Secretary Of Defense Research Articles

Physicist may be chosen as next US defense secretary

Physicist may be chosen as next US defense secretary

Margaret Thatcher's First U-Turn: Francis Pym and the Control of Defence Spending, 1979–81

This article argues that hard-fought battles over defence spending in the first 18 months of Margaret Thatcher's government were vitally important, not only in setting the direction of defence policy for the rest of her time as Prime Minister, but also in determining how her government would prioritise economic policy and the control of public spending over other governmental priorities. The article sets out how, in her first six months as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher repeatedly prioritised defence spending over economic policy and financial control, and then, during the course of 1980, was persuaded to reverse this position, eventually resulting in the removal of Sir Francis Pym as Defence Secretary.

Duty: memoirs of a secretary at war

Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War By Robert M. Gates New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014 618 pages $35.00 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Duty is Robert Gates' second volume of memoirs and covers his time as Secretary of Defense in the George W Bush and Barack Obama administrations. Few people are better versed in how Washington works (or doesn't work) than Gates. He spent twenty-seven years in the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Council before becoming the only Secretary of Defense asked to stay in office when the White House changed hands between political parties. Because of this, the book's released caused a major stir, particularly in Washington. Gates' anger and unvarnished opinions about senior policymakers and elected officials, including some still holding office drew the most initial attention. While he respects the two presidents he served, Gates indicts Washington's hyperpartisan climate in general and Congress in particular which he describes as Uncivil, incompetent in fulfilling basic constitutional responsibilities (such as time appropriates), micromanagerial, parochial, thin-skinned, [and] often putting self (and reelection) before country. He is particularly disdainful of Senator Harry Reid, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, and Vice President Joe Biden, at times resorting to unnecessary low blows as when he sarcastically writes that Biden presumed to understand how to make CT (counterterrorism) work better than Stan (McChrystal) even though Biden was talking about policy and strategy and General McChrystal's expertise was at the operational level of Like any memoir, Duty does not weigh all sides of the story equally but concentrates on explaining Gates' position on key issues, particularly the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. One theme that will appeal to military readers was Gates' fierce dedication to the men and women in uniform, particularly those in combat zones. Time after time he excoriates the Department of Defense for its preoccupation planning, equipping, and training for future major wars with other nation-states, while assigning lesser priority to current conflicts and other forms of conflict, such as irregular or asymmetric war. At times this compelled him to take things into his own hands. He proudly recounts his efforts at forcing improvements in the care of wounded warriors and jamming through production of Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicles and increased intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. The crush of managing two wars and the daily operations of one of the world's largest and most complex organizations left Gates little time for broad questions about American strategy. But there is also no indication in Duty that he would have done so even if given the opportunity. For all of his talents, Secretary Gates was not a strategic visionary. For instance, there is no indication that he seriously questioned the assumptions that justified US involvement in Afghanistan even during the Obama administration's major review of US strategy. …

Thoughtlessness: Rumsfeld in Washington

This review article considers the case of Donald Rumsfeld and his disastrous tenure as US Secretary of Defense (2001�2006), as recounted by Rumsfeld himself in his memoirs and other writings, and in interviews with the celebrated documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, for The unknown known (2014). In all of these works he appears completely unreconstructed; indeed, remarkably self-satisfied. The article reflects on Rumsfeld as operator and courtier, and Morris's pursuit of a man without qualities, with reference to Hannah Arendt's notion of �the banality of evil�.

Renewing the Motivational Power of the Army's Professional Ethic

Abstract: The US Army currently faces challenges not unlike those of the post-Vietnam era and the post-Cold War period. Subsumed within these challenges is a more critical overarching one; simply stated, will the Army that emerges from this transition period in 2025 be an effective and ethical military profession, or just another large government bureaucracy? The former can defend the Republic and its interests abroad, the latter cannot. How to understand and think about this challenge is the topic of this commentary. ********** The new understanding of modern, competitive professions holds that, contrary to what we might have learned from Huntington's Soldier and State, the idea that once a profession, always a is not true. In fact, modern, competitive professions in the sense they might still exist as organizations, but their culture and behavior, and that of their individual members, becomes other than that of a profession. Applying this fact to the US Army as a military profession, we must recall it is by design an institution of dual character--a bureaucracy and a profession--with constant and intense tensions between them. The Army has only been a military profession for roughly half of its two hundred and forty-year existence. For example, in the early 1970s, after Vietnam, the Army was not a profession mainly because it had expended its corps of non-commissioned officers who were later so instrumental in professionalizing the junior ranks of the new all-volunteer force. A decade later, however, the Army of Desert Shield/Desert Storm was the world's model of military professionalism. So, in the case of the Army Profession, to means the institution would duplicate the behavior of a large, government bureaucracy, treating its soldiers and civilians more as bureaucrats than as professionals. As a result, soldiers would be unmotivated by a personal calling to honorable service, being instead micro-managed within a centralized, highly-structured organizational culture. Sadly, were this to occur it would be the antithesis of the Army's current doctrine of mission command within a professional culture. The current potential for the Army to lose this internal struggle for cultural dominance, and for the profession to die as such, is heightened by ongoing defense reductions. All defense reductions are pernicious toward the military's professional character. They will, as they have in the past, strongly reinforce the unremitting de-motivations of the Army's bureaucratic character and undermine the essential professional character, e.g., with highly centralized, impersonal micromanagement for force and personnel cuts, and fiscal resources allocated to do more with less. Further, beyond current defense reductions, if other recent events are accurate indicators--the too frequent moral failures of senior leaders, the institution's as yet unsuccessful campaign to expunge sexual harassment/assault from its ranks, the necessity for Secretary of Defense to appoint a new flag officer as his Special Assistant for Military Professionalism, attempts within the Congress to reduce commanders' legal authorities, etc.--the Army Profession is already struggling to maintain its professional character, at least from the perspective of the American people and their elected representatives. Given this confluence of events, the best chance for Army 2025 to come through this post-war transition as a military profession lies in the renewal of the motivational power of its ethic. Only professions can use a normative, principled ethic, which is far more than compliance-oriented rules and regulations, as the means of social control for the performance of both the institution and its individual members. Thus, the power of the ethic, its internalized attitudinal and behavioral expectations shared Army-wide, is critical to effective and ethical practice at both the individual and institutional levels. …

Resuscitation Is Better for Combat Casualty Outcomes

The study by Langan et al1 reviews the association between damage control resuscitation (DCR) and combat casualty outcomes over a 10-year period (2002-2011). Damage control resuscitation is a resuscitation guidelinewrittenanddistributed in the Iraq war combat theater in 2005, and as Langan et al1 demonstrate in their study of 57 179 soldiers admitted to combat hospitals, improved hospital outcomes are associatedwith thebroadadoptionof this transfusionapproach. Whilemany changes occurred during this decade ofwar, perhaps themost significantwashowresuscitationevolved.Crystalloiduseplummeted,andabalancedapproachtobloodproducts transfusionbecamethenorm.Langanetal1 state that“DCR isoneof themost importantmedical breakthroughsofour current conflicts.” Asastrong testament to thepowerof theJointTraumaSystem, it is important to note that research teams were deployed; protocols approved; data collected, entered into a database, and analyzed; guidelines promulgated; articles published; and changesmade, all while thewarwas ongoing. Literallyhundredsof civilians,USmilitarypersonnel, and collationpartnersworked tirelessly to accomplishment this feat. Currently,more than80 000casualtiesare recorded in theJoint TraumaRegistry.Plannersof futureconflicts (nextmonth,next year, or thenextdecade)must learn fromthis effort and implement the lessons learned.2 Clearlypublishedbutunfortunately largelyoverlookedby the military leadership is the finding that a large percentage of both prehospital and hospital combat deaths are potentially preventable.3,4 In addition, there are less-than-optimal outcomes (not resulting in death) that routinely occur. Both of these findingsdeserve tobegivenequal attention and to receive an immediate response. Data on these potentially preventable adverse outcomes should be compiled on a weekly basis by the Joint Trauma System. They then need to be reviewedby theUS Secretary of Defense, and each adverse outcome should serve as an immediate catalyst for focused research efforts and rapid system change. Similar preventable outcomes on the operational side of the military (eg, negligent discharge, losing aweapon, and leadership deficiencies) routinely incur an immediate command reaction. Preventable adverse outcomes on the medical side deserve a similar immediate command response. Today, some of the service’s medical commanders are drifting away from a focus on combat casualty care. Let’s not repeat what Col DeBakey so clearly articulated hashappenedafter everywar.5 SecretaryofDefenseRobertM. Gates described in his book6 the concepts of rapid review and positive action—theessenceof ahigh-functioning traumasystem. The War on Terrorism will not be over for a long time. Commandattention at all levels on combat casualty caremust remain a laser focus or our casualties will not have the best possible outcome.

Bridging the health security divide: department of defense support for the global health security agenda.

In 2011, President Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly and urged the global community to come together to prevent, detect, and fight every kind of biological danger, whether a pandemic, terrorist threat, or treatable disease. Over the past decade, the United States and key international partners have addressed these dangers through a variety of programs and strategies aimed at developing and enhancing countries' capacity to rapidly detect, assess, report, and respond to acute biological threats. Despite our collective efforts, however, an increasingly interconnected world presents heightened opportunities for human, animal, and zoonotic diseases to emerge and spread globally. Further, the technical capabilities required to develop biological agents into a weapon are relatively low. The launch of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) provides an opportunity for the international community to enhance the linkages between the health and security sectors, accelerating global efforts to prevent avoidable epidemics and bioterrorism, detect threats early, and respond rapidly and effectively to biological threats. The US Department of Defense (DoD) plays a key role in achieving GHSA objectives through its force health protection, threat reduction, and biodefense efforts at home and abroad. This article focuses on GHSA activities conducted in the DoD Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense.

The Age of Digital Conflict: A Review Essay

According to Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, and Jared Cohen, Director of Google Ideas and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at Council on Foreign Relations, Internet is among few things humans have built that they do not truly understand. The Internet is a network of networks, a huge and decentralized web of computer systems designed to transmit information using specific standard protocols. Nations and individuals rely on Internet on a daily basis to conduct business, connect with friends, and even find love. To state Internet is an integral part of our way of life is not an overstatement. The Internet allows for friendships, alliances and enmities between states to be extended into virtual world, adding a new and intriguing dimension to traditional statecraft. As Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Martin E. Dempsey stated, the spread of digital technology has not been without consequence. It has also introduced new dangers to our security and our safety. (1) Three books will be reviewed here which highlight addition of Internet to an already complex international system in which combat takes place not only in physical domain but also now in cyber domain. The Department of Defense designated a new domain of warfare in 2011. This elevation in strategic importance makes comparable to land, sea, air, or outer space as a new battle frontier. The US Government and its Armed Forces recognize importance of as a potential future battleground. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated cyberspace is new frontier, full of possibilities to advance security and prosperity in 21st century. And yet, with these possibilities, also come new perils and new dangers. (2) The Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey, stated the Department of Defense is adding a new mission: defending nation, when asked, from attacks of significant consequence--those that threaten life, limb, and country's core critical infrastructure. (3) For international jihadists Internet has become most cost-effective means of delivering its messages worldwide, and coordinating attacks. The Internet allows jihadist organizations to recruit without leaving confines of their safe havens. Jihadist groups and terrorist organizations are using Internet as a tool to carry-out their cyberplanning without fear of retaliation and in secret. Lieutenant Colonel Timothy L. Thomas, an analyst at Foreign Military Studies Office in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, defines cyberplanning as the digital coordination of an integrated plan stretching across geographical boundaries that may or may not result in bloodshed. (4) An understanding of future armed conflict, combat and intervention in new digital age will help US Army leaders to train its soldiers for new forms of armed conflict in twenty-first in light of sequestration and diminishing defense budget. War Play: Video Games and Future of Armed Conflict How does US military train its current and future soldiers for new forms of armed conflict in twenty-first century in light of sequestration and a diminishing defense budget? Corey Mead's book War Play that military is making use of more and more video games, that is, serious video games, as part of its arsenal of tools to fight wars of future. The military, according to author, is turning to video games for scenarios involving new and unexpected roles for soldiers. For example, today's Generation Z soldiers, born in age of cell phones and information, are using video games to learn skills such as cultural negotiations and cultural sensitive training. As a new generation of soldiers are recruited and deployed, in addition to learning combat skills, they may also have to negotiate with warlords or tribal leaders in remote villages. Also, virtual training sessions are helping military ration training grounds, which are in especially short supply today as troops return from their overseas deployments (68). …

Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities by Craig Steven Wilder, and: The People’s Martyr: Thomas Wilson Dorr and His 1842 Rhode Island Rebellion by Eric J. Chaput (review)

Reviewed by: Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities by Craig Steven Wilder, and: The People’s Martyr: Thomas Wilson Dorr and His 1842 Rhode Island Rebellion by Eric J. Chaput Christopher Malone (bio) Keywords Slavery, Rhode Island, Universities, Race, Racial hierarchies, Thomas Wilson Dorr, Dorrites, Suffrage Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities. By Craig Steven Wilder. (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2013. Pp. 408. Paper, $30.00.) [End Page 512] The People’s Martyr: Thomas Wilson Dorr and His 1842 Rhode Island Rebellion. By Eric J. Chaput. (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2013. Pp. 322. Cloth, $34.95.) In October 2006, Brown University released a long-awaited report on its links to slavery in the eighteenth century. Slavery and Justice concluded that more than two dozen of the university’s Board of Directors had either owned or captained slave ships, while many members of the Brown family were themselves slave owners. The year before, Hurricane Katrina had flooded 80 percent of New Orleans, taking a particular toll on the African American community. A rare moment had opened in the American dialogue about race where a brutally honest look at a sordid past converged with a dumbfounded gaze upon an ugly present. Despite the ways in which race matters continued to shock us, the hope was that something positive, productive, and restorative would come of the moment. Openings like these must be seized upon to further the investigation of how racial hierarchies and class distinctions in the United States form and are maintained. For separate reasons, Craig Steven Wilder’s Ebony and Ivy and Eric Chaput’s The People’s Martyr belong in that probe. Wilder’s work expands exponentially on the 2006 Brown study to make the case that virtually all of America’s elite colleges and universities had origins inextricably—and intentionally—linked to slavery. American colleges were built on top of and grew right along with the slave economy, tying America’s elite (both North and South) to the bondage of millions of African Americans. Chaput’s account of Rhode Island scion Thomas Wilson Dorr and his failed rebellion in 1842 underscores just how race and class cut across partisan institutions in the run-up to the Civil War. While the former volume is expansive and sweeping in its scope, the latter bores down into the political minutiae of the smallest state in the union. Taken together, they offer a searing historical exposition of the ways in which racial and class hierarchies, propelled and propagated by slavery, traced through some of the most powerful American institutions in the early republican era. The primary mission of any institution of higher education is to produce, accumulate, and transmit knowledge. That knowledge, directly or indirectly, intentionally or not, is tied to interests, which are again linked [End Page 513] to power—cultural, social, economic, and political. Today’s American universities and the people who run them are connected to some of the nation’s most powerful corporate and governmental institutions, along with the people who run them. No wonder someone like Robert Gates can go from Director of the CIA to President of Texas A&M to Secretary of Defense to Chancellor of William and Mary College. None of this should surprise us, for C. Wright Mills posited as much in his seminal work The Power Elite (New York, 1956): Economic, political, and cultural domination tended to concentrate in the hands of a few, forming an insular world of wealth, power, and knowledge that fenced out ordinary citizens. On one level, then, a book exploring the history of the intimate connection between elite institutions of higher education and those with their hands on the levers of the slave economy is no surprise. On the other hand, Wilder’s meticulous rendering of the subject, even if it is not completely new to historical scholars, is simply jarring. Ebony and Ivy succeeds in casting a painstakingly fresh look upon the intricate web connecting higher education to slavery. It does so with a matter-of-factness and aplomb that belies its explosive conclusions and their implications. Wilder asserts that slavery pervaded...

The Attenuation of Galvanic Corrosion Between Mechanically-Coupled Aluminum and Polymer Matrix Composites (PMCs) Using Hydrophobic, Insulative Skirt Materials

OBJECTIVE The objective of this research is to study the effect of hydrophobic, insulative skirt materials on the galvanic corrosion of mechanically-coupled aluminum and polymer matrix composites (PMCs)to develop effective corrosion mitigation solutions. INTRODUCTION Metal-PMC structures are being used more and more in military and civilian applications. PMCs, for example, are being used with greater frequency in defense, aerospace, automotive and civil-infrastructure industries. In the quest to reduce weight and increase performance, more and more advanced structures, systems and machines are being developed using a combination of alloys, composites, polymers, and ceramics. A system of dissimilar materials, however, may induce significant corrosion problems. Metal alloys coupled to composites may lead to crevice and galvanic corrosion problems. Corrosion control strategies need to be incorporated into the design of mechanically coupled metal-PMC joints to improve corrosion resistance and decrease maintenance and repair time. BACKGROUND Electrically conductive PMCs such as carbon fiber reinforced (CFR) PMC can accelerate the corrosion at PMC-Al interfaces by galvanic action and crevice corrosion. A typical method used to mitigate galvanic corrosion when bolting aluminum to CFR PMCs is to insert an insulating skirt between the members (Figure 1) to eliminate direct contact. However, aluminum and CFR PMCs are still galvanically coupled through the fastener; hence, galvanic corrosion can occur if the electrolyte bridges over the insulating skirt. To attenuate the galvanic effect, the insulating skirt can be extended beyond the CFR PMC coupon to various lengths (Figure 1). APPROACH The galvanic corrosion rate is a function of Ohmic loss (IR loss) between Al (anode) and PMC (cathode), and the polarization behavior of the anode and cathode. The Ohmic loss depends on the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte film that forms on the insulating skirt. The parameters that affect the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte film are salt loading (m’) (e.g., various Cl- concentrations), length of the insulating skirt (ls ), and humidity. A relationship between galvanic corrosion rate and skirt length-to-salt loading ratio (ls /m’) was established.Another parameter that affects the effective skirt length to attenuate galvanic corrosion is the continuity of the electrolyte layer on the skirt. Hence, hydrophobicity of the skirt material is an important parameter in determining the effective skirt length. The insulating skirts of various lengths were coated with different coatings (Figure 2) and the hydrophobicity was determined using contact angle measurements.The galvanic corrosion rate of 6061-T6 Al alloy coupled to CFR PMC were monitored over a 3-day period inside of a humidity chamber at 90% relative humidity (RH) and 30oC using the zero resistance ammeter (ZRA) technique with different skirt lengths which were coated and uncoated. The samples were sprayed with various concentrations of salt solutions. The galvanic corrosion rates were monitored for different types of coatings on the insulating skirt (hydrophobicity), electrolyte type, humidity, and various skirt lengths. Measurements were also be taken in the field. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors are grateful for the support from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for the project entitled “Corrosion and Corrosion Control Studies of Aluminum Alloys that are Mechanically-Coupled or Adhesively-Bonded to Polymer-Matrix Composites in Diverse Micro-Climates” (U.S. Air Force Academy, USAFA–BAA-2009-1). The authors are particularly grateful to Mr. Daniel Dunmire, Director, Corrosion Policy and Oversight, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense. The authors are also grateful to other members of the Department of Defense Technical Corrosion Collaboration: Mr. Richard Kinzie, Mr. Larry Lee, Dr. William Abbott, Dr. David Robertson, Mr. Richard Hays, and Dr. Christopher Scurlock.

Efficient Rare Earth Separation Technology

Reactive Innovations, LLC and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) have demonstrated an innovative improved process for extracting and separating light rare earth metals (La, Ce, Sm, Nd, Pr) from solution. Rare earth metals are valued for their unique magnetic, optical and catalytic properties. These materials are used in many clean energy technologies including wind turbines, electric vehicles, photovoltaic thin films and fluorescent lighting. Currently, China produces 95-97% of the world supply of rare earth metals and oxides, but is reducing exports and increasing prices to foreign consumers. The global impact of these restrictions is greatest in countries with large high-tech manufacturing sectors such as Japan, the USA and Germany.Lanthanides are typically found in mineral deposits. While the mining of the mineral deposits is fairly straightforward, the separation and purification of the individual lanthanide elements is laborious and energy intensive. New technologies are sought to enable more rapid, flexible, efficient, environmentally-friendly extraction and separation of individual lanthanides from aqueous mixtures with the goal of increasing the domestic supply of rare earth elements and decrease the costs of processing high purity metals.Our approach to extraction and separation of individual lanthanide metals involves selective electrodeposition from an ionic liquid media. Cyclic voltammograms taken for each of these systems clearly show multiple oxidation and reduction peaks which are characteristic of multi-valent electron transfer processes for these species as shown in Figure 1. Using this data, separate experiments were performed to electrodeposit individual rare earth metals using a constant potential method. Visually, we observed material deposited on grafoil substrates for each of the rare earth-IL systems. Further analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed rare earth elements in the deposit. For illustrative purposes, Figure 2 is a representative SEM micrograph of a lanthanide deposited onto grafoil showing bulk deposition.We also demonstrated selective electrodeposition from binary mixtures in limited studies. By overlaying the individual CVs of rare earth oxides we selected two rare earth systems and reduction potentials to use in a mixture for demonstration of selective deposition of one or the other rare earth metal. Based on the differences in these CVs we utilized different deposition potentials to preferentially deposit one of the rare earths from an equimolar mixture of lanthanum and praseodymium precursors. The SEM image for deposits obtained at one voltage are provided in Figure 3 along with the EDS spectra taken for that sample. The EDS analysis indicated that preferential deposition of La occurred at this potential with ~80% of the total deposits associated with this species (Figure 3). In separate experiments, we changed the potential to shift the composition to 68% La and 32% Pr.The ability to concentrate, or selectively extract rare earth metals directly from a mixture of oxides in an environmentally benign solution (ionic liquid), could potentially replace the very laborious solvent extraction processes which produce oxide or carbonate species. We envision that our technology has potentially multiple insertion points into rare earth mining processes. Future work will focus on developing and optimizing these methods to result in a high efficiency process for rare earth metal recovery.AcknowledgementsThis work was accomplished with support from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) under contract no. N00014-13-P-1139.

Highlights of the SVM 25th Anniversary and Scientific Sessions.

The SVM 25th Anniversary and Scientific Sessions were held in La Jolla, California, 12–14 June 2014 and were a great success. With 285 attendees, 14 academic sessions, including Vascular Jeopardy, award presentations, a keynote address by Jonathan Woodson, MD, a vascular surgeon and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs in the US Department of Defense, concurrent sessions on Thursday and Saturday, and very successful SVM in the Vascular Lab and Wound Care and Phlebology workshops on Saturday 14 June. In addition, two industry forums were presented, including a presentation on inferior vena cava filters and another on novel oral anticoagulants. John Gocke, one of the original members of SVM, started the meeting off with a talk entitled ‘Twenty-five years of vascular medicine’, which was a brief history of the society and stressed our importance in the world of vascular disease. The keynote address by Jonathan Woodson included a brief history of the military’s influence on health care as it pertains to traumatic injuries and how the lessons learned in treating service men and women benefit the civilian population. James B Froehlich gave the traditional presidential address on Thursday morning, then, as part of our 25th Anniversary Celebration, we heard from eight former SVM presidents. On Thursday 12 June, the early years of SVM were presented by Mark A Creager (1993–1995), William R Hiatt (1995–1997), Alan T Hirsch (1997–1999), and Jeffrey W Olin (1999–2001). The later years were presented on Friday 13 June by John P Cooke (2005–2007), J Michael Bacharach (2007–2009), Thom W Rooke (2009–2011), and Joshua A Beckman (2011–2013). We hope to publish a summary of our Society history through the perspective of our presidents later this year in Vascular Medicine. This year, for the first time, we had concurrent sessions, on the endovascular treatment of intermittent claudication, obesity and vascular disease, clinic conundrums in vascular medicine, and non-atherosclerotic artery diseases. Concurrent sessions were also held on Saturday and were very well attended. They included topics on the vascular laboratory, wound care, and phlebology. Cases Over Cocktails and Vascular Jeopardy remained very popular sessions and led to very lively discussions. Patricia A Poe, president of the Society of Vascular Ultrasound (SVU), addressed the meeting on Saturday 14 June and spoke of interest for future SVU and SVM collaborations in many areas. Networking opportunities included breakfast and coffee breaks in the exhibit hall, as well as the Women in Vascular Medicine dessert reception. We all enjoyed the 25th Anniversary Celebration held in the beautiful Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines Parterre Gardens. The poster hall featured 40 posters plus the five finalists for the Jay D Coffman Young Investigator Award competition. Friday included award presentations for the Jay D Coffman Young Investigator Award and the Jess R Young Outstanding Educator Award. We thank the entire Scientific Sessions Program Committee for its hard work this year in planning an outstanding meeting. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for session topics for 2015.

Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War. By Robert M.Gates. Alfred A.Knopf, 2014. 618 pp.

Duty: Memoirs of Secretary at War. By Robert M. Gates. Alfred A. Knopf, 2014. 618 pp. Memoirs from public officials typically are most instructive in presenting one person's perspective on key events during time of service and less helpful in appreciating preexisting policy constraints as well as restrictions of electoral cycle. Because he served two consecutive presidents as secretary of defense, and is only defense secretary to serve two commanders in chief from different political parties, Robert M. Gates has an unusual opportunity to present that broader perspective. His insightful assessment of defense policy making under George W. Bush and Barack Obama informs scholarly understanding of key national security debates and policy choices in twenty-first century. The book title, Duty, captures overarching theme well: Gates was not keen to serve as defense secretary or to stay in office for four-and-a-half years (late 2006 to mid-2011), but he so because he wanted to work for who sacrifice so much for United States. The pressures of job often became overwhelming, especially in Washington--Gates writes that he did not enjoy being secretary of defense (p. 465), and he refers to his tenure as deployment to Washington combat zone (p. 468). During his daily, predawn run, each time Gates would pass Lincoln Memorial, he would ask, How you do it? (p. 220). For Gates, the only thing that kept [him] going was getting out of Pentagon and being around troops (p. 465). With United States at war throughout his tenure, Gates was an integral advisor to key decisions about sending increased to Iraq for Bush and to Afghanistan for Obama. Under Bush, Gates participated in and implemented key decisions about 2007 troop surge in Iraq, conflicts with Russia, Syria, and Iran, increasing support from North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies in Afghanistan, and managing Pentagon battles over hardware, intelligence, support for wounded soldiers, and more. Gates worked well with president professionally, but he writes that they were not close personally (p. 95), perhaps in part because of Gates's close ties with former President George H. W. Bush, whom he had served as director of Central Intelligence. Gates describes second President Bush as intellectually curious (p. 94) and a man of character, man of convictions, and man of action (p. 96). In Bush White House, he is critical mostly of communications staff, who he says focused on tactical, often partisan, public relations, but says he was able to rebuff requests and make decisions with president's support. Given ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, rumors that Gates might be asked to continue in new administration, whether Republican or Democrat, started in early 2008. Consistent with theme of his memoir, Gates writes that he not seek to stay but believed he had responsibility to do so, if asked. …

A Survey on Role of Rural Dispute Resolution Council in Performance of Rural Management : Case Study : Villages around the City of Zanjan

Dispute Resolution Council is a friendly, non hostile and illegal approach for resuming dialogue between the conflicting parties, maintaining healthy relationships, restoration of public order and social justice, that has manifested at administrative and judicial arenas of villages aiming at settlement of disputes among villagers outside the court through secretary of defense as well as attracting public participation at managing rural development process. This study aimed to investigate role of Rural Dispute Resolution Council in Performance of Rural Management regarding case study of villages around the city of Zanjan. Analytic-descriptive research method has been used where the instruments to collect data mentioned questionnaire, and the statistical population consists of 13 villages of villages around the city of Zanjan of which 293 individuals taken as statistical sample using Cochran sampling method. In this study, Factor Analysis has been used to analyze data. The results from findings indicate that Dispute Resolution Council has

R&D ekes out an increase in FY 2015 budget request

With spending caps in place, President Obama proposes an off-budget fund to support additional R&D. NASA would ground a flying observatory, and DOE would sharply curtail its nonproliferation programs.

Optimizing eigenray generation for real time simulations

Real time simulation is a critical supplement to in-water testing for the assessment of naval system performance. Limitations exist on the number of independent runs, on geographical locations in which in-water tests can be performed, and on the amount of control experimenters possess over the test environment. Many systems have critical time-sensitive functionality (e.g., acoustic homing) which constrains the ability to produce realistic time series for injection; but a reduced fidelity solution can still be of use. Graphics hardware (GPU) has become a significant computing platform in its own right. Its application requires a mapping of the propagation algorithm to the GPU computing paradigm and careful tweaking to squeeze out maximum performance. We will look at taking from theory just what we need to hand-tune code for a GPU + CPU computing platform, and the limitations of a high speed, range dependent, eigenray code. We also consider a related approach that uses the resulting eigenrays to initialize an iterative method which updates the eigenray solution as the source and receiver update their relative positions. [Work funded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Test Resource Management Center's Resource Enhancement Project element of the Central Test and Evaluation Investment Program.]

Correspondence: The Profitability of Primacy

Correspondence: The Profitability of Primacy

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle (MRAP) Program and the DoD AT&L Reform Policy

This report assesses the compliance of the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicle program of the US DoD with the Reform Policy declared with the issuance of a guidance memorandum by Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (DoD AT&L) in 2010. A thorough evaluation of the program reveals that the MRAP program displayed successful examples at achieving reform objectives such as making time a key parameter, incentivizing productivity and innovation in the industry, and reducing non-productive processes and bureaucracy. However, some practices are subject to criticism such as failures in mandating affordability as a requirement, eliminating redundancy within warfighter portfolios, limiting the use of time-and-materials contracts and promoting real competition for services.

Sexual Assault in the Military: A Discussion of the Current Status and Future Prevention

Sexual Assault in the Military: A Discussion of the Current Status and Future Prevention

Reserve Component Costs: A Relook

Abstract: Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) costing model suggests Active and Reserve forces cost about the same. Thus, many of the assumptions about the cost-effectiveness of Reserve Components may need a closer look. Budget Cycles we close the book on one of America's longest military engagements, the battle for shrinking resources is growing more intense. But what risk can we realistically assume before we place US security interests in jeopardy? Many solutions call for the Army to move more of its capabilities to the Reserve Component. However, the cost savings may not be as great as we might think. This article explores some of those costs through the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) costing model. Cost-Effective Reserve Components National Guard Bureau 2013 Posture Statement: Security America Can Afford states The National Guard is the DOD's most cost effective component. One of the reasons listed is that 11% of the Army Budget, the Army National Guard provides 32% of the Army's total personnel and 40% of its operating forces. (1) United States Army Reserve 2013 Posture Statement makes a similar claim: As the Army's only Federal Operational Reserve Force, the Army Reserve provides a cost-effective way to mitigate risk to national security. For only 6 percent of the Army budget, the Army Reserve provides almost 20 percent of the Total Force. (2) Clearly, the percentage of total force provided by each reserve component is correct. However, statements about percent of the Army budget need to be qualified. They hold true when viewing the Army budget purely from an appropriations-sponsor perspective, but the Army pays for several National Guard and Army Reserve expenses through active Army appropriations. Here are a few examples: * Other Procurement of Army (OPA) appropriation is used to purchase new equipment for all three components. Army may buy 50 new trucks and allocate ten to the ARNG and ten to the USAR. cost of new equipment is not included in reserve component appropriations. * Operations and Maintenance, Army (OMA) appropriation pays the overhead costs of operating ten rotations per year at the National Training Center (NTC) and Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC). National Guard uses one rotation per year at each center and pays its own military personnel costs and a portion of the OM (2) establish common Army costing baselines to compare Active and Reserve Component costs; and (3) gain leadership agreement (AC, ARNG, and USAR) so those leaders could accurately engage the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other agencies outside the department. …