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Sean Duggan

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Defense Spending Bait and Switch Article
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen prepare to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Defense Department's budget earlier this year. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Defense Spending Bait and Switch

Congress says it supports budget cuts to unnecessary programs, but needs to act on it, write Lawrence Korb, Sean Duggan, and Laura Conley.

Lawrence J. Korb, Sean Duggan, Laura Conley

Avoiding Eisenhower’s Worst Fear Article
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates speaks to students at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas on May 7, 2010. (AP/Defense Department)

Avoiding Eisenhower’s Worst Fear

Recent speeches from Secretary Gates show he’s starting to argue what CAP has said all along—budget reform can strengthen the military and the economy, write Lawrence J. Korb, Laura Conley, and Sean Duggan.

Lawrence J. Korb, Laura Conley, Sean Duggan

A Dangerous Reliance on Defense Contractors Article
Blackwater security contractors are seen inside a helicopter above central Baghdad, Iraq. (AP/Khalid Mohammed)

A Dangerous Reliance on Defense Contractors

President Obama appears not to have learned from his predecessor’s mistakes in relying on contractors for intelligence, a practice that needs to change, writes Sean Duggan.

Sean Duggan

Putting the Coast Guard Out to Sea Article

Putting the Coast Guard Out to Sea

Despite the pressing need to cut government spending, under Under President Obama’s spending proposal all the nation’s military services are set to see their budgets increase except the Coast Guard.

Lawrence J. Korb, Sean Duggan

Slimming Down the Defense Budget Article
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Defense Department's budget on February 2, 2010. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Slimming Down the Defense Budget

The Defense Department will need to begin cutting unnecessary and underperforming programs to bring the budget under control, write Lawrence Korb, Laura Conley, and Sean Duggan.

Lawrence J. Korb, Laura Conley, Sean Duggan

The United States Needs All Troops Article
President Barack Obama called for the end of

The United States Needs All Troops

Sean Duggan lauds Obama's remarks on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and says we cannot afford to keep talented and patriotic men and women from serving their country in the military.

Sean Duggan

Overall Strategy Is Needed Article

Overall Strategy Is Needed

Lawrence J. Korb, Laura Conley and Sean Duggan tackle President Barack Obama's many pressing national security decisions that stem from our growing involvement in Afghanistan.

Lawrence J. Korb, Sean Duggan, Laura Conley

Integrating Security Report
The Obama administration faces an array of security challenges, and success will depend on ensuring its policies live up to our shared values and how ably it can draw on the U.S. government's full capabilities and tear down the bureaucratic boundaries between agencies. (AP/Kevin L. Moses, Sr.)

Integrating Security

Lawrence J. Korb, Sean Duggan, and Laura Conley present a new progressive agenda for national security in this report.

Lawrence J. Korb, Sean Duggan, Laura Conley

Serving America’s Veterans Article

Serving America’s Veterans

Book from Lawrence J. Korb, Sean Duggan, Peter Juul, and Max Bergmann analyzes the full range of veterans' needs and offers solutions for addressing pressing challenges.

Lawrence J. Korb, Sean Duggan, Peter Juul, 1 More Max Bergmann

Inadequate Afghan Security Forces Article

Inadequate Afghan Security Forces

Regarding the article “U.S. seeks gauge for Afghan effort” (Aug. 7): The recent American-led operation into Afghanistan’s Helmand Province is long overdue. But the conspicuous shortage of Afghan security forces bodes ill for the current operation and the larger American-led mission in the country. While over 4,000 American marines are part of the operation, only a little over 600 Afghan defense personnel have accompanied them.

Sean Duggan

From Gitmo to Bagram Article

From Gitmo to Bagram

It is disappointing that the panels responsible for reviewing the Obama administration's detention policy at Guantánamo Bay and its interrogation policy overall announced on Tuesday that they would need more time to complete their evaluations. Thankfully, though, the pending review of the Afghan prison and judicial system is on track to be completed swiftly and thoroughly by the US military at this critical juncture in the nearly eight-year-long conflict.

Sean Duggan

Don’t Ask, Don’t Care Article

Don’t Ask, Don’t Care

Even before the US secretary of defence, Robert Gates, announced that he wanted to make the law dealing with gays in the military "more humane", supporters of "don't ask, don't tell", or DADT, the regulation that bans gay men and lesbians from openly serving in the US military, began overlooking the facts in order to maintain the policy.

Sean Duggan

How to End “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Article

How to End “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

Last year, as a presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged he would work with military leaders and Congress to repeal the law that bans openly gay men and women from serving in the military. Last week, as the nation's commander in chief, he renewed his stance, declaring that "preventing patriotic Americans from serving our country weakens our national security." Yet the law commonly known as "don't ask, don't tell," or DADT, still remains in effect.

Lawrence J. Korb, Sean Duggan, Laura Conley

Funding War Through the Backdoor Article
President Barack Obama, left, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, right, are fighting against Congress to rein in government spending on the alternate engine to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter plane, which Gates has called an “unnecessary and extravagant expense.” (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Funding War Through the Backdoor

Including programs not directly related to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the supplemental funding bill perpetuates the broken defense acquisitions process, write Laura Conley and Sean Duggan.

Sean Duggan, Laura Conley

Ending Unneeded Weapons Programs Article
 (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

Ending Unneeded Weapons Programs

Outmoded and overpriced weapons programs have no place in the supplemental funding bills for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, writes Sean Duggan.

Sean Duggan

Sustainable Security in Afghanistan Report
The Obama administration must distinguish between short-term goals to stabilize conditions on the ground in Afghanistan and sustainable intermediate and long-term goals that will allow the United States and its allies to one day leave Afghanistan as a stable, functioning nation in control of its borders and with a government respected by its people. (AP)

Sustainable Security in Afghanistan

Report from Lawrence Korb, Caroline Wadhams, Colin Cookman, and Sean Duggan provides recommendations for a lasting security in Afghanistan.

Lawrence J. Korb, Caroline Wadhams, Colin Cookman, 1 More Sean Duggan

Lessons from Six Years in Iraq Article
A refugee family of Iraqi Christians arrives in Hanover, Germany for the first time on March 19, 2009, six years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Their settlement in Germany is part of a program administered by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. (AP/Axel Heimkin)

Lessons from Six Years in Iraq

Six years after the start of the Iraq war, Lawrence Korb, Sean Duggan, and Laura Conley reflect on its consequences at home and abroad.

Lawrence J. Korb, Sean Duggan, Laura Conley

Saluting General Jones Article

Saluting General Jones

This week, president-elect Barack Obama announced his national security team. The selection of former General James Jones of the United States Marine Corps to be his national security adviser - a prominent post that runs the interagency process on all matters related to national security - is a sound choice. Jones' role as national security adviser, however, will not be a traditional one.

Sean Duggan