Joan Johnson-Freese

 

Stories by Joan Johnson-Freese

Too Many Generals In Trump Administration?

Too Many Generals In Trump Administration?
Too Many Generals In Trump Administration?

President Donald Trump named retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis as Defense Secretary, the highest-ranking civilian position in the Pentagon. Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly was named first to head the Homeland Security Department and then replaced Reince Priebus as White House Chief of Staff. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster replaced Air Force Gen. Mike Flynn…

Stopping The Slide Towards A War In Space: The Sky’s Not Falling, Part 2

Stopping The Slide Towards A War In Space: The Sky’s Not Falling, Part 2
Stopping The Slide Towards A War In Space: The Sky’s Not Falling, Part 2

Yesterday, Joan Johnson-Freese argued that complicit and compliant media have helped the Pentagon overhype the threat of war in space — to the point that exaggerated US efforts to prepare for conflict might help start one. In today’s article, she outlines how US policy got to this point and how to correct it. — the…

Stop The Fearmongering Over War In Space: The Sky’s Not Falling, Part 1

Stop The Fearmongering Over War In Space: The Sky’s Not Falling, Part 1
Stop The Fearmongering Over War In Space: The Sky’s Not Falling, Part 1

    Star Wars it ain’t, but the Pentagon is increasingly anxious over threats to its satellites, as we’ve reported frequently in recent years. But in this op-ed, scholars Joan Johnson-Freese and Theresa Hitchens argue that war in space is dangerously overhyped. — the editors In the last two years, we’ve seen rising hysteria over…

How Next President Can Build New National Security Space Strategy

How Next President Can Build New National Security Space Strategy
How Next President Can Build New National Security Space Strategy

The next administration must do a “strategic rebalancing” of means to achieve what have been consistent national space security ends (goals): stability, sustainability and freedom of access. But a significant challenge to both reaffirming ends, and determining and implementing means, is structure, as we point out in a recent Strategy Paper for the Atlantic Council. While space is…

DHS: The Department of Everything?

DHS: The Department of Everything?
DHS: The Department of Everything?

A colleague and I wrote a 10-year retrospective assessment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2011, calling the organization a “colossal, inefficient boondoogle.” Amazingly, that didn’t land us on the no-fly list, probably because — even then — we weren’t the first, last or only critics of DHS. The actions and events that provided fodder for…

Domains, Budgets and Bureaucracies: Nukes, Space & Now — Cyber

Domains, Budgets and Bureaucracies: Nukes, Space & Now — Cyber
Domains, Budgets and Bureaucracies: Nukes, Space & Now — Cyber

Joan Johnson Freese, a member of our Board of Contributors and professor at the Naval War College, is an expert on space, Strategic Command and several other topics dealt with below. She doesn’t think the creation of Cyber Command is a great idea. Read on to find why. The Editor. Analysis of the Peloponnesian War…

Taking Out The Space Trash; A Model For Space Cooperation

Taking Out The Space Trash; A Model For Space Cooperation
Taking Out The Space Trash; A Model For Space Cooperation

Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor of national security at the Naval War College and a member of our Board of Contributors, is one of the world’s experts on international space cooperation.  Decoding this stuff can get very complicated since many of those involved in international space issues toss around terms like COPUOS, IADC, apogee, LEO, GEO…

Why Russia Keeps Moving The Football On European Missile Defense: Politics

Why Russia Keeps Moving The Football On European Missile Defense: Politics
Why Russia Keeps Moving The Football On European Missile Defense: Politics

America wants to use policy — talks on missile defense cooperation — to make Russia feel better about the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA). But the Russians, who say they think EPAA threatens their ICBMs and thus creates all sorts of arms control problems. say technology — not policy — is the problem. The Russian Foreign…

Preventing Asteroid Armageddon: It’s Deja Vu All Over Again

The public experienced a moment of angst in 1997 when it looked like Asteroid XF11 might threaten the Earth in 2028. It didn’t. But that doesn’t mean the threat doesn’t exist or that we should do nothing about it. Asteroids and comets that come close to Earth are collectively known as Near Earth Objects (NEOs).…

The Sky’s Not Falling On Satellite Exports: The Ghost Of Anti-China Paranoia Past

The U.S. aerospace industry got an early Christmas present this week, when House and Senate conferees approved defense authorization legislation that gives the President discretion to determine export jurisdiction for satellites. The legislation next will be voted on by the full Congress, and signed by the President. That process will conclude a necessary-but-not-sufficient, long-awaited first…

Chinese Spaceplane: Chimera Or Object Lesson In Threat Analysis?

China unveils a new “stealth” jet, but we don’t know how stealthy it is or when it might fly actual missions. China unveils a new aircraft carrier. Its leaders boast about extending China’s reach, but the carrier doesn’t have any planes and we aren’t sure when they might build them. Monitoring a rapidly developing China,…

America’s Ultimate Weapon In Competition With China: Lawyers

For years, American pundits and politicians have asserted that the People’s Republic of China was developing a high-tech shashou jian – sensationalistically translated as “assassin’s mace” – as a secret weapon against the United States. Ironically, though, it is the United States that has been fostering what could be a non-violent shashou jian against Chinese…

‘Can Do’ Must Replace ‘Give Me’ In US Politics

My vote in the 2012 presidential election will go to the candidate who most resists pandering to the American electorate. I say “most resist,” as all candidates pander, but hopefully at least one of the presidential candidates will believe and act as if there should be a limit. Given the campaigns so far, perhaps there…

The Nike Doctrine: A New American Security Policy

For a century now, “unilateralism” has been a dirty word in international politics. It evokes the raw, interest-based resort to self-help that drives nations to compete in arms races, build fortifications, and even go to war. But unilateralism need not carry the stigma it has borne since the early 20th century (and which deepened after…

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