Available on Senator Arlen Specter's Website, this massive document is the fruit of the Commission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. In short, it's an assessment of the state of weapons proliferation in places the United States sees as potential national security threats, from insecure Russian stockpiles of nuclear...

In April 2002, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) released this overview of its current work. The report summarizes many of the organization's main programs, which are grouped into three broad areas. The first area details the efforts being made to minimize threats and ensure national security. Development of new technologies and advanced systems is highlighted in the second...

On March 9, 2001, the US Department of Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence released its first report and strategic plan. The 24-member Task Force was established last year with a three-year mission to formulate a long-term, strategic plan to eliminate domestic violence within the military. Users may read the full-text of the 118-page report at the Task Force site, which also offers additional...

This online version of a 60-page Issue Brief from the Center for Defense Information is "designed to offer unbiased, in-depth, and up-to-date information on all aspects of the National Missile Defense (NMD) debate." The brief contains articles offering a history of ballistic missiles and the NMD -- including a chronology of US National Missile Defense programs, an assessment of the current missile...

This Web site provides full text of the 2003 book New Challenges, New Tools for Defense Decisionmaking. The book examines the transformation in U.S. foreign and defense policy spurred by the end of the Cold War and, more recently, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Although many legislative matters are discussed, significant attention is given to current and future technologies and...

The Code Red worm and base closings are not the only things the Pentagon has to worry about lately. The General Accounting Office (GAO) has agreed to perform a department-wide audit, including an investigation of abuse of the Pentagon's 1.8 million credit cards. At the request of Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the GAO began its investigation by looking into potential purchase card abuse on two...

Every four years, the military issues the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) Report, a document that is key in setting military goals and priorities. This 79-page report, issued September 30, 2001, is divided into seven main sections (e.g., Defense Strategy, Revitalizing the DoD Establishment) and includes a statement by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The report explains that, "Even...

Forwarded to the President and Congress annually, the Secretary of Defense's Annual Defense Report serves as "a basic reference document for those interested in national defense issues and programs." The Department of Defense (DOD) Annual Defense Report page contains previous reports to 1995 and an internal search engine.

A high-level security conference in Munich this weekend exposed rifts between the US and its European allies on the issues of a US missile defense system and the deployment of a "rapid reaction" European Union force. The US missile defense system took center stage over the weekend as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the Bush administration's plan to go ahead with development and...

The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) is "the U.S. Army's institute for geostrategic and national security research and analysis." The Institute's staff includes research professors, military officers, and a variety of support staff affiliates. SSI's publications are distributed widely to strategic leaders across the Department of Defense, the media, and major colleges and universities. Visitors...