Archive: Terrorism, Security, and Defense Reform

Better know an apocalypse: Korean peninsula edition (July 6, 2017)

A war that never really ended threatens to turn hot again

An operational test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., is seen from nearby Lompoc, Calif., Sept. 26, 2013. The ICBM safely launched and traveled the approximately 4,200 nautical miles to its target in the Marshall Islands. Photo credit: Lt. Col. Andy Wulfestieg, U.S. Air Force.

The end of the atomic interceptors (June 2, 2017)

The nuclear war America planned to fight over her own cities, part 4

Bomarc and Genie: the Air Force’s atomic interceptors (June 1, 2017)

The nuclear war America planned to fight over her own cities, part 3

Project Nike: the Army’s atomic interceptors (May 30, 2017)

The nuclear war America planned to fight over her own cities, part 2

In 1957, five volunteers wait for a 2 kiloton atomic bomb to detonate 18,500 feet above them. Photo credit: screen capture from Atom Central on YouTube.

The nuclear war America planned to fight over her own cities (May 30, 2017)

For two decades the U.S. military stood ready to counter a Soviet attack with a nuclear barrage of its own, right above the heads of the American people

A well-regulated apocalypse: inside the Code of Emergency Federal Regulations (November 3, 2016)

A guided tour of the secret regulations that were to go into effect in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack on the US

Littoral Combat Ship: the little vessel that couldn’t (September 20, 2016)

A ship without a mission, that can’t be counted on to perform reliably, whose survivability under fire is an open question

The real price of our secret wars (September 15, 2016)

It’s moral debt. And someday, some generation of Americans will be called upon to pay it off

Better know an apocalypse: South China Sea edition (August 31, 2016)

China’s sweeping territorial claims in this region are not new. What is new is her willingness to press them

The curious case of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle’s DD-214 (June 1, 2016)

Chris Kyle’s case of “stolen valor” is unlike most, because Kyle wasn’t acting alone. He had active, official assistance from the U.S. Navy itself

STOVL, the F-35, and how we’re even more f’ed than David Axe suggests (August 15, 2013)

The F-35 is an extremely troubled program. But its troubles are just the tip of the iceberg

But Mr. President, there is no such thing as 100% security (June 7, 2013)

You can try to get close, but in a huge country with hundreds of millions of people, there’s no way you can intercept every single possible threat to everyone everytime

How to survive an atomic bomb (March 29, 2012)

A terrorist nuke exploded in Washington would be a tragedy beyond anything in living memory — but it wouldn’t be the end of the city. And survival is possible

The question about bombing Iran that nobody is asking (March 9, 2012)

It’s not whether we should take out Iran’s nuclear facilities from the air. It’s whether or not we even can

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead (May 1, 2011)

3,520 days after September 11, justice is finally served

Passages: Tim Hetherington (April 21, 2011)

Director of Restrepo killed while covering battle in Libya

Still At Large (September 11, 2009)

Eight years later

Still At Large (September 11, 2008)

You know who

Sleep Tight, America, Your Air Force is Awake! (July 24, 2008)

… or not