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101. Defense Monitor, Missile Defense: An Expensive Bluff?

Author:
Eric Hagt, Philip E. Coyle, Whitney Parker, Rachel Stohl, Winslow Wheeler, and Anthony Zinni
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
North Korea's launch of numerous missiles the first week of July raised serious questions about the capabilities of both the U.S. missile defense system and North Korea's ballistic missile program. CDI Analyst Victoria Samson and Senior Advisor Philip Coyle appeared on numerous radio talk shows and TV news programs nationwide, helping viewers, listeners and readers to understand that the missile defense system being deployed in Alaska and California has no demonstrated capability to defend the United Sates against an enemy attack. Meanwhile the Bush administration is losing precious time. As Coyle points out in the article below, it's time to enter into one-on-one talks with North Korea before Pyongyang improves its short and long range missiles further. The six-party talks are important and necessary, but not sufficient to stop North Korea's missiles. And neither, unfortunately, are U.S. missile defenses.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States, China, Iraq, Middle East, Asia, and North Korea

102. Defense Monitor: Where is America Going? Five Years After Sept. 11

Author:
Philip E. Coyle, Whitney Parker, Rachel Stohl, Winslow Wheeler, Victoria Samson, Jessica Ashooh, Mark Burgess, and Rhea Myerscough
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
In the days before Sept. 11, riding the post-Cold War high, America was blissfully unaware of the threats it faced, and why. A few in the William J. Clinton administration tried to warn their successors about al-Qaida's danger, but overall, most Americans were blindsided by the Sept. 11 attacks. Five years later, America is still largely in the dark.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, Middle East, and Asia

103. Dangerous Ambitions: The Challenges of Iran and Hamas

Author:
Amjad Atallah, David Makovsky, Graham T. Allison, Richard Haass, R. Nicholas Burns, Moshe Yaalon, and Dan Meridor
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
I want to present some thoughts about the way we should look at modern Iran, the threat it poses to the United States, what we can do as Americans to confront that threat, and what your government is doing and should be doing along those lines.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Government, and War
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, and Middle East

104. American Strategic, Tactical, and Other Mistakes in Iraq: A Litany of Errors

Author:
Anthony H. Cordesman
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Wartime is scarcely the easiest time for demanding self criticism, but the recent exchanges between the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense over the mistakes the US did or did not make in Iraq have highlighted the fact that the US must both admit its mistakes and learn from them to win in Iraq and successfully engage in the “long war.” The full chronology of what happened in US planning and operations before, during, and immediately after the fight to drive Saddam Hussein from power is still far from clear. It is now much easier to accuse given US leaders than it is to understand what really happened or assign responsibility with credibility.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Development
Political Geography:
Iraq, America, and Middle East

105. "Disproportionate" Criticism - Israel Will Not Back Down, and Europe Owes Its Thanks

Author:
Joshua Muravchik
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
No sooner had Israel raised its hand in self- defense when Finland, speaking as the rotating president of the European Union, denounced it for “the disproportionate use of force.” This position, echoed by France, Spain, the United Nations, and others, is wrong legally, morally, and strategically. From a legal standpoint, Israel is the victim of multiple unprovoked aggressions. It withdrew entirely from Lebanon in 2000 and from Gaza in 2005. (Both of these occupations had come about as acts of self-defense: the former against rocket fire from Lebanon in 1982, and the latter against a war of annihilation declared by Egypt in 1967.) From the time of its withdrawal from Gaza, not a single day had passed without rockets being fired into Israel. Now from the north as well as the south, Israel finds hundreds of rockets being fired across its border. Even if these were aimed at military installations, it would be a clear-cut act of war. To make it worse, these rockets are aimed randomly at cities and other civilian population centers, making them not only acts of war but war crime.
Topic:
International Relations and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Israel, Finland, France, Gaza, Spain, Lebanon, and Egypt

106. Tracking Hamas's Leadership: Insights into the Organization's Structure and Evolution

Author:
Christopher Hamilton
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Taken together, the kidnapping on Sunday of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier and the signing on Tuesday of an agreement among Palestinian factions to create a unity government for the Palestinian Authority (PA) suggest that significant seismic forces may be developing within Hamas that may have a decisive impact both on the organization's solidarity and on the future course of Israeli-Palestinian relations. While the unity agreement itself has little significance beyond internal Palestinian politics—it is a nonstarter for the Israelis and represents a major retreat from previous Palestinian positions—its importance lies in the fact that it highlights the possible emergence of a fissure within the Hamas organization between its internal leaders, headed by Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, who experience the brunt both of popular concerns and Israeli reprisals, and its external leaders, chief among them Damascus-based Khaled Mashal, who are free of these constraints and therefore able to insist on more maximalist positions. However, in signing this agreement—apparently without full consultation with, or the approval of, the Damascus contingent—the Hamas leaders in the territories have signaled both their independence and their intention to embark on a more pragmatic path than that preferred by Hamas's more ideological external elements. Indeed, the timing and nature of the attack seems to have been specifically intended to disrupt the effort to agree on a unity government with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, and thereby, the possible emergence of a more moderate Hamas strategy.
Topic:
International Relations, Defense Policy, and Politics
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

107. Rumsfeld's Revolution at Defense

Author:
Paul C. Light
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
Whatever his legacy as an architect of the war in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has already earned a place in American bureaucratic history as one of its most ambitious organizational reformers. Rumsfeld is determined to complete a top-to-bottom overhaul of his department before he leaves office. Rumsfeld may be one of history's most ambitious reformers, but his actual impact is far from assured. He still faces intense resistance from the armed services, especially the Army, which has the most to lose in the movement to a much lighter military. And many of his proposals are either still under consideration in Congress or only in the early stages of implementation in the department.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

108. The US and Iran on a Confrontational Course

Author:
Tapani Vaahtoranta and Steve Wright
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The US and Iran are on a confrontational course. Iran challenges the US hegemony in the region and is striving for regional dominance. The US does not accept the current Iranian regime, foreign policy or drive towards nuclear capability. The strategies of both have led to a classic game of chicken. Neither is ready to give concessions to avoid confrontation.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, and Middle East

109. The Defense Monitor: Philip E. Coyle, III, CDI Senior Advisor, Appointed to Base Realignment and Closure 2005

Author:
Victoria Samson
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
The Center for Defense Information is proud to announce that Philip E. Coyle III, a senior advisor at the center, has been appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the independent Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 commission.
Topic:
Defense Policy and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, and Middle East

110. The Defense Monitor: Give Iraqis a Government Worth Dying For

Author:
Chet Richards
Publication Date:
10-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
There is a principle of engineering that says that when what you're doing isn't working, and trying harder makes the situation worse, you may be solving the wrong problem. With the attacks on London proving that occupying Iraq is not making the world safer, it is time for a radically new approach.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Government, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Europe, Middle East, and London