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Implosion at the Pentagon

704 views · Published 12 June 2008 · 1:15:11 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: New America · 2008 · News & Politics

On June 10th the American Strategy Program brought in Senior Adviser to CSIS and the Atlantic council, Washington Times columnist, and renowned expert on military affairs Harlan Ullman for a thought-provoking discussion with American Strategy Director Steve Clemons on the drastic need for reform at the Pentagon.

Harlan Ullman outlined in stark terms the problems faced by our military in the coming years: ballooning defense budgets that cannot easily be paid for, a bloated and inefficient procurement process, the cost of enlarging the military, and a powerful military that is nonetheless poorly equipped and trained for the wars it is currently fighting.

To face these issues, Ullman discussed a series of ideas for reform, drawing on history and modern thought alike. He proposed several ideas, from revamping the procurement process to increasing enrollment at the service academies and the National Defense University, and redefining NATO as a security alliance, rather than a defensive one. But his most striking idea was that the military needs to rethink its entire concept of war-fighting, and decide once and for all whether it will be a force that fights big, conventional wars, or one that fights the "smaller" asymmetric wars seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Implosion at the Pentagon

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