FORUM TOPIC

Pentagon

  • In this edition

    by LOU ZICKAR After the worst year for military recruiting since the start of the all-volunteer force in 1973, the latest edition of The Ripon Forum focuses on U.S. military readiness at a time of rising tensions around the globe. 

  • The National Defense Stockpile is Small but Important — and Should Be Bigger

    Today, the stockpile is but a fraction of its former self; its cache of materials is valued at less than $1 billion. Corrected for inflation, that’s less than 1/40th of its value in 1952.

  • After Failing Five Straight Audits, the Pentagon Should Not Get a Funding Boost

    You don’t need to be a budget hawk to recognize it is past time to end budget increases for the Department of Defense and impose some fiscal discipline on the agency.

  • A MEETING TO REMEMBER

    On September 11, 2001, 10 members of the U.S. House of Representatives joined Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for breakfast at the Pentagon. This is their story.

  • The Holy Grail of Defense Reform

    The former Pentagon comptroller looks at the elusive effort to fix the acquisition system at the Department of Defense and shares his insights on the latest reform effort today.

  • Hollow Arguments on Military Entitlements

    The former Senator from Wyoming argues that it’s not just the Pentagon’s acquisition system that needs reform – the military entitlement system needs fixed, as well.