Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
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The Wrong-Headed Reasons Why People Believe The Worst About The Defense Industry (From Forbes)
July 8, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Director Roland Emmerich’s latest action movie, White House Down, is about a takeover of the White House by right-wing paramilitary forces receiving funds from the defense industry. True to life it isn’t, but it got me thinking about why the [Read More...] -
Sequestration Is Forcing The Marines To Make Dangerous Choices
July 1, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Last week, Marine Corps Commandant James Amos told reporters that if sequestration of defense funds mandated under the 2011 Budget Control Act persists into future fiscal years, his service may have to back out of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle [Read More...] -
Taking The Politics Out Of Defense Spending Isn’t A Realistic Goal
June 26, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D I recently was invited to sign a joint think-tank letter calling on Congress to implement various defense reforms. Among the measures recommended were closing excess bases, shrinking the defense department’s civilian workforce, and restructuring military compensation. I declined to sign [Read More...] -
Admiral Stavridis Embraces Fashionable Warfare
June 25, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D NATO’s former supreme commander, Admiral James Stavridis, is headed for academia, so what better time to discover the fashionable side of warfighting? Last week he rolled out a cool, casual line of future warfighting capabilities at foreignpolicy.com that he calls [Read More...] -
Defense Consolidation: Who Gets Bought First? (From Forbes)
June 24, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D If the current downturn in demand for military goods and services persists, then the defense industry will have to consolidate into a smaller number of players. Policymakers have told the six big firms that comprise the sector’s top tier that [Read More...] -
Proposed Nuclear Cuts Make Preserving A Triad Crucial
June 21, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D This week President Obama formally proposed that the United States and Russia reduce their arsenals of deployed strategic nuclear warheads by a third from the level of 1,550 agreed to three years ago. The Russians don’t seem enthusiastic about the [Read More...] -
Senate Defense Appropriations Chairman Durbin Gives F-35 Fighter A Vote Of Confidence
June 20, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D In one of the most positive congressional hearings the F-35 fighter program has seen since it was awarded to an industry team led by Lockheed Martin in 2001, Senate defense appropriations subcommittee chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL) yesterday endorsed the military [Read More...] -
Will The Army Modernize Its Fixed-Wing Recon Fleet The Right Way?
June 19, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Although better known for operating helicopters, the Army’s aviation community maintains a small fleet of fixed-wing planes for conducting intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance. Fixed-wing aircraft typically can loiter over areas of interest longer than rotorcraft, fly higher, and carry [Read More...] -
Why NSA Came Knocking At Google’s Door (From Forbes)
June 18, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Over the last few weeks the world has learned a lot about domestic surveillance programs conducted by the super-secret National Security Agency since 9-11. However, there hasn’t been much written about why NSA felt it had to turn to companies [Read More...] -
Pentagon Weapons Chief Signals F-35 Fighter Program Has Turned Corner
June 14, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Calling the F-35 fighter “our highest priority conventional warfare weapon system,” Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall yesterday signaled that the tri-service program is now progressing smoothly toward initial operational capability in 2015. Speaking before an annual stakeholder conference that [Read More...]