Secretary of Defense James Mattis and his team at the Pentagon are nearing completion of a new National Defense Strategy, a document designed to help explain how the U.S. military helps support a...
http://warontherocks.com/2017/09/awaiting-the-new-defense-strategy/
A small Pentagon team has started working on the next National Defense Strategy that, if properly scoped and staffed, will be an important tool for Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to positively s...
http://warontherocks.com/2017/05/getting-the-pentagons-next-national-defense-strategy-right/
When then President-elect Donald Trump announced that he had chosen Gen. Jim Mattis to lead the Pentagon, there was a collective sigh of relief across the national security establishment. The thi...
http://warontherocks.com/2017/04/tips-for-mattis-on-navigating-swampland/
Editor’s Note: We are pleased to re-boot “Agenda SecDef,” a column designed for an audience of one — the secretary of defense — to War on the Rocks. Multiple authors will be contributin...
http://warontherocks.com/2017/03/for-an-audience-of-one-re-booting-agenda-secdef/
Whatever version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) emerges from the House-Senate conference process later this year, it seems likely that the 20-year old Quadrennial Defense Review...
A month ago, Agenda SecDef called on the defense community to avoid defense reform for reform’s sake, and focus reform efforts on the Pentagon’s core mission: to generate military forces that...
The secretary of defense has outsized influence over America’s global network of bases, the number of military personnel stationed overseas, and the frequency of international visits, exercises...
http://warontherocks.com/2016/05/observations-on-global-military-posture/
Defense reform — frequently relegated to a no man’s land somewhere between wonkish dreams and third-rail issues — has reappeared as the issue du jour. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s ne...
http://warontherocks.com/2016/04/escaping-the-no-mans-land-of-defense-reform/
After more than a year of speeches, debate, and discussion (much of it curated here at War on the Rocks), the recent fiscal year 2017 (FY17) budget submission finally provides facts with which to...
http://warontherocks.com/2016/03/sustaining-the-third-offset-strategy-in-the-next-administration/
At some point during the presidential election cycle, the issue of U.S. defense spending will rise (however briefly) to the top of the national security debate. Fleeting though the debate may be,...
http://warontherocks.com/2016/03/how-the-next-secdef-can-prevail-on-defense-spending/
The most important relationship the next secretary of defense will have is with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS). This partnership, shaped by statute and history, can be equally i...
http://warontherocks.com/2016/02/on-goldwater-nichols-and-the-centrality-of-military-advice/
When the next secretary of defense arrives in the Pentagon in January 2017, he or she must show up with a fairly well-developed agenda in order to properly seize the various levers of power and i...
http://warontherocks.com/2016/01/agenda-secdef-crafting-the-next-defense-strategy/
One year from now, somewhere in a small suite of offices at the Pentagon, a team of civil servants, military officers, and a smattering of outside civilians will be hard at work preparing for the...
Last week, the Washington Post reported that the White House has just finished an extensive internal review and developed a plan to reshape the National Security Council (NSC). The review was app...
Editor’s Note: War on the Rocks has partnered with the Center for a New American Security to produce Beyond Offset, a series that explores the shape of the Defense Department’s third offset s...
http://warontherocks.com/2015/05/beyond-offset-shawn-brimley-on-dod-investment/
Aviation history was made last week: an unmanned aircraft — the X-47B — successfully completed an air-to-air refueling demonstration, taking 4,000 pounds of fuel from a KC-707 tanker aircraft...
http://warontherocks.com/2015/04/the-navys-new-museum-drone-and-strategic-malpractice/
China is building in the South China Sea, but this isn’t any normal construction. China is expanding islands and building new ones on reefs in disputed waters around the Paracel and Spratly I...
http://warontherocks.com/2015/03/chinas-menacing-sandcastles-in-the-south-china-sea/
Editor’s Note: We asked two people to respond to President Obama’s State of the Union – one from each side of the aisle. Enjoy Shawn Brimley’s take and then check out what Bridge Colby ha...
http://warontherocks.com/2015/01/the-state-of-the-union-the-president-struck-the-right-tone/
We recently sat down with the gang at the Center for a New American Security to discuss offset strategies. As you can see from the photo, we had all the important props one would need to plan how...
http://warontherocks.com/2014/12/podcast-spitballing-offset-strategy/
Editor’s Note: As a part of our Beyond Offset initiative with the Center for a New American Security, we’re featuring a series of short interviews with leading experts on defense innovation...
http://warontherocks.com/2014/12/interview-retaining-an-advantage-in-the-air-and-maritime-domains/
Editor’s Note: This article marks the beginning of a new program in partnership with the Center for a New American Security called “Beyond Offset.” Watch this space for more information on...
http://warontherocks.com/2014/10/offset-strategies-warfighting-regimes/
The issue of when and how the U.S. Armed Forces fully integrate unmanned and increasingly autonomous surveillance and strike platforms into their inventory is one of the most important issues fac...
http://warontherocks.com/2014/07/getting-unmanned-naval-aviation-right/
The U.S. military is at a critical juncture. With the end of two wars and a sharp drawdown in defense spending, investments over the next several years will set the military’s course for decade...
http://warontherocks.com/2014/01/20yy-the-future-of-warfare/