Like leaving a child with access to a supply of candy without a threat of disciplinary measures, the powers that be are permitting the nation’s electric power companies to ignore existential threats to the American people while conducting interesting but ineffective exercises that ignore this reality. More effective oversight is needed. Stay tuned . . . Read Full Story
In contemplating that an important purpose of the Constitution is “to provide for the common defense” and today’s existential challenges, it is difficult to ignore that Washington’s “powers that be” are collectively failing their oath of office. We seem oblivious to storm clouds that are gathering. We’ve been here before and awakened to the threat and dealt with it. Will we again find our way? Stay tuned . . . Read Full Story
Last Monday, construction began at an Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense site in Romania—to be completed by 2015 to begin defending our NATO allies against ballistic missiles from the Middle East, particularly Iran. A second Aegis Ashore site is planned by 2018. So why no Aegis Ashore sites around the Gulf of Mexico to defend America against Iranian or terrorist ballistic missiles launched from vessels in the Gulf? Read Full Story
The Washington “powers that be” (in the executive branch and congress) are failing to counter a potential blackout of the nation’s electric power grid, which might be caused by a number of threats—including electromagnetic pulse (EMP). So . . . can “we the people” like the little people of Lilliput in Jonathan Swift’s 18th century satire constrain a “sleeping giant” and somehow compel him to behave more responsibly? Stay tuned . . . Read Full Story
This Sunday evening, watch the National Geographic Channel at 9 PM to view an important presentation on what it would mean to you and your family if we lost the electric power grid for 10 days. Just imagine what it would mean if we lost the grid for much longer and get involved in urging the powers that be to provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do. Read Full Story
What will it take to get the powers that be to initiate timely and effective countermeasures to the existential threat posed by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), from either manmade or natural causes? Whether it will lead to effective actions is uncertain, but understanding a number of misconceptions about the threat is very important to those who seek to develop a strategy to counter events that could lead to the death of an overwhelming majority of all Americans. Read Full Story
America sleeps uneasy because of its looming debt crisis that the powers that be seem to be ignoring. Actually, there is a more important threat—literally an existential threat—that the powers that be are also ignoring, in spite of numerous signs of its clear and present danger. Unless Americans wake up and demand that their elected leaders provide for the common defense, a manmade or natural electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event could lead to the death of several hundred million American. Stay Tuned! Read Full Story
Extensive tests of the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, designed primarily to defend our overseas troops, friends and allies, also demonstrate an inherent capability to defend the U.S. homeland from several important threats. The Pentagon, especially the U.S. Navy, should be encouraged to fully develop this inherent capability, especially in responding to a congressional mandate. Read Full Story
In the wake of the President’s exchanges at the G20, an off-hand comment by Secretary of State John Kerry in London and a Russian initiative, we have kicked the can on whether to attack Syria in response to Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons (this time) and have embarked on a diplomatic course apparently led by Russia. The President’s speech offered little clarity and the administration’s muddled policies continue to unfold, now in a more dangerous world than before. Read Full Story
General Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s 2006 Army War College Thesis on Democracy in the Middle East is worth a read to help understand how events in Egypt may unfold. While the military’s support for the moderate faction of the Egyptian body politic that protested against Mohammed Morsi’s rule is a welcome sign, his thesis includes some troublesome statements that raise questions about the future. Read Full Story
We will be adding key policy briefs as we progress.