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POGO’s experts push policymakers to enact commonsense reforms that tackle waste, corruption, and abuse of power; hold those who’ve violated the public trust accountable; protect our constitutional rights; and make the government work for all people.
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Analysis
Landmines Remain a Threat
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) has released "Landmine Monitor Report 2002: Toward a Mine Free World." The report, the fourth produced in the annual series, provides a country-by-country analysis of mine use, production, trade, stockpiling, humanit...
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Analysis
DOD Office of Force Transformation
In late November, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld named retired Vice Adm. Arthur Cebrowski to head a new Pentagon Office of Force Transformation (OFT), aiming to increase the velocity of an effort to 'transform' the U.S. military to better face the new challenges of ...
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Analysis
The V-22 Osprey: It’s Time for Realistic Testing
Several U.S. commanders have recently said they could use the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft in Aghanistan. The V-22 is not available in Afghanistan for one reason: because it has been in full-scale development for 16 years but still hasn't proven it can perform its missions s...
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Analysis
Mine Ban Treaty Celebrates Third Year in Action
March 1, 2002 marked the third anniversary of the entry into force of the Ottawa Landmine Treaty. The Treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, requires the eradication of landmine stockpiles within four years, and the clearin...
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Analysis
“Transformation” Expected to Get Short Shrift in Pentagon Defense Review
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon have had little impact on the Defense Department's long-awaited Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), which should be made public in the next few days.
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Analysis
“Reforging the Sword” CDI Report Outlines U.S. Military Forces for the 21st Century
America’s military needs to be substantially restructured to counter the threats to global security that are likeliest to emerge through the year 2025, according to a report released today by the non-partisan Center for Defense Information, a Washington-based research institut...
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Analysis
Reforging the Sword: Forces for a 21st Century Security Strategy
This report proposes an alternative U.S. military force for the first quarter of the 21st century. The force is designed to execute a new international security strategy that attempts to respond to the chal- lenges of a changing world and also shape what that world will look l...
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Analysis
Hew Study Challenges Orthodoxy of Rumsfeld Defense Review
This study explores an alternative. Dr. Richards argues that by returning to the historical roots of strategy — people, ideas, and hardware, in that order — U.S. military leaders can break out of the "dollars equal defense" mindset, and create forces more effective f...
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Analysis
F-22 to Exceed Congressional Production Cost Cap
A report released last week by the General Accounting Office (GAO) states that estimates by both the Air Force and the Defense Department put the costs of producing the F-22 "Raptor" above spending caps enacted by Congress.
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Analysis
GAO Recommends Delay in JSF Program
In testimony before Congress last week, an official of the General Accounting Office (GAO) recommended that the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program be delayed in order to allow critical technologies to mature. The testimony by Louis Rodriques, GAO's Director for Defense Acquisi...
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Analysis
Congress Mulls JSF Program
With both the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services committees in the process of producing their annual legislation authorizing Pentagon spending, the fate of a number of high profile weapons programs are being carefully weighed. One such is the Joint Strike F...
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Analysis
U.S. Military Reform After Operation Desert Storm - Testimony by John Boyd
C-span video coverage of a hearing where John Boyd testified in front of the House Committee Armed Services