Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
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Sen. Warren Supports Soldiers And Bay State Workers By Pressing To Keep Army’s WIN-T On Track
June 12, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has embraced Teddy Kennedy’s political legacy in not allowing her progressive beliefs to obscure what is best for America’s warfighters and the Bay State’s workers. Warren has closed ranks with the rest of the state’s [Read More...] -
How The Marines Plan To Win Washington’s Budget Wars (From Forbes)
June 11, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The Marine Corps has a plan for emerging victorious from the Pentagon’s seemingly endless rounds of budget-cutting. It focuses on explaining the enduring value of sea-based expeditionary forces, as reflected in three measures of military merit: relevance, readiness and realism. [Read More...] -
Reaction To NSA Domestic Surveillance Reflects Shift In Political Culture
June 10, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D For a brief moment last week, it seemed as though both the Left and the Right were going to unite in opposition to the National Security Agency’s “domestic surveillance” program. That very destructive outcome was averted when first the Director [Read More...] -
Why NSA’s PRISM Program Makes Sense (From Forbes)
June 7, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The National Security Agency’s PRISM program to monitor suspicious overseas Internet traffic is provoking widespread concern, despite President Obama’s firm defense of the effort. Contrary to some of the criticism, though, PRISM isn’t about spying on Americans, or even foreign [Read More...] -
Boeing Accelerates Shift Of Workers Away From Puget Sound Base (From Forbes)
June 6, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The Boeing Company was founded in Washington State’s Puget Sound region 97 years ago, and until the closing days of the 20th Century it didn’t have much in the way of operations elsewhere. But beginning with its acquisition of McDonnell [Read More...] -
War In Syria Highlights Why U.S. Needs Fifth-Gen Fighters (From Forbes)
June 3, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D After spending a dozen years fighting enemies that lacked air forces and air defenses, the Pentagon is beginning to focus again on state-based adversaries possessing sizable arsenals. Syria could be an early test case, because influential members of Congress favor [Read More...] -
Sequestration Barely Touches Washington While Warfighter Readiness Plummets
May 31, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D What’s wrong with this picture? Three months after the sequestration provisions of the 2011 Budget Control Act triggered so-called “across the board” cuts to defense and domestic discretionary spending, Washington’s doing just fine while warfighters at places like Shaw Air [Read More...] -
Tracked Combat Vehicle Sector Headed For Total Shutdown In 2014
May 29, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D [Correction: Industry sources say that closure of the Abrams tank line has been delayed by about a year from 2014 to 2015 as a result of additional money provided by Congress. However, the Army is now signaling it may not [Read More...] -
Nuclear Weapons: How Few Is Too Few? (From Forbes)
May 28, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D After downplaying efforts to further reduce the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals in the run-up to 2012 elections, President Obama has returned to the subject in his second term. According to published reports, he is securing support from both Moscow [Read More...] -
Pentagon Reduces F-35 Cost Estimate $4.5 Billion
May 24, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The Department of Defense has released its latest estimates of how much major weapons programs will cost to buy, and it says the price-tag for the biggest program of all is shrinking. The official estimate of the cost to buy [Read More...]