Image courtesy of ForeignPolicy.com.
By Major Matt Cavanaugh
Great thanks to Tom Ricks & his Best Defense blog for allowing me the privilege of entry into his “Future of War” essay context. What follows is a sample, and the rest can be found here.
“Though New America is doing great service by leading some much-needed public discussion, the “Future of War” project is seriously flawed. It’s not who New America selected for the team. The named panel includes two academic/lawyer/policy superstars, an innovative technology thinker, and two journalists that have likely spent more time around combat than the vast majority of military officers currently in uniform.
The issue is the demographic not represented. The sin is one of omission. Specifically, the team New America assembled is missing a professional military voice (even if that profession might be in a state of decay). As usual, the shortcoming is human. That’s not to say the team isn’t incredibly impressive. Any reasonably well-informed reader would agree these are serious people, well equipped to address most of these issues. Moreover, war is certainly about more than warfare. Civilians have an important place on the panel. Unfortunately, as it stands, civilians have the only voice in the project.”
**Again, the rest of this essay can be found at the Best Defense.
Additionally, Major Andrew Steadman has responded to Lieutenant Scott Ginther’s recent essay. Both are well worth the time.