Category: Content Series

Are Lockheed, Raytheon, and L-3 “Ripe for a Spinoff”?

By James Hasik

The largest defense contractors are conglomerates, and excessive conglomeration may not be helping the customers.   Last month I argued that the rumored spinoff of Oshkosh’s military trucks business wouldn’t be good for either the company or its customers. But anti-mergers are in the air, as evidenced by the Wall Street Journal’s almost simultaneous article “Smucker, […]

Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge: 2016 Gallery

Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge: 2015 Gallery

Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge: 2014 Gallery

Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge: 2015 Registration

COMPETITORS Graduate and undergraduate students from US and international universities, including defense colleges and military academies, who are interested in the disciplines of cybersecurity policy, international relations, computer science, law, and other related fields are invited to apply to compete in teams of four individuals. Teams that register less than four competitors may be considered […]

2015 Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge Competition

By Atlantic Council

The Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge is the only student competition devoted to high-level policy recommendations for day-after responses to a major cyber incident. The annual event organized by the Atlantic Council and hosted by American University is the “must attend” student event in international cybersecurity policy. The Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge engages students with a […]

Advice to the Next SecDef

By James Hasik

Step one: eliminate whole echelons of headquarters.   On Thanksgiving Day here in the US, I would like to thank for their service troops all around the world, but particularly this week outgoing Defense Secretary Hagel for his. Like his two predecessors, he has had a tough time working with this White House. Each of […]

The Future of Energy: Shale, Bringing Energy Back to the West

By Jack Shaked

It seems like every day, an entirely new advancement or discovery is made in the energy sector. From solar to fusion to thorium, it is hard to determine what the future of energy will look like and what impacts these advances will have on the world. Over the next few weeks, The Future of Energy […]

Spin On, Not Off

By James Hasik

Spinning off Oshkosh Defense would be bad for the Department of Defense.   Last summer, as Sandra Erwin of National Defense reported, the US Army consciously warned American truck manufacturers of an impending slowdown in its purchasing. The industry is now so deep in that slowdown that speculation about restructuring has become old hat. But today’s Wall […]

BBP + DII = Destruction or Creation?

By James Hasik

  The Pentagon is yet to explain how its twin defense-industrial strategies will interact.    The Pentagon’s Better Buying Power (BBP) initiative, launched four years ago and recently in its third version, is meant to unlock the government’s monopsony power in its relations with industry. BBP speaks considerably of improving productivity, but the details of […]