political stereotype that suggested Democrats
weren't quite patriotic enough and didn't love their country as much as
Republicans did. This image of Democratic weakness and self-doubt
became one of the most effective attack lines for Republicans -- and
Democrats' greatest political liability.
On the eighth anniversary of the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, the spotlight is on the Obama administration's evolving war strategy in a nation long known as the "graveyard of empires."
The current discourse on what is now dubbed "Obama's War" focuses on the number and composition of troops, as well as the overarching strategy (counter-insurgency, rapid withdrawal, a mix of military and reconstruction operations).
Civilian control of the armed forces is one of the most sacrosanct
tenets of American democracy. It assures us that military
decision-making will be subordinate to the larger strategic perspective
of our nation's elected -- and ultimately accountable -- leaders.
On the face of it, nuclear
disarmament seems pretty straightforward--we have a bunch of things that
we don't need any more, and let's get rid of them.
But, we can't
just donate our old nuclear weapons to the Salvation Army for a tax
write-off, or hand them down to our little sister like an old sweater
set.
Despite President Obama's recent pledge to seek
a world free of nuclear weapons, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear
Security Administration (NNSA) is proposing a major upgrade to the nation's
nuclear weapons complex.
Over the past several years, the cause of democracy promotion has been at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy. Along with heightened rhetorical attention to democratization, the Bush administration's so-called Freedom Agenda brought increased resources for democracy promotion activities and created new programs (including the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Middle East Partnership Initiative) geared toward spurring democracy and encouraging good governance.
As part of its campaign to
secure additional funding for the F-22 Raptor combat aircraft, the Lockheed
Martin Corporation has asserted that 95,000 jobs are at stake if the program is
terminated after the Pentagon's preferred production run of 183 planes.
Using two different
estimating techniques (elaborated below), F-22 expenditures generate jobs in
the range of 35,000 to 37,000 per year-- less than 40% of the levels claimed by
Lockheed Martin.
The United States, which entered into over $23 billion in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreements in fiscal year (FY) 2007 and $32 billion in FY 2008 (see table 1), is the world's largest arms supplier. U.S. exports range from combat aircraft to Pakistan, Morocco, Greece, Romania, and Chile to small arms and light weapons to the Philippines, Egypt, and Georgia. In 2006 and 2007, the United States sold weapons to over 174 states and territories, a significant increase from the… more
On July 24, Christopher Preble discussed his new book The Power Problem: How American Military Dominance
Makes Us Less Safe, Less Prosperous, and Less Free. Dr. Preble was joined by New America's
Michael Cohen, Senior Research Fellow and co-director of the Privatization
of Foreign Policy Initiative, and Michael
Lind, Senior Fellow and Policy Director of the Economic Growth Program, as well
as Gordon Adams, a Distinguished Fellow
at the Stimson Center, in discussing whether and how the U.S. should scale back
its global military commitments.
Despite President Obama's recent pledge to seek a world free of nuclear
weapons, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security
Administration is planning to spend tens of billions of dollars to
upgrade the nation's nuclear weapons complex. Why is this happening, and
what can be done about it? Join a panel of experts to discuss this
issue, including presentations on the future of U.S. nuclear policy and
the security risks posed by the current weapons complex.
Blackwater is changing its name to "Xe". Halliburton has sold off its KBR division. President Obama is pledging to crack down on the use of contractors by the military. Where does the future for private military contractors lie? Join us March 10th as we discuss these issues with Pratap Chatterjee, the author of the new book Halliburton's Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War, joined by Janine Wedel and Michael… more
The tools with which Washington implements foreign policy have a determining effect on that policy. When the American capacity to rebuild after conflict resides in the Department of Defense, reconstruction looks like occupation. When the White House abdicates global economic policy to the Federal Reserve, it is easier to de-value our currency than to increase our global competitiveness.
