War Room welcomes Dr. Rob Farley, author of Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force, to discuss and critique the National Security Act of 1947 which included the establishment of an independent Air Force. Was it wise to separate the Air Force from the Army and pursue an unrealized promise of airpower solving national security problems on its own? Is the interservice rivalry that followed more destructive than helpful – and did the Goldwater-Nichols Act do enough to mitigate it? What can one learn from the establishment of an independent air force when considering new or emerging domains such as space or cyber? These and other questions are debated under the moderation of Dr. Mark Duckenfield, Chair of the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College.
Tag Archives: Air Force
THE DRONE ELEGY
The Air Force’s approach to developing unmanned aviation falls well short of the potential of autonomous systems. Its programs still struggle for resources amidst massive investment in modernization of manned tactical fighters and strategic bombers. The Air Force has an unfortunate tendency to confuse the ends and means of war. For more than a decade, […]