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Where George Washington Would Disagree with Pete Hegseth About Fitness for Command and What Makes a Warrior
The phrase “warrior ethos” – a mix of combativeness, toughness and dominance – has become central to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s political identity. Washington’s overall vision of a military leader could not be further from Hegseth’s vision of the tough warrior.
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Ukraine’s Lesson for Taiwan: Build Big, Cheap and Numerous Cruise Missiles
The best thing about Ukraine’s new Flamingo, a 6-ton carbon fiber monstrosity with a secondhand turbofan engine and basic guidance, is that it’s cheap. One of the cruise missiles may cost just US$500,000. Taiwan should pay attention.
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Confronting Cartels: Military Considerations South of the Border
Possible U.S. military action against Mexico’s drug cartels poses unique challenges. The situation is complicated, and the United States must be prepared for possible counteractions. Past government campaigns against the cartels led to soaring rates of criminal violence. Chaos in Mexico could have serious implications for U.S. homeland security. The United States needs a ‘Red Team’ to examine a range of scenarios.
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“Warrior Ethos” Mistakes Military Might for True Security – and Ignores the Wisdom of Eisenhower
Renaming the Department of Defense the “Department of War” represents far more than rebranding –it signals an escalation in the administration’s embrace of a militaristic mindset that, as long ago as 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against in his farewell address, and that the nation’s founders deliberately aimed to constrain.
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How Can Europe Fight Back Against Incursions by Drone Aircraft?
Russian drones have violated the airspace of several NATO members, flying near critical infrastructure facilities, military bases, and airports. Questions are now being raised about what can be done to either suppress or destroy drones and prevent future attacks.
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Rising Dragon, Slumbering Sam
Last week was one for the books. President Donald Trump rebranded the Department of Defense as the Department of War, while China held a remarkable parade and flyover in Beijing. It was clearly intended to demonstrate that China’s armed forces had at least attained technical parity with the United States and possibly surpassed it. The week closed with a report of the Pentagon’s plan to prioritize focusing on domestic threats while downgrading other missions, such as deterring China and countering adversaries such as Beijing and Moscow.
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Bookshelf: Smartphones Shape War in Hyperconnected World
The smartphone is helping to shape the conduct and representation of contemporary war. A new book argues that as an operative device, the smartphone is now “being used as a central weapon of war.”
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Digital Siege Puts Taiwan’s Resilience to the Test
The most sustained conflict unfolding between China and Taiwan is not taking place on the water or in the air; it is happening in cyberspace.
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To Better Detect Chemical Weapons, Materials Scientists Are Exploring New Technologies
Chemical warfare is one of the most devastating forms of conflict. It leverages toxic chemicals to disable, harm or kill without any physical confrontation. Across various conflicts, it has caused tens of thousands of deaths and affected over a million people through injury and long-term health consequences.
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Geological Mapping Project Supports Critical Mineral Explorations, Enhances Public Safety in the Southeast
A key focus of a new USGS mapping project is to identify where critical minerals vital to the economy and national security might be located. As demand for rare earth elements and other critical minerals grows for use in technology, energy, and defense sectors, this project can provide vital data that helps the U.S. secure domestic sources of critical minerals, thus reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign sources.
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Europe Is Significantly Boosting Its Defense Spending. Can the Continent Become a Military Superpower?
Military spending across the European Union is ramping up in what observers have noted is a significant and “extraordinary” pivot from the comparatively placid postwar decades. Mai’a Cross thinks Europe’s shift toward an “era of rearmament” will be in its long-term interest.
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Not Just Drones, but Massed Swarms of Them. Defenses Can’t Cope
A new and sophisticated phase of aerial warfare has emerged from the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East over the past month, defined by the systematic use of massed drone saturation attacks. This evolving doctrine uses quantity and simultaneity to overwhelm even the most advanced air-defense systems.
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U.S. Moves Decisively to Avoid Dependence on China’s Rare Earths
The Pentagon’s package of support for rare earths company MP Minerals, announced on 10 July, should free the US military and eventually much of US industry from dependence on Chinese supply chains for rare earth magnets.
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Moving Targets: Implications of the Russo-Ukrainian War for Drone Terrorism
Small and commercially available drones in the hands of violent extremists pose a rapidly growing terrorist threat. This threat hasimplications for global counterterrorism, especially when considering the psychological impact, scalability, and low operational risk of drone attacks.
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The Taiwan Scenarios 4: The Catastrophe
By any measure, China’s four main choices for forcing unification with Taiwan—subversion, quarantine, blockade, or invasion—would all have far-reaching consequences for Beijing and the wider Indo-Pacific. The world must convince China that the road to Taipei is lined with peril, not prizes. If Beijing acts, it faces the wrecking of its global standing. Preventing conflict is not Taiwan’s burden alone.
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The long view
New System Designed to Protect Drones from Cyber Threats
Adelaide University researchers have initiated the development of a world-first cybersecurity system designed to protect drones from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.