The armistice ending World War I was signed at 5:10 AM in a railroad car in the Forest of Compiegne, northeast of Paris, but it didn’t go into effect until 11 AM — the Eleventh hour of the Eleventh day of the Eleventh Month of 1918 — 100 years ago last Sunday. And yesterday, we celebrated a Veterans Day holiday to honor all who have worn our nation’s uniforms. Read Full Story
Following the secret deliberations of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall to learn what had been produced. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Without hesitation, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Read Full Story
Swans were believed to be white until Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh’s 1697 discovery of black swans in Australia, which profoundly changed zoology. It then seemed obvious that “black swans” had to exist because other animals also had varying colors. a “Black Swan” event is an unexpected event, after which experts and even laymen usually conclude: “it was bound to happen . . . similar incidences even have happened before.” Read Full Story
National Security Advisor John Bolton’s trip to Moscow received much public fanfare following President Trump’s announced plan to withdraw from the INF Treaty that Russia has been violating for years, with little or no U.S. response — hopefully he has reset the entire arms control agenda from recent administrations and we are returning to Ronald Reagan’s Peace Through Strength agenda in dealing not only with Russia but also China and others. Read Full Story
“Gorbachev said he could not do it. If they could agree to ban research in space, he would sign in two minutes. They should add to the text ‘The testing in space of all space components of missile defense is prohibited, except research and testing conducting in laboratories’ . . .” Authoritative Memcon from Reykjavik Summit, October 12, 1986 Read Full Story
“The single most important action that must be taken immediately to advance national strength and survivability is: Establish an Executive Agent, with the authority, accountability, and resources to manage U.S. national infrastructure protection and defense against the existential threat. Current institutional authorities and responsibilities—government, industry, regulatory agencies—are fragmented, incomplete, inexperienced, under-resourced, and unable to protect and defend against foreign hostile EMP threats and solar superstorms.” Dr. William R. Graham, Chairman of the former Congressional EMP Commission Read Full Story
“ . . . If the allied military targets had been spread out, there wouldn’t have been enough Patriots in the world to defend them all. In 15-20 years, when very accurate missiles with mass destruction warheads are available to third world nations, the U.S. will need a regional wide area defense force to duplicate on a grand scale the Patriot’s pivotal role of defanging the Scud.” Lt. Gen. Charles A. Horner, Commander US Central Command, Tactical Air Forces, in Aviation Week, 11 February 1991 Read Full Story
The September 19, 2018 Washington Times published an article, entitled “Toward a Cost-Effective Ballistic Missile Defense,” by Rowland H. (Rhip) Worrell and me, which reviewed facts to back-up Undersecretary of Defense Michael Griffin’s claim that a space-based defense could be deployed for less than $20-billion. Read Full Story
“So far, the only promising [boost phase] defense system concept has been a space based or satellite borne interceptor. Such a system requires many thousands of interceptors in space, but at a given instant only a small fraction will be in a position to attack. The economic feasibility of such systems is heavily dependent upon equipment reliability and upon enemy countermeasures.” ~ Harold N. Beveridge in his 1960 Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) ‘Project Defender” report to the Director of Research and Engineering Read Full Story
Do you recall what you were doing when you became aware of 9/11? I was in a company managers meeting in Alexandria, VA when we got word a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Then the second, and so we knew neither was an accident. And shortly thereafter we were looking for the smoke from the third that impacted the Pentagon …and somewhat later we learned that a fourth had crashed in Pennsylvania — thanks to alert and heroic passengers. Otherwise, the White House or Capitol might be part of the 9/11 images we remember . . . Lest we forget! . . . Read Full Story
We will be adding key policy briefs as we progress.