“The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold . . . If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.” ~ From the first Public Statement on August 6, 1945 (Public Papers of the Presidents, Harry S. Truman, 1945, pg. 197, 199).
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“We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we’ve done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own, you know, to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace.” Then Secretary of State Colin Powell, 2003 Read Full Story
Local and state initiatives are gaining momentum and potentially can prompt needed solutions to counter the existential threats posed by an indefinite loss of the electric power grid — today an all too real possibility. These “bottoms-up” initiatives offer hope to all Americans in spite of the lethargy among the “powers that be” who are failing at their sworn duty. Will the solutions come in time? Read Full Story
Local and state initiatives are needed to protect all Americans from some existential threats to the electric power grid, because leaders in the Federal Government are failing at their duty to “provide for the common defense.” Happily, much can be accomplished by such initiatives, but protection against ballistic missiles launched from vessels in the Gulf of Mexico requires action by the Federal Government to protect the entire nation. Read Full Story
A growing number of Americans are concerned that the once highly classified threat from an electromagnetic pulse is still not being addressed, even though the Pentagon has known about it for a half-century and most essential matters were made public in the 2008 EMP Commission report. Our civil infrastructure was never hardened, except for communication systems to assure connectivity from the President to our strategic forces. Read Full Story
“NORTHCOM was born because of the 9/11 attacks for there was no commander of the homeland. But we are not the commander in charge of defending against terrorist attacks for that is the mission of the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice. We are a supporting command to them in dealing with terrorist threats.” ~ Admiral William Gortney, Commander of Northern Command (NORTHCOM) Read Full Story
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” ~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War Read Full Story
“Today our adversaries perceive that space is a weak-link in our deterrence calculus” . . . “Our strategy is to strengthen that link, to assure it never breaks, and to disabuse our adversaries of the idea that our space capabilities make tempting targets.” ~ Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Doug Loverro — Testimony to the House Armed Service Strategic forces Subcommittee, March 15, 2016 Read Full Story
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. ~ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859 Read Full Story
The Islamic State “has an apocalyptic ideology and believes there is going to be a final war with the United States,” expects to win that war and “would need very powerful weapons to do so . . . if they ever did turn to nuclear weapons, they have more people, more money and more territory under their control and more ability to recruit experts globally than Al Qaeda at its best ever had.” Professor Matthew Bunn of Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Read Full Story
We will be adding key policy briefs as we progress.