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AEI’s Kagan on US Strategy in Afghanistan
In a multi-part interview with Defense & Aerospace Report, Frederick Kagan, PhD, resident scholar, Christopher…
Bloomfield on Statecraft Under President Trump
In a wide-ranging, multi-part interview with Defense & Aerospace Report, Amb. Lincoln Bloomfield, distinguished fellow and chairman emeritus at the Stimson Center, discusses statecraft under President Donald Trump, the outlook for the US State Department under his administration, the proposed US strategy shift in Afghanistan and more. The interview was conducted on Aug. 25, 2017, at Bloomfield’s northern Virginia home.
AEI’s Kagan: US Troops in Afghanistan Should Help ANSDF Become Self-Sufficient
In Part 2 of an extensive interview on Afghanistan with Defense & Aerospace Report, Frederick Kagan, PhD, resident scholar, Christopher DeMuth Chair and Critical Threats Project director at the American Enterprise Institute, said the US military’s presence in Afghanistan should be a “long term support and train advise-and-assist mission” focused on empowering Afghan National Security and Defense Forces to become self-sufficient, but that current troop levels are too low. The interview was conducted at AEI’s Washington headquarters on Aug. 31, 2017.
AEI’s Kagan: Trump ‘Outlined a Framework,’ But Offered No Actual Afghanistan Strategy
In Part 1 of an extensive interview on Afghanistan with Defense & Aerospace Report, Frederick Kagan, PhD, resident scholar, Christopher DeMuth Chair and Critical Threats Project director at the American Enterprise Institute, praises President Donald Trump for acknowledging Afghanistan’s strategic importance in his Aug. 21, 2017, presidential address, but calls his plan for US presence in the country “a framework” versus an actual strategy. The interview was conducted at AEI’s Washington headquarters on Aug. 31, 2017.
Stimson Center’s Bloomfield: ‘Justice Is the Most Powerful Concept in World Affairs’
In the second installment of a wide-ranging interview with Defense & Aerospace Report, Amb. Lincoln Bloomfield, distinguished fellow and chairman emeritus at the Stimson Center, discusses how the US needs to diversify and exert its international influence to promote security in the midst of changing global power dynamics, and says the US “will be safer” if it’s perceived “as upholding justice.” The interview was conducted on Aug. 25, 2017, at Bloomfield’s northern Virginia home.
‘Game of Thrones’ Meets Missile Defense: Where Would North Korea Fit In Westeros?
Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow for northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center and self-professed “Game of Thrones” fan, discusses where he thinks North Korea would fall on a map of Westeros and translates strategy suggestions into the context of the show’s seventh season during an Aug. 29, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the think tank’s Washington headquarters.
Former NASA Astronaut Stafford on Gemini VI Mission, First Space Rendezvous
In the second installment of Defense & Aerospace Report’s exclusive, multi-part interview with Lt. Gen. Tom Stafford, USAF Ret., former NASA astronaut and former US Air Force acquisition chief, Stafford discusses why he joined NASA and the significance of the Gemini VI mission, during which the US made the world’s first space rendezvous. The interview was taped at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum in Washington on July 20, 2017, the 48th anniversary of the first lunar landing. Stafford flew two Gemini and two Apollo missions, commanding Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal for Apollo 11 that landed man on the moon.
CSBA: ‘Research, Development, Test and Evaluation’
In her August 2017 report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Kate Blakeley, CSBA research fellow, paints a picture of today’s rapidly innovating international defense ecosystem and argues that “the U.S. military’s slow-paced acquisition tempo” is a risk to its “technological” competitiveness, citing congressional testimony by US Defense Secretary James Mattis to drive the point home. “Research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funding is the pathway by which the U.S. military explores new technologies and capabilities and develops them into weapons systems and platforms,” Blakeley writes. “Maintaining the U.S. military’s current technological advantages and adapting to future challenges requires RDT&E efforts that are robust, targeted at the correct operational problems, and nimble enough to be responsive to shifts in the technological and security landscapes.”
Atlantic Council’s Herbst: Getting Russia Out of the Donbas Needs to Be a Priority
Amb. John Herbst, director of the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center and former US ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan, discusses the significance of the US mission to Ukraine, calls Russian “aggression in the Donbas” disastrous and more during an Aug. 29, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the organization’s offices in Washington.