The Hill News

In To End All Wars, his excellent history of World War I, author Adam Hochschild recounts how passionately some strategists defended the perceived essential role of the horse cavalry. In an era that war was to be dominated by the machine gun, artillery bombardments and the emergence of the tank, these strategists resisted any re-evaluation of the role of cavalry as heresy itself. In the face of all the evidence, they stubbornly resisted change, and their blind devotion to the status quo cost their nation dearly.

You don’t have to look far to see a modern day example of this type of thinking.

Last week, the Associated Press reported that President Obama, as Commander in Chief, has asked our military leadership to present him with a range of options for re-structuring our nuclear forces. The AP further reported that the range of options runs from maintaining "the status quo" to making significant changes that modernize our strategy and force struc! ture to reflect current realities.

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