Mark Thompson
POGOBlog
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by Mark:
The Bunker: The Trillion-Dollar Pentagon
This week in The Bunker: the Pentagon is on the verge of spending $1 trillion a year; honoring vets by incorporating their care into the defense budget; a dirty little secret that boosts defense spending; and more. → Read More
Whirlybird-Brained: U.S. Making Wrong Chopper Choice for Afghanistan
The Pentagon has known for years that simple, Russian-built helicopters are the best for Afghanistan’s rudimentary air force. So why are Americans paying to give them the same kind of chopper Navy SEALS used to nab Osama bin Laden? → Read More
Thoughts on Memorial Day
Amid the three-day, start-of-summer weekend that Memorial Day has become, it’s important to recall its roots. It is a day to honor those who have died in the service of their country, and to offer thanks to the families whose loved ones, and them, made the ultimate sacrifice. → Read More
President Trump’s Flip-Flop on the F-35
President Trump just reversed course on the F-35. Did he really cut the cost of the most costly program in history? → Read More
Whose Finger(s) Should Be On the Nuclear Button?
President Trump’s rhetoric over North Korea’s push to become a nuclear power is leading some on Capitol Hill to fear that he might launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike to shut down Pyongyang’s nuclear-weapons ambitions once and for all. Some lawmakers are looking into the arcane process of how the nation launches its atomic arms. It’s a Cold War hangover that places a premium on speed. → Read More
Watching the Defense Department’s Waste Line
With the Pentagon insisting it doesn’t have enough money to do its job, you think it might be more careful about pouring billions into developing weapons that are never built. But you would be wrong. → Read More
Why Are So Many Female Veterans Killing Themselves?
The good news in the military’s battle against suicide in its ranks is that women kill themselves at only half the rate of men. But the bad news is that they’re 2.5 times more likely to kill themselves than their civilian sisters. Experts in the field suggest some reasons why. → Read More
Why Are So Many Female Veterans Killing Themselves?
The good news in the military’s battle against suicide in its ranks is that women kill themselves at only half the rate of men. But the bad news is that they’re 2.5 times more likely to kill themselves than their civilian sisters. Experts in the field suggest some reasons why. → Read More
North Korea’s Déjà Rear Vu Mirror
American troubles with North Korea have existed for more than half a century. The North’s shooting down of a U.S. plane in 1969 killed 31 U.S. troops went unpunished by the Americans, which may help explain Pyongyang’s pugnaciousness. → Read More
A Profile in Discouragement: Base Motives
Everyone from the White House to the Pentagon says the U.S. military has 20% more bases than it needs. But porky lawmakers, who rule the sty, refuse to stop bringing home the bacon. → Read More
Navy Collisions Are Its Own Fault
The Navy is eager to blame its woes on a lack of money. But the deeper truth is that the sea service has blindly cut the training that sailors need to stay safe → Read More
President Trump’s Two War-Fighting Brains
The president’s go-slow approach toward approving the Pentagon’s requested troop hike for the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan shows a commander-in-chief leery of sending American soldiers off to die in the “graveyard of empires.” Yet the verbal hand grenades he’s lobbing at North Korea belie a willingness to risk far more. → Read More
Congressional Irresolution: Lawmakers Shirk Their Responsibility to Declare War, Or Not
An “Authorization for the Use of Military Force,” even if Capitalized and Passed By Congress, lacks the resolve of a Declaration of War. → Read More
Another Step to Subcontracting Out Our Wars
The pattern of distancing the American public from its wars continues apace → Read More
The Pentagon’s Silver-Bullet Hype Machine
he press is too often a willing accomplice in the push to buy more weapons. → Read More
Full Mental Jacket
Military Industrial Circus Military intelligence for the rest of us. A weekly column posted every Monday. Full Mental Jacket The mental ravages of war remain a real enemy By: Mark Thompson | May 15, 2017 The U.S. military worships at the altar of “battle damage assessments,” their after-action reports detailing just how much damage their latest bombing run or battle did to the enemy. It’s much… → Read More
Waste Deep in the Big Afghaniquicksand
Just what have we got after more than 15 years of fighting in Afghanistan? → Read More
President Trump Should Reconsider His Support of “Fantastic” F-35
The F-35 has attracted a great deal of President Donald Trump’s attention in recent months. Interestingly, he has gone from critic to cheerleader after declaring he had persuaded Lockheed Martin to shave the price of the Fiscal Year 2016 buy of F-35s. In his words, the fighter is now “fantastic.” → Read More
“Dude, Where’s My Car(rier)?”
Deception has always been a part of military planning. → Read More
Trump’s Backup National-Security Team Takes the Field
As assessment of Trump’s second-string national-security team. → Read More