DHS Claims Breakthrough in Wireless Broadband Interoperability
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials and private sector engineers have succeeded in creating a system that allows first responders to communicate on what is effectively a single network using existing land-mobile radios as well as new broadband devices like personal digital assistants and laptops, significantly advancing interoperability while keeping costs low. Heritage experts discuss the importance of public-private homeland security partnerships. (See... http://www.heritage.org/Research/HomelandDefense/bg2150.cfm

Iran confirms nuclear component production
Iran's deputy foreign minister said Friday that almost 4,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges are now operating at the country's Natanz enrichment facility, the national IRNA news agency reported. For updates and analysis on the Iranian threat, please visit Heritage's Iran Briefing Room at, http://www.heritage.org/Research/Middleeast/iranbriefingroom.cfm

Russia Tests ICBM Designed To Overcome Missile Shield
Russia on Aug. 28 said it test-fired an intercontinental missile designed to avoid detection by missile-defense systems, raising the temperature in a tense stand-off with the West over Georgia. Heritage experts discuss the need for directed energy weapons in light of the recent Georgia-Russia conflict. (See... http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/wm2030.cfm

Issue In Depth

Manpower and The Military

Who serves in the active-duty ranks of the U.S. all-volunteer military? Any discussion of troop quality must take place in context. A soldier’s demographic characteristics are of little importance in the military, which val­ues honor, leadership, self-sacrifice, courage, and integrity—qualities that cannot be quantified.


Recent Research
Recruiting for the Long War: Has Military Recruiting Reached its Efficient Frontier?: View this event, hosted by The Heritage Foundation in March, which featured The Honorable David S. C. Chu, Ph.D., Under Secretary of States for Personnel and Readiness, U.S. Department of Defense, speaking on military recruiting and what it might take to preserve America’s all-volunteer force.

AEI: Of Men and Materiel: “The men and women of the Army are exhausted. We are now in the sixth year of the global War on Terror. Sustaining operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the world has come at a high cost. It is increasingly difficult to keep 150,000 soldiers in the field, fighting year after year, with an active duty force of some 500,000--and not wear out that force. By not expanding the Army’s numbers significantly, the Pentagon now has on its hands a force whose overall readiness is faltering. Faced with continual rotations into and out of the theaters of conflict, the Army reportedly has no more than 10,000 soldiers who are not currently deployed and who are at the level of readiness necessary to handle a new military crisis should one occur.”

AEI: The U.S. Military's Manpower Crisis: The long-term neglect of U.S. ground forces has caused serious problems in the Iraqi and Afghan campaigns. If not corrected, this neglect will cause even worse problems in the future. War is fundamentally a human activity, and attempts to remove humans from its center--as recent trends and current programs do--are likely to lead to disaster, according to AEI’s Fred Kagan

Reflecting and Projecting: U.S. Land Power from the Past to the Future: The all-volunteer U.S. military force was born thirty-five years ago this week. By almost all accounts, it has been an overwhelming success. Today, however, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan pose unprecedented challenges to our forces. These conflicts have highlighted the structural changes that will be necessary to retain land force superiority, which is essential for maintaining security and effectively responding to future threats.

The Commission on the National Guard and Reserves: Reforming the Reserve Component: The independent Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, chartered by Congress in 2005, submitted its third and final report on January 31. The extensive review offers an exhaustive list of thoughtful and necessary recommendations to sustain America's "operational reserve."

Who Serves in the U.S. Military? The Demographics of Enlisted Troops and Officers: Who serves in the active-duty ranks of the U.S. all-volunteer military? This study looked at the demographics of the enlisted and officer corps of the U.S. military to see who volunteers and help explain why they do so. Despite the conventional wisdom that would say otherwise, this study found that members of America’s all-volunteer force are more likely to come from high-income neighborhoods than from low-income neighborhoods, are more educated than their peers, and disproportionately attracts those that do not come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Paying for America's All-Volunteer Military: "Reform" Is Not a Dirty Word: Keeping these costs under control is essential to maintaining today's highly professional all-volunteer force and is required to pay ever-deferred and grow­ing military modernization bills.