South Asia

The high beta presidency

By Steven Grundman

What does the Trump Administration portend for defense policy? I hew to the simple refrain, “Anything could happen.” Or, as an investor put it to me, “Trump’s promises to be the ‘high-beta’ presidency.” Beta is the measure of a stock’s volatility against the market as a whole, though the analogue to molecular biology and the treatment of hypertension may be equally apt. Of one thing we do know for sure: Donald Trump is a master of the political narrative, and the story about public policy counts far more than those of us with a deductive train of mind might care to admit.

To get revolutionary in procurement, get radical on requirements

By James Hasik

In the US system, sketching out what the forces need is a task for military officers, upstream from the responsibilities of the under secretariat for AT&L. Ensuring they make sense and don’t excessively overlap amongst the services is supposed to be the job of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, which impanels the vice chairman of the joint chiefs and the vice chiefs of the individual services. However, in its 20-year history, the JROC has rarely seen a requirement it didn’t usher through the process with minimal change. In the long run, radically rethinking requirements requires radically rethinking the process of setting requirements. And that’s where the big money is to be found.

Gopalaswamy and Handjani in the National Interest: Can Iran and India Turn the Page?

By Bharath Gopalaswamy and Amir Handjani

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“Unleash us from the tether of fuel”

By Greg Douquet

Mattis put his faith in the 3rd Marine Air Wing’s ability to defeat Saddam’s formations surrounding Baghdad, and accepted the risk that his force might not achieve its objectives before running out of fuel. In later testimony, Mattis reflected back on the compromising situation of the “March Up,” as well as on the cost of increased fuel demand during the counter-insurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the future, he stated, the military must be “unleashed from the tether of fuel.” Mattis had seen the future imperative to change our sources of energy for military operations.

McFate Quoted by the Hill on Ongoing US Involvement in Afghanistan

By Sean McFate

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Gopalaswamy Quoted by CNBC on the Possible Alignment of Pakistan with China and Russia

By Bharath Gopalaswamy

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Gopalaswamy Quoted by CNN on US-India Defense Retlaionship

By Bharath Gopalaswamy

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Farkas Quoted by the Washington Examiner on American Deaths in Afghanistan

By Evelyn Farkas

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The battle for Pakistan: The fight against terrorism and militancy

A conversation with: Mr. Shuja NawazDistinguished Fellow, South Asia Center Atlantic Council Dr. Moeed YusufAssociate Vice President of Asia Center United States Institute of Peace Dr. Thomas F. Lynch IIIDistinguished Research Fellow Institute of National Strategic Studies, National Defense University Introduced and Moderated by: Dr. Bharath GopalaswamyDirector, South Asia Center Atlantic Council