How long until midnight? Intelligence-policy relations and the United States response to the Israeli nuclear program, 1959–1985

Why did the United States fail to stop Israeli acquisition of nuclear weapons? Existing research argues that patrons such as the U.S. should have an easy time halting proliferation by militarily and economically vulnerable clients. Nevertheless, Israel acquired nuclear weapons with relatively little American opposition. Utilizing extensive primary source research, we argue that problematic intelligence-policy relations hindered U.S. efforts to arrest Israeli proliferation as (1) policymakers often gave mixed guidance to the intelligence community, resulting in (2) limited information on Israeli efforts that reinforced policy ambiguity. The results carry implications for understanding the dynamics of nuclear proliferation and intelligence-policy relations.     

The nuclear education of Donald J. Trump

During the 2016 American presidential campaign, Democrats and Republicans alike repeatedly raised concerns at the prospect of Donald Trump being in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal based on his seemingly unstable personality. Unfortunately, this emphasis on Trump’s character distracted attention from any in-depth investigation into his long-standing interest in nuclear issues. This article seeks to remedy this shortcoming by highlighting the nuclear legacy Trump will inherit from Obama, surveying his statements on nuclear issues over more than three decades, and providing an analysis of constraining factors on his administration’s nuclear agenda, particularly domestic institutions. It finds that most of Trump’s views on nuclear issues are relatively consistent with past Republican presidents. Where he is unique, however, is in his use of social media, which has potential implications on nuclear signaling.     

美军在信息安全视野下利用社交媒体政策研究

近年来,美军逐步调整社交媒体政策,重视发挥其在公共事务、家庭服务以及塑造军队形象中的独特功能。从信息安全的角度出发,在分析美军社交媒体政策发展变化及其内在动因的基础上,总结出美军运用社交媒体所采取的信息安全措施。     

The crisis of American military assistance: strategic dithering and Fabergé Egg armies

ABSTRACT

The United States has provided substantial amounts of military assistance and aid since the end of World War Two. During the Cold War, it proved vital in protecting numerous regimes from communist takeovers. Successful outcomes occurred when American leaders made large initial aid commitments, and the states had the capacity and political willpower to use it effectively. However, Vietnam was an example of how U.S. support lagged, as leaders in Saigon preferred political survival instead of creating regime legitimacy. Following 9/11, American security aid focused on making weak countries develop stronger security forces. Unfortunately, this created Fabergé egg militaries: expensive and easily broken by insurgents. This article suggests long-term strategic commitments need to be made alongside more resources for the American State Department and similar organizations to focus on the politics of state-building. Finally, this article suggests strategies, such as “whole-of-government” approaches, to improve long-term security and political institution building.     

谈奥巴马时代美国的联合国政策

奥巴马对联合国政策的调整,反映出奥巴马政府全球外交和安全战略的需要,体现了实用主义外交风格。较之于其前任,奥巴马将更加重视联合国维和行动,并让联合国更多地参与解决包括伊拉克和阿富汗在内的热点问题。奥巴马的联合国政策面临挑战,联合国仅仅是奥巴马实现美国国家利益的手段之一。     

INDIA AND THE NEW LOOK OF U.S. NONPROLIFERATION POLICY

U.S. nuclear export policy has undergone major transformations since 1945, and the most recent change, as expressed in the July 18, 2005, India-U.S. Joint Statement, represents an especially significant shift in policy. The document reverses more than a quarter century of U.S. declaratory policy, suggesting that the current U.S. administration regards nuclear proliferation to be both inevitable and not necessarily a bad thing. This article investigates this policy shift, looking at the history of U.S. nuclear export policy and the potential ramifications of the new policy on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The author also touches on the potential effects of the Joint Statement on Indian-Pakistani relations. Finally, it is suggested that it is not too late for India and the United States to change the new policy with more consideration for the NPT and the Nuclear Suppliers Group Initiative.     

Tripwires and free-riders: Do forward-deployed U.S. troops reduce the willingness of host-country citizens to fight for their country?

This article investigates the relationship between U.S. overseas troops and the willingness of the citizens of host states to fight for their country. The study joins the long-running debate about burden-sharing and free-riding among U.S. allies. Unlike most previous empirical studies, we focus on non-material or intangible measures of the underlying concepts. Our dependent variable estimates the proportion of citizens expressing a willingness to fight for their country. Scores at the aggregate-national as well as the individual level are shaped by the presence of U.S. military forces, which act as a “tripwire” signaling credible security commitments. This increases opportunities of (non-material) free-riding. We present both bivariate and multivariate analyses covering the period 1981–2014 to test this supposition. Findings indicate that once U.S. troop levels reach a certain threshold (between 100 and 500 troops), citizens’ willingness to fight drops significantly. This likely reflects non-material free-riding.     

ARE USA CITIZENS AT RISK OF TERRORISM IN EUROPE?

This paper analyzes the determinants of the probability of US citizens being victims of terrorist attacks in European countries, taking into account uncontrolled heterogeneity of the data. The analysis employs ITERATE data from February 1968 to December 2002 to ascertain significant characteristics that influence the probability (e.g. location, type of casualties, type of attack, and type of terrorists). To deal with the unobserved heterogeneity a random‐parameter logit model (mixed logit) is used. Some policy implications are presented.     

美陆军无人机训练研究

美陆军是在所有美军种中配备无人机数量最多且功能最全的军种,无人机正逐步成为美军在全球遂行全频谱作战行动支援的首选武器,并在美军无人机作战训练领域颇具代表性。但由于当前无人机集群的自主能力较弱,战斗力生成还需要地面指控站人员进行后方操纵。本文主要对美陆军无人机操作人员训练的各要素进行解析,并梳理出美军在无人机训练中好的做法及不足之处,提出了军队无人机训练的建议及对策。     

提高陆军合成部队指挥人员装备作战运用能力的几点思考

美国民营航天运输公司Space X创立十余年来,发展成绩斐然。与此同时,Space X是美国航天领域军民融合的一个侧影,其迅猛的发展历程反映出美国在航天领域以国家政策为牵引,以技术融合为抓手,以商业计划为支撑的军民融合发展特点,同时启示我国军民融合应通过强化政府搭台、宏观调控、物尽其用、绩效评估,以加速形成体制机制\"军民互通\"、军工市场\"军民共荣\"、基础资源\"军民共享\"、监督管理\"军民共管\"的繁荣持续的军民融合深度发展局面。     

Measuring the Impact of Military Spending: How Far Does a DSGE Model Deviate from Reality?

Dunne, Smith, and Willenbockel (2005) argue that the mainstream growth literature has not found military spending to be a significant determinant of economic growth, yet much of the defense economics literature has noted significant effects. This paper revisits this issue by using a DSGE-VAR approach, combining both theoretical and empirical methods. We present that the DSGE approach (estimated with the Bayesian technique) and the Bayesian VAR with the Minnesota Prior both lead to worse in-sample fit than our proposed DSGE-VAR framework. The DSGE-VAR approach reveals that a positive military spending shock boosts the U.S. economy, increasing per capita real GDP growth, consumption, inflation and interest rate. Our results are robust to alternative model specifications. Future investigations such as exploring an optimal military spending policy could adopt the approach in this paper to determine the best model – empirical, theoretical, or a combination of the two.     

美国陆军作战试验部队管理体系研究

作战试验部队是试验鉴定力量体系的重要支撑,是完成装备作战试验的直接载体。美国在装备试验与鉴定方面走在世界前列,建立了一整套行之有效的管理体制,陆军实行试验与鉴定的一体化管理,具有独立的作战试验鉴定部门,没有编设专业化的作战试验部队,试验任务主要根据装备的特性选取未来典型用户的作战部队在真实对抗环境中完成。作战试验部队主要参加作战评估、初始作战试验与评价以及后续作战试验与评价三个阶段的作战试验,在一体化试验小组的协调下,依托靶场完成试验训练任务。本文主要通过对美国陆军试验部队的研究,分析了美国陆军作战试验与鉴定发展概况,重点研究了作战试验部队管理体系,并从整个试验与鉴定系统归纳总结作战试验部队管理及相关工作的主要做法。     

美国海军21世纪战略概念分析(连载一)

本文介绍名为“21世纪海上力量”的美国海军21世纪战略概念,阐述其各要素的内涵、现状和未来,并对“21世纪海上力量”做一些粗浅的分析。     

美军武器装备维修与保障现状及其启示

信息化时代,武器装备的维修及保障呈现出新的特点。美军在武器装备的维修及保障方面走在世界前列。文章介绍美军武器装备的一些新兴维修及保障方式。