National Security Architecture: Publications, Events and More

Shadow Elite

Erin Drankoski — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:51:00 -0500

Governments and administrations come and go, but not so a new breed of power brokers, who always seem to pop up just where the action is. Wearing different hats, they press their agendas in venue after venue. According to award-winning public policy scholar and anthropologist Janine Wedel, these are the "shadow elite," the prime movers in a vexing new system of power and influence.

Report: Increasing Number Of Retired Military Officers Are Now Well-Paid Consultants | USA Today

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:31:00 -0500

"This setup invites abuse," says Janine Wedel, a George Mason University public policy professor and author of a forthcoming book ...

Wall Street's Bailout Gives Me Déjà Vu

Erin Drankoski — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:27:00 -0500

On the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall I think back to the electrified atmosphere on the streets of Berlin. I was there, watching throngs of East Germans swarm through border crossings. A Fulbright scholar and social anthropologist based in Warsaw in November 1989, I drove with a friend through gas-rationed Poland and East Germany to bear witness. Back then many of the excited East Germans I interviewed -- even some border guards -- looked to the United States as a beacon of democracy.

US Arms Sales Hit Record in 2009 | Ottawa Citizen

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:47:00 -0500

William Hartung of the New America Foundation, a Washington-based research group focused on US defense and foreign policy issues, said Obama should pay more ...

UN to Pursue Conventional Arms Trade Treaty | IPS

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:41:00 -0400

William D. Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, told IPS the commitment by the majority of the world's ...

Now Who Loves America More? It's Not the GOP

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:26:00 -0400

Twenty-five years ago, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick famously lambasted Democrats as "blame America firsters" and a party plagued by "self-criticism and self-denigration" of America. It was a speech at pace with an emerging political stereotype that suggested Democrats weren't quite patriotic enough and didn't love their country as much as Republicans did. This image of Democratic weakness and self-doubt became one of the most effective attack lines for Republicans -- and Democrats' greatest political liability.

Obama Deserves the Nobel | Globe and Mail

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:36:00 -0400

... of the urgency of this mission,” said William Hartung, director of the New York based Arms and Security Initiative and a leading arms-control authority. ...

Obama (and Everyone Else) "Surprised" by Nobel | Inter Press Service

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:41:00 -0400

William D. Hartung, director of the New America Foundation's Arms and Security Initiative, thinks that Obama's initiative for a "world without nuclear weapons" was a major contributory factor in the Nobel Peace Prize. ...

Losing the Moral High Ground

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:47:00 -0400

On the eighth anniversary of the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, the spotlight is on the Obama administration's evolving war strategy in a nation long known as the "graveyard of empires."

The current discourse on what is now dubbed "Obama's War" focuses on the number and composition of troops, as well as the overarching strategy (counter-insurgency, rapid withdrawal, a mix of military and reconstruction operations).

McChrystal's Full-Court Press on Afghanistan Is Improper

Erin Drankoski — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:57:00 -0400

Civilian control of the armed forces is one of the most sacrosanct tenets of American democracy. It assures us that military decision-making will be subordinate to the larger strategic perspective of our nation's elected -- and ultimately accountable -- leaders.

Use Of Private Security Grows In Iraq, Afghanistan | NPR

Cecille Isidro — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:31:00 -0400

"Security is not just Blackwater," says Michael Cohen, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation who has studied the use of contractors. ...

Disarmament: The Long Road of Nuclear Hurdles, Hopes and Hard Work

Erin Drankoski — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:02:00 -0400

On the face of it, nuclear disarmament seems pretty straightforward--we have a bunch of things that we don't need any more, and let's get rid of them.

But, we can't just donate our old nuclear weapons to the Salvation Army for a tax write-off, or hand them down to our little sister like an old sweater set.

Barack Obama Wants Deal on Nuclear Weapons | The Telegraph (U.K.)

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:24:00 -0400

William Hartung, director of the arms and security initiative at the New America Foundation, said: "The fact that the President of the United States has ...

Arms Control | NPR

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:12:00 -0400

But William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, says he doesn't think any efforts at the UN this week will ... and more »

Anti-Missile Missiles and the Politics of Fear

Erin Drankoski — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:36:00 -0400

President Obama's sensible decision to pull the plug on the Bush administration's plan put missile defense components in Poland and the Czech Republic has-predictably-drawn howls of protest from Republican critics who argue that it will leave the U.S. and its European allies exposed to an Iranian missile attack. While they're at it, they note that the decision somehow involves "abandoning" our Polish and Czech allies, as if the deployment of a missile defense program were the only way to cement relations with two

Missile Defense Winners and Losers | Politico

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:31:00 -0400

Moreover, said William Hartung, director of the arms and security initiative at the New America Foundation, “If the decision ends up putting Patriot ... and more »

Gates Signals Troop Increase Likely in Afghanistan | The Washington Independent

Cecille Isidro — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:06:00 -0400

A prominent critic, Michael Cohen, a defense analyst at the New America Foundation, has been blogging for months a feature called “Afghanistan Mission Creep ... and more »

Contractors Outnumber U.S. Troops In Afghanistan | NPR

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:20:00 -0400

... have the troops to do these tasks on their own," says Michael Cohen, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation who has studied the issue. ... and more »

Aiding and Abetting War Crimes

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:18:00 -0400

"You feel like a child playing around with a magnifying glass, burning up ants." That is how one Israeli soldier described Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Force's (IDF) invasion of the Gaza Strip, which began in December 2008.

His is one of 54 testimonies collected by the Israeli organization Breaking the Silence in a 110-page report that paints a disturbing picture of urban warfare in one of the world's most densely populated areas, where more than 1.5 million people occupy a narrow strip of land between Israel and the sea.

Afghanistan: War Trumps Elections

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:17:00 -0400

The official results of Afghanistan's presidential elections won't be known for weeks. The ballots cast around the country need to be brought to Kabul--some by donkey and helicopter--and counted. Nevertheless, U.S. officials have rushed to celebrate the process, and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen heralded the elections as "a testimony to the determination of the Afghan people to build democracy." This, despite more than 75 reported incidents of violence throughout the