Gordon Adams | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Establishing the next president's national security agenda: How to confront the defense budget morass

Gordon Adams — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:55:11 -0600

When we think about controlling the budget, we think about things like Medicare, Social Security, and urgent domestic needs such as education and alternate minimum taxes. But the most urgent fiscal and planning challenge the next president will face is the defense budget.

Establishing the next president's national security agenda: The role of the White House

Gordon Adams — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:35:00 -0600

As I outlined in the first part of this three-part series, the national security agenda facing the next president demands that the White House's role in setting policy and coordinating its implementation be seriously revamped.

Establishing the next president's national security agenda: Part I

Gordon Adams — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:57:00 -0600

With the presidential primaries ending this week, it's time to focus on the general election and the key national security challenges that the next president will face. Over the next three columns, I will outline what national security issues I think the candidates should be debating.

Getting U.S. foreign assistance right

Gordon Adams — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:17:00 -0600

The United States badly needs to get its act together in promoting its national interests and national security objectives. And it badly needs to "rebalance" its statecraft toolkit, so U.S. civilian tools can perform their missions. Currently, too much of the domestic dialogue about our role in the world has focused on near-term security problems--namely, defeating Al Qaeda and stabilizing and reconstructing Iraq and Afghanistan.

The true cost of U.S. defense spending

Gordon Adams — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0600

With the likelihood of significant political change in January 2009, the Pentagon has been thinking a lot about next year's defense budget request (fiscal year 2010), which the new president will inherit when it's sent to Congress in February 2009. Budget planners and senior leaders in the Defense Department and armed forces face four possible options:

New funds for foreign aid

Gordon Adams — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:00:00 -0700

Observers declared the new Bush administration budget request dead on arrival because it contains only a $70 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan, assumes the president's tax cuts will be extended, and cuts Medicare. When it comes to security spending, however, Congress should seize the opportunity to begin rebalancing the tools of U.S. statecraft. The 8.5 percent increase proposed for diplomacy and foreign assistance promises to begin the process of strengthening U.S. civilian instruments, which badly need reform and additional funds.

How much defense spending is enough?

Gordon Adams — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:00:00 -0700

In 2008, the United States will spend more than $600 billion on defense, including funding for the Iraq War. If Congress adds the remainder of what President George W. Bush has requested for Iraq and Afghanistan, spending will top $700 billion.

U.S. foreign policy and foreign assistance: The momentum for reform

Gordon Adams — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:00:00 -0700

Four recent reports outline ways in which Washington can fix the dysfunctional, underfunded civilian agencies that define and implement U.S. foreign policy and assistance activities.

A look at the 2008 defense budget

Gordon Adams — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:00:00 -0700

Congress is once again working overtime to complete the federal budget. National security is at the forefront of the debate, as Congress has finally passed (and the president has signed) its $459.3 billion defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008. (The bill also contains another $11.6 billion in emergency spending for the new mine-resistant, ambush-protected armored personnel carrier intended for the army and marines in Iraq.)

Reforming the State Department

Gordon Adams — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:00:00 -0600

For Washington to successfully address the security challenges it faces, the mission and culture at U.S. foreign-policy agencies such as the State Department must be revamped.

When national security meets government bureaucracy

Gordon Adams — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:00:00 -0600

Too often Washington confronts its national security challenges by installing a "czar" to knock heads and inspire collaboration among government agencies. Here’s why that approach doesn’t work.

Creating an integrated U.S. national security policy

Gordon Adams — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:00:00 -0600

By asking what if, U.S. policy makers and advisers might find the solutions to restoring the country's credibility abroad.

Straightening out U.S. foreign aid programs

Gordon Adams — Mon, 28 May 2007 23:00:00 -0600

As the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan batter our national consciousness, we should recall that heady time a few years ago when some observers thought the United States would serve as the benign hegemon of a globalized world and the enforcer of global stability.

The problem with expanding the U.S. military

Gordon Adams — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 23:00:00 -0600

The United States is at war; well, its military is anyway. The United States chose this war, chose badly, and conducted it even more poorly. Washington amply demonstrated that it's not capable of exporting democracy and reconstructing a country--especially when that country is in the midst of a civil war unleashed by U.S. incompetence. Perhaps we're learning that the world is a vastly more complicated place than our naive assumptions led us to believe.

The U.S. military’s growing role in foreign policy

Gordon Adams — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 23:00:00 -0600

Letting the Pentagon execute a growing portion of the U.S. national security policy isn't in the best interest of the military or the country.

Defense spending: Embarrassment of riches

Gordon Adams — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 23:00:00 -0700

The United States seems to be experiencing a never-ending, rapidly growing demand for money from the armed services and Defense Department. On an upward slope since 2001, this demand now stands at unprecedented levels. If Congress provides all of the resources requested by Defense in its new budget, the United States will spend more on defense in comparable (constant) dollars than at any time since World War II.

Unbalanced priorities

Gordon Adams — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 23:00:00 -0700

The proposed U.S. budget may allow the military to pursue foreign policy initiatives, but it's a job best left to the State Department.