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An Undisciplined Defense:  Understanding the $2 Trillion Surge in US Defense Spending (full text .pdf file with charts and appendices) (executive summary) by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Report #20, 18 January 2010. Analyzes the steep rise in defense spending since 1998. Causes include overly ambitious US military strategy, lackluster Pentagon reform efforts, weak priorities in weapon acquisition, and conduct of wars ill-suited to the US military. Also examined: the surge in military construction and private contractors. 21 charts and tables.

• Trillions to Burn: A Quick Guide to the Surge in Pentagon Spending. Short, graphic summary of the report with nine charts.
• Get Serious About DoD Reform by C. Conetta and C. Knight. Op-ed in Defense News.

The President's Dilemma:  Debt, Deficits, and Defense Spending by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Memo #45, 18 January 2010. The nation faces Reagan-level deficit spending and greatly increased debt. Can the president's program of high defense spending and increased non-defense spending survive?

Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY2010 Foreign Policy in Focus, September 2009. Proposal re-balances defense, homeland security, and international affairs expenditures. PDA is a member of report's task force.

Military Intervention and Common Sense: Focus on Land Forces (Paperback and Kindle editions) (Mobipocket edition) by Lutz Unterseher with contributions by C. Knight and C. Conetta, June 2009. Ground force options for today's most challenging type of military interventions: those aiming to help stabilize countries seriously affected by civil war or insurgency.

• Helicopters in America’s post-9/11 wars by Carl Conetta, from Military Intervention and Common Sense: Focus on Land Forces, Chapter 6.

Forceful Engagement: Rethinking the Role of Military Power in US Global Policy (full text .pdf with graphics) (full text .html, no graphics) (exec. summary .html), December 2008. The US has been using its armed forces beyond the limit of their utility. The result is not just diminishing returns, but negative ones.

Re-Envisioning Defense: An Agenda for US Policy Debate & Transition (full text .pdf with graphics) (full text .html, no graphics) (exec. summary .html), updated December 2008. Summarizes problem areas in recent US defense policy as well as several broad topics of debate that touch on them all.

Charts: Terrorism Fatalities Before & After 9/11 Fatalities Due to Terrorism 2004-07 Global Views of the US World Opinion and US Military Power Military Personnel Overseas Percent Active Component Military Overseas US Defense Spending
World Military Spending Federal Debt as % of GDP 1940-2007

Quickly, Carefully, and Generously: The Necessary Steps for a Responsible Withdrawal from Iraq (full text .html) (printable full text .pdf) (executive summary .pdf), by the Task Force for a Responsible Withdrawal from Iraq, June 2008. Twenty-five initiatives to reduce violence and regional instability as the US leaves Iraq. Preface by US Rep. James P. McGovern (MA). A Commonwealth Institute publication.

• Like a Mirage in the Desert: Full Withdrawal May Recede into the Time Horizon (full text .html) (podcast). Charles Knight presentation at the United States Institute of Peace panel on The Future of the U.S. Military Presence in Iraq, 25 July 2008.


• Where Do We Go From Here? - New York Times 7 July 2008 lead editorial cites Responsible Withdrawal from Iraq report and Commonwealth Institute. NYT: the report asks the necessary questions and "point[s] the debate in the right direction."

Symposium: The Role of Force & the Armed Forces in US Foreign Policy -- What have we learned?, Security Policy Working Group, 10 April 2008.

• Andrew Bacevich, "The Bush Doctrine: Origins and Demise" (Podcast)
• Carl Conetta, "Out from the House of War: A Litmus for New Leadership in Security Policy" (printable .pdf format) (podcast)
• David Gold, "How Much Defense Can We Afford? (pdf), as republished in Challenge (Sept/Oct 2008).

Cul de Sac: 9/11 and the Paradox of American Power (full text .html) (printable full text .pdf), PDA Research Monograph #13, 05 February 2008. Post-Cold War US security policy evinces a disturbing paradox: it has been delivering less and less security at ever increasing cost. The reasons reside not in the differences between the Bush and Clinton administration, but in their points of similarity.

A Prisoner to Primacy (full text .html) (printable full text .pdf), PDA Briefing Memo #43, 05 February 2008. The United States is entering a period of policy transition, but there is a dearth of new thinking regarding security policy. The debate remains paralyzed by 9/11 and mesmerized by military primacy. Progress depends on rethinking the role of force.

Toward a Sustainable US Defense Posture: An Option to save $60+ Billion Over the Next Five Years (full text .html) (printable full text .pdf), PDA Briefing Memo #42, 02 August 2007. Fiscal realities and public opinion may compel a cut in US defense spending. The memo outlines an option to save $60+ billion over the next five years by reducing fighter aircraft and aircraft carrier fleets.

Dissuading China and Fighting the 'Long War', World Policy Journal. The 2006 US Defense Review advanced two new strategic vectors for the US armed forces - one targets a putative "global Islamic insurgency"; the other puts America on a collison course with China.

War & Consequences:  Global Terrorism has Increased Since 9/11 Attacks (full text .html) (printable full text .pdf), PDA Briefing Memo #38, 25 September 2006. Data on the relationship between the Iraq war and terrorism.

Pyrrhus on the Potomac: How America's post-9/11 wars have undermined US national security (full text .html) (printable full text .pdf) by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Report #18, 05 September 2006. Al Qaeda has been disrupted, but US wars have stimulated new threats, while weakening the nation's defenses.