During the campaign, Barack Obama made it clear that he wasn't particularly gung-ho about putting ballistic missile interceptors in Eastern Europe. So it's not exactly surprising that he proposed a deal with Russia, to rethink missile defense in Eastern Europe in exchange for Russian support in keep...

Iran's nuclear ambitions are on the minds of every world leader -- including President Barack Obama, who tried to cut a deal with Russia to help disarm Iran. Strategist and Pentagon consultant Tom Barnett's view? Get over it. "I make the argument -- and I get into all kinds of fights over it --...

Our boy Greg Grant has a great piece on a presentation given by Steven Biddle and T.X. Hammes on the future of warfare over at DoD Buzz. I think it's a good companion piece to the interview we just did with Dakota Wood at CSBA and also dovetails nicely with Greg's previous piece on proposals from Ma...

The Air Force doesn't just drop bombs. The service does all kinds of "soft power" missions, too -- training doctors, strengthening local economies, and building America's image abroad. That's the reaction I got from a bunch of Air Force types, after a recent post, suggesting that "har...

When Air Force types talk about how much they can contribute to counterinsurgencies, they usually brag about how easy it is, to take out militants from the sky. So-called "soft power" -- building schools, discrediting insurgent propaganda, strengthening local economies -- that's for the gu...

The IDF is operating to a well thought out war plan on the ground as well as in the air. This is a description of IDF ground operations from strategypage.com: For the last two years, the Israeli Army has been developing new tactics and equipment for fighting Hamas and Hezbollah-type gunmen in urban ...

First of all Happy New Year from Defense Tech. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are ready to get back to work helping us decipher the strategic and technological dilemmas facing the world's militaries. I heard today that a friend and colleague of mine Tom Ricks of the Washington Pos...

Everyone is comparing the fight in Gaza with Israel's 2006 war against Hezbollah. But I just chatted with an informed observer, who sees some key differences. One lesson [Prime Minister Ehud Olmert] clearly has learned is expectation management. At the start of the 2006 war, he pledged to cripple He...

Are the U.S. and her allies being too gentle with Somalia's pirates? That's the accusation from Indian retired Rear Admiral Raja Menon. NATO's rules of engagement -- when their ships can fire, and when the can't -- "worries more about the human rights of the pirates, than about stamping out pir...

We had a couple great pieces up yesterday at Military.com on the Army's accelerating manpower issues. One of the perspectives comes from that CSBA seminar I've been talking about here for the last couple of days. Basically, Andrew Krepinevich -- a former Army colonel and 10-pound brain on strategic ...