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Begin New Search Political Geography United States Author Rachel Stohl

1. Defense Monitor, Who Will Pay for this Puny Defense Budget?

Author:
Eric Hagt, Philip E. Coyle, Whitney Parker, Rachel Stohl, Winslow Wheeler, Victoria Samson, and Rhea Myerscough
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
This analysis first appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegramon March 5, 2007.The new 2008 defense budget has been on the street for weeks. A consensus has emerged in Washington about its size. That consensus has little to do with the facts and much to do with political maneuvering, which has been orchestrated with brilliant success by the very same White House that everyone in Washington discounts as washed up.
Topic:
Defense Policy and Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:
United States, China, and Asia

2. The Defense Monitor, Conventional Weapons Pose Challenges for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan

Author:
Rachel Stohl, Winslow Wheeler, Mark Burgess, Marta Conti, Monica Czwarno, and Ana Marte
Publication Date:
10-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
Six years Ago, the United States began its operations in Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At the time, scant attention was paid to the dangers of landmines, unexploded ordnance and small arms that plagued the country. Now, six years later, U.S. and coalition military forces serving in Afghanistan continue to face a variety of dangers, beyond the unfriendly geography and resurgent Taliban forces. Troops supporting the international Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and operation enduring Freedom (OEF) face additional challenges from landmines, unexploded ordnance, man-portable air defense systems and other small arms.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and Asia

3. 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

4. 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

5. Defense Monitor, Not What We Were Hoping For

Author:
Philip E. Coyle, Whitney Parker, Rachel Stohl, Winslow Wheeler, Victoria Samson, and Theresa Hitchens
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
For decades, the U.S. Air Force has promoted the F-22 as its fighter for the 21st century. Advocates tout its technical features: fuel efficient, high speed “super-cruise,” advanced electronics, and reduced profile against enemy sensors, known as “stealth.” While those are popular amenities, the measures that really determine winning or losing in air combat have been overlooked by the Air Force. The F-22 fails to improve America's fighter force and degrades our combat capability.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
United States

6. The Defense Monitor, Ten Mistakes History will Record About War in Ira

Author:
Rachel Stohl, Anthony Zinni, Steven C. Welsh, Michael Donovan, and Colin Robinson
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
[T]he first mistake that will be recorded in history [is] the belief that containment as a policy doesn't work. It certainly worked against the Soviet Union, has worked with North Korea and others. It's not a pleasant thing to have to administer, it requires troops full-time, there are moments when there ... are periods of violence, but containment is a lot cheaper than the alternative, as we're finding out now.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States and North Korea

7. The Defense Monitor, Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark: The SIOP Option that Wasn't

Author:
Rachel Stohl, Winslow Wheeler, Theresa Hitchens, and Bruce.G Blair
Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
ONE OF THE MOST RAREFIED experiences of a newly installed president is his receiving of the “nuclear football” conferring the right to order the use of nuclear weapons in defense of the American national interest. Few, if any, presidents have had a firm grip on the “football” however, as all U.S. presidents receive a misleading briefing on their nuclear weapons rights and responsibilities, and options.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States and America

8. The Defense Monitor: Little Room in Politics for the Facts of the Matter

Author:
Philip E. Coyle, Rachel Stohl, Winslow Wheeler, Theresa Hitchens, Victoria Garcia, Colin Robinson, Krista Nelson, and Jeffrey Lewis
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
Few things are more routinely abused than facts when people in government — any party, any branch — set out to make a decision. I've been reminded of this truth watching the current administration parry revelations that it manipulated “facts” about weapons of mass destruction as a pretext for the war against Iraq that Congress authorized a year ago this past week. But I'd learned it the hard way much earlier. During a 31-year career as an evaluator for the General Accounting Office and a staffer for four different U.S. senators from both parties, I spent a lot of time trying to use facts to influence decisions made by the U.S. government. The facts took a beating all too often.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
United States and Iraq

9. The Defense Monitor: Population Growth and Water Resources in the Middle East

Author:
Rachel Stohl, Christopher Hellman, Tomas Valasek, Leigh Josey, and Nicholas Berry
Publication Date:
09-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
Political strife is nothing new in the Middle East. In fact, many of the present-day disputes date back 100 years or more. But the increasing scarcity of renewable water resources and the simultaneous high population growth add new urgency to the necessity to devise a settlement.
Topic:
International Relations, Agriculture, Demographics, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States and Middle East