Trump Advisor Charges “Globalist” Conspiracy to Undermine China Trade Deal

Trump Advisor Charges “Globalist” Conspiracy to Undermine China Trade Deal
Trump Advisor Charges “Globalist” Conspiracy to Undermine China Trade Deal

WASHINGTON: President Trump’s top advisor on trade and manufacturing policy railed against “globalist billionaires” and Wall Street executives during a forceful, hour-long speech in Washington on Friday. Peter Navarro accused US business leaders of being “unregistered foreign agents” working for Beijing trying to pressure President Donald Trump into a trade deal with China. “When these…

Democratic House Hurts Space Corps, Nuke Modernization, & Pentagon Topline

Democratic House Hurts Space Corps, Nuke Modernization, & Pentagon Topline
Democratic House Hurts Space Corps, Nuke Modernization, & Pentagon Topline

WASHINGTON: The Democrats’ recapturing the House means three major impacts on the Defense Department: The odds are that controversial Trump priorities like new nuclear weapons and a Space Force will go nowhere, defense budgets will go down, and oversight will go up, up, up. Program winners and losers The most likely losers are nuclear modernization…

Trump Reverses The Defense Buildup: 2020 Cuts Analysis

Trump Reverses The Defense Buildup: 2020 Cuts Analysis
Trump Reverses The Defense Buildup: 2020 Cuts Analysis

Trump’s plan would undercut the more expansive National Defense Strategy for “great power competition” that embattled Defense Secretary Jim Mattis rolled out just nine months ago.

Why We Need A Space Force: CSIS’s Todd Harrison

Why We Need A Space Force: CSIS’s Todd Harrison
Why We Need A Space Force: CSIS’s Todd Harrison

Space Corps? Space Force? Space Command? Ever since Rep. Mike Rogers put the Space Corps cat amongst the Air Force pigeons in April last year, debate has raged within the Air Force, the wider space enterprise, Congress and across the four services about just what must be done. President Trump glommed onto the idea and…

Show Me The Money: What’s Missing From The National Defense Strategy

Show Me The Money: What’s Missing From The National Defense Strategy
Show Me The Money: What’s Missing From The National Defense Strategy

The Trump Administration’s 2018 National Defense Strategy was remarkable for its candor in identifying China and Russia as America’s chief “strategic competitors.” But unlike earlier, relatively anodyne strategy documents from the Obama Administration, the 2018 strategy didn’t specify the forces required, let alone how much they might cost — at least, not in the unclassified…

Disaster Averted – For Now: The Pentagon In 2018

Disaster Averted – For Now: The Pentagon In 2018
Disaster Averted – For Now: The Pentagon In 2018

The Trump Administration managed to avoid starting wars or crippling NATO in fiscal year 2018, writes CSIS scholar Kathleen Hicks in this op-ed, but as we stagger into 2019, the fates of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, his National Defense Strategy, and the Pentagon budget remain alarmingly uncertain. We continue our partnership with DC’s leading defense…

CSIS Expert Calls Out USAF: 386 Squadrons & $13B Space Force Are Guesswork

CSIS Expert Calls Out USAF: 386 Squadrons & $13B Space Force Are Guesswork
CSIS Expert Calls Out USAF: 386 Squadrons & $13B Space Force Are Guesswork

CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: The Air Force threw out two big numbers this week, but one of Washington’s leading budget analysts doesn’t think either of them is credible. One is the service’s unsolicited estimate that President Trump’s plan to create an independent Space Force – largely carved out of the Air Force –…

Can’t Spend? Won’t Spend? 4 Lessons From NATO’s Bottom Lines

Can’t Spend? Won’t Spend? 4 Lessons From NATO’s Bottom Lines
Can’t Spend? Won’t Spend? 4 Lessons From NATO’s Bottom Lines

Most NATO nations don’t pay much. Most nations CAN’T pay much. Most spend on the wrong things. But most of them are moving in the right direction.

Marines Train ‘Surge’ Force For Major War: ‘Two Different MAGTFs’

Marines Train ‘Surge’ Force For Major War: ‘Two Different MAGTFs’
Marines Train ‘Surge’ Force For Major War: ‘Two Different MAGTFs’

CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Some Marine Corps units, but not all, will get extra training in large-scale combat as the Pentagon refocuses from counterinsurgency to great power conflict. While every Marine would have a role in a major war with Russia or China — the service isn’t big enough to leave anybody on…

Marine Missile Strategy: Buy Some ASAP, Then Develop With Army

Marine Missile Strategy: Buy Some ASAP, Then Develop With Army
Marine Missile Strategy: Buy Some ASAP, Then Develop With Army

The Marines want new missiles for multiple missions: attacking enemy aircraft, ships at sea, and ground targets. But getting them on a tight budget will require working closely with the Army and Navy.

The Great Afghan Paradox

The Great Afghan Paradox
The Great Afghan Paradox

By most metrics the war in Afghanistan is going badly.

Army Says It Needs $2B More Per Year For Big Six: Over Half For Air & Missile Defense

Army Says It Needs $2B More Per Year For Big Six: Over Half For Air & Missile Defense
Army Says It Needs $2B More Per Year For Big Six: Over Half For Air & Missile Defense

Looking to spend billions more on its top modernization programs, the Army is changing things up by spending those dollars in places that might come as a bit of a surprise.

Rep. Gabbard Pushes For Heftier Hawaiian Missile Defenses

Rep. Gabbard Pushes For Heftier Hawaiian Missile Defenses
Rep. Gabbard Pushes For Heftier Hawaiian Missile Defenses

Pentagon planners aren’t only worried about North Korean ICBMs, but Chinese hypersonics and medium-range missiles. That means, according to analysts, that an array of distributed systems are needed to meet a wide range of potential threats.

Afghan AF Getting New Hellfire-Shooting Planes; More Airstrikes  Coming

Afghan AF Getting New Hellfire-Shooting Planes; More Airstrikes  Coming
Afghan AF Getting New Hellfire-Shooting Planes; More Airstrikes Coming

WASHINGTON: The Afghan Air Force is about to get a powerful new weapon in what is shaping up to be a bloody year in the 17-year-old war against the Taliban. On Friday, the U.S. Air Force announced an $86 million deal with an American defense contractor Orbital ATK to supply single-engine, turboprop AC-208 airplanes to…