With the President’s Day holiday and the “epic” snowstorm that hit the Beltway this week, it was a somewhat slow week in the defense policy world. That, of course, does not mean the week was bereft of events, but it should allow everyone to get caught up on some reading this weekend. Here are a few items you might wish to peruse:
– Writing in the Boston Globe, Benjamin Friedman of the Cato Institute explains how the Department of Defense fails when it comes to making strategy.
– Philip Ewing and Jeremy Herb of Politico have a feature article on how General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, won the flexibility he desired in the Obama administration’s proposal to authorize military force against ISIS.
– Finally, last month two retired Navy officers turned think tank analysts, Commander Bryan McGrath and Jerry Hendrix, debated the continued merits of aircraft carriers at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. The Great Carrier Debate continues this month with a lengthy essay over at the U.S. Naval Institute’s website by naval analyst Jeff Moore.