Deciding to Buy: Civil-Military Relations and Major Weapons Programs

The development and procurement of major weapons programs in the United States is a complex and often drawn-out process complicated by political considerations and often sharp disagreements over requirements and the merits of systems. Secretaries of Defense since Robert McNamara have sought to impose discipline on the process, with varying degrees of success. Conflicts between a Military Service and the civilian leadership are inevitable. A Service wants to develop the most advanced system to address its perceived need, whereas the Secretary of Defense must balance competing requirements across the Department of Defense. The military and the civilian leadership may also have different strategic perspectives that feed this conflict. Through the detailed analysis of three case studies--the Nuclear Surface Navy in the 1960s, the B-1 Bomber in the 1970s, and the Crusader Artillery System in the 2000s--the author explores some of the common themes and sources of friction that arise in civil-military relations concerning major weapons programs. He concludes with some thoughts on how the Secretary of Defense can anticipate and reduce these sources of friction, while retaining an environment that supports healthy debate.

History

Strategic Studies Institute

Hodgson, Quentin E.

Military

Independently published

State election laws on early voting, remote voting, and voter registration could have implications for the execution of an election under conditions brought on by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. In this report, the authors summarize state election laws on early voting, remote voting, and voter registration, and they discuss the potential implications for the execution of the November 2020 general election.

An Assessment of State Voting Processes: Preparing for Elections During a Pandemic

Kavanagh, Jennifer

Cherney, Samantha

Gibson, C. Ben

Americas

RAND Corporation

Several voting and registration options are available to states to ensure the safety of elections despite the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This report outlines these options, considering the factors that officials will have to examine in determining how to conduct the election safely; the advantages and challenges of each approach; and the levels of risk regarding safety, integrity, access, and logistics.

Options for Ensuring Safe Elections: Preparing for Elections During a Pandemic

Chan, Edward W.

Garg, Anusree

Sovak, Christine

The authors examine potential command-and-control impediments to multidomain operations and propose alternative models for joint all-domain command and control.

Multiple Dilemmas: Challenges and Options for All-Domain Command and Control

Priebe, Miranda

Eaton, Derek

Rhoades, Ashley L.

Rooney, Bryan

McClintock, Bruce

Lee, Caitlin

Spirtas, Michael

Ligor, Douglas C.

Schwindt, Karen

Systems and operations have become more dependent on interconnected electronics and data. As that dependence grows, so does the need for mission assurance in the face of adversarial cyber operations. The authors offer ways to help wings assure their missions despite cyber attacks, focusing on how wings can maintain situational awareness, defend their systems, and respond to and recover from attacks to survive and operate when under cyber attack.

Wing-Level Mission Assurance for a Cyber-Contested Environment (Research Report)

Hamilton, Thomas

Mayer, Lauren A.

Snyder, Don

Bodine-Baron, Elizabeth

Hura, Myron

Fujiwara, Jonathan

Brosmer, Jonathan Lee

Reference

Many Hands in the Cookie Jar

Computers & Technology

Shokh, Yuliya

Balk, Jonathan

Networking & Cloud Computing

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Books by Hodgson, Quentin E.