Air Force’s $1 Billion IT System Has ‘Negligible’ Capability, Comptroller Says

FederalTimes.com April 19, 2012 By Sean Reilly A seven-year, billion dollar investment by the Air Force in a new logistics management system has turned out to be a bust, officials say. "I am personally appalled at the limited capability the program has produced relative to that amount of investment," Air Force Comptroller Jamie Morin told …

3 Essential Steps to Thinking Strategically by Lauren Perkins

 It's amazing how many entrepreneurs don't think deeply about their strategy. Here's how to start the process. I’ve been working with a variety of entrepreneurs recently on their companies’ positioning and differentiation in the marketplace. It’s surprising how many young companies overlook the importance of doing some solid research, analysis, and old-fashioned thinking on this …

China Top Military Paper Warns Of Armed Confrontation Over Seas

Reuters.com April 21, 2012 By Chris Buckley, Reuters BEIJING--China's top military newspaper warned the United States on Saturday that U.S.-Philippine military exercises have fanned risks of armed confrontation over the disputed South China Sea. The commentary in China's Liberation Army Daily falls short of a formal government statement, but marks the harshest high-level warning yet …

Pentagon: America Will Be Ready If Needed In Syria

By Donna Cassata, Associated Press WASHINGTON -- U.S. military leaders clearly expressed reluctance about using American might to stop the unending violence in Syria, insisting that diplomacy remains the best option to force President Bashar Assad to end the brutal crackdown on his own people. Testifying before Congress, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Army Gen. …

NATO After Libya

New York Times April 19, 2012 NATO can be proud of the role it played in supporting the overthrow of Libya’s murderous dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. But the alliance’s own confidential assessment, reported in The Times on Sunday, pointed out that European members, who were among the first to call for military action, could never …

Disruptive Thinkers: The PME Debate Needs More Informed Thinkers

by Mike Mazarr LT Benjamin Kohlmann’s piece in SWJ (“The Military Needs More Disruptive Thinkers”) is a fascinating and provocative essay. It’s partly about the need for radical thinkers to disrupt military and defense bureaucracies—but much of the commentary targets professional military education (PME), and these parts of the essay share many of the characteristics …

Disruptive Thinkers: The Disruptive Poets Society by Grant Martin

How The Dead Poets Society Advocated Disruptive Thinkers, Why DoD Shouldn't Encourage More Disruptive Thinkers, and 10 Principles for Those That do Think Disruptively Dead Poets Society In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams plays a private school English teacher who attempts to encourage his students to think for themselves. He encourages them with …