Gary Schmitt

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Gary Schmitt is the co-director of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at AEI and the director of AEI's Program on American Citizenship. Mr. Schmitt is a former staff director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He was executive director of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board during President Ronald Reagan's second term. Mr. Schmitt's security work focuses on longer-term strategic issues that will affect America's security at home and its ability to lead abroad, while his work in the area of citizenship focuses on challenges to maintaining and sustaining a strong civic culture. His books include Of Men and Materiel: The Crisis in Military Resources (AEI Press, 2007), to which he was a contributing author and editor with Tom Donnelly; Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence (Brassey’s, 2002), coauthored with Abram Shulsky and now in its third edition; and U.S. Intelligence at the Crossroads: Agendas for Reform (Brassey’s, 1995), a coedited volume to which he is a contributing author. His two most recent books, to which he is also editor and contributing author, are The Rise of China: Essays on the Future Competition (Encounter Books, May 2009) and Safety, Liberty and Islamist Terrorism: American and European Approaches to Domestic Counterterrorism (AEI Press, 2010).

Foreign and Defense Policy

George Will, Syria, and the dead columnists society

Gary Schmitt | May 2, 2013, 10:35 am

In George Will’s column today in the Washington Post (“Obama is Right on Syria”), Will references an essay in the most recent issue of the American Interest by Owen Harries and Tom Switzer (“Leading from Behind: Third Time a Charm?”) … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy

Is De Gaulle rolling over in his grave?

Gary Schmitt | April 30, 2013, 11:53 am

It’s a sad state of affairs when a major allied country can spend 1.5% of its GDP on defense and remain Europe’s No. 2 in military spending. But that’s the case now with France, whose defense expenditure remains only slightly … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East and North Africa

Slam dunks, Syria, and the lessons of Iraq

Gary Schmitt | April 30, 2013, 8:57 am

When President Obama first drew the “red line” last summer on Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s possible use of chemical weapons and then again last December, he almost certainly believed that this was a line Assad would not cross. To do so … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Defense

SecDef Hagel’s opening address: Watch this space for more information

Gary Schmitt | April 4, 2013, 9:15 am

Yesterday, Chuck Hagel gave what amounts to his “opening address” as the new secretary of defense. As expected, it was full of arguments about the need for reforms in how the Pentagon goes about its business—some true enough, others less … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Defense

Fiddling while the Pentagon burns

Gary Schmitt | March 29, 2013, 10:14 am

Much has been made of the fact that the new spending bill passed by Congress this past month has given the Defense Department both $10 billion additional dollars to help alleviate the shortfalls in its operations and maintenance accounts and … read more >

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