Features

September 1, 2009  

In this issue

For all the unknowns and disparate views on how best to secure cyberspace, the one point of universal consensus is that a public-private partnership is essential to success.

Our report on the cybersecurity challenges brings together a rich collection of expert views from all sides. Bryce Meyer, a former Air Force officer, is a software engineer at Carnegie Mellon University. Rich Davenport, an Army major, is a psyops officer. Stan Sloane is a retired Navy officer and former Lockheed Martin executive who is now president and CEO at SRA International. And John Osterholz is a retired Army officer and former Defense Information Systems Agency deputy director who now leads BAE Systems’ cybersecurity business.

Loren Thompson brings us down to Earth with a hard bump in his article examining the cold realities and potential impacts of soaring military personnel costs.

A retired Air Force officer, Gene Myers, and a Marine, Lt. Col. Mike Grice, duke it out in Perspectives. The first supports and the latter is “alarmed by” Phil Meilinger’s article [“Lowering risk,” AFJ July/August] that contends air power is the most discriminate and effective modern weapon.

In his industry column, Scott Hamilton looks at the different strategies companies are pursuing to create or expand (but almost never ignore anymore) unmanned vehicle business lines.

Joe Collins asks the difficult question: Can Pakistan ever become the enemy of our enemies, and therefore a true ally?

Finally, T.X. Hammes’ essay on the perils of PowerPoint [“Dumb-dumb bullets,” AFJ July/August] attracted a lot of attention worldwide. Most innovative response award goes to blogger Schmedlap, who has posted a tongue-in-cheek slide version of Hammes’ essay on our forums that will make bring a smile to even the most ardent PowerPoint skeptic (visit http://armedforcesjournal.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4061641).

There’s still time to enter this year’s AFJ essay contest and have your say on the subject of PowerPoint. Deadline is Oct 2; submit no more than 1,500 words on how PowerPoint affected your career, for good or bad. Details can be found on our Web site (http://armedforcesjournal.com).