Project
Effective Defense Policy
Prioritizing military readiness and sustainability to craft common sense defense policy
About the Project
The Effective Defense Policy project conducts realistic threat assessments to shape how the Pentagon approaches military force structure and arms control issues. Through extensive research, the team promotes defense policy to maximize military readiness at the lowest possible cost to American taxpayers. This work challenges the status quo by demonstrating how the never-ending pursuit of global military primacy actually threatens national security and military servicemembers.
Research & Writing
Op-Ed
Dangerously wrong priorities will accelerate America’s decline.
April 8, 2026
Op-Ed
The Navy’s premier aircraft carrier is a case study in misplaced priorities, most importantly putting politics and industry preference before readiness and efficiency
March 26, 2026
Op-Ed
Countless potential black swan events could spark a collapse of our fragile geopolitical order.
March 12, 2026
Video
Dan discusses the National Defense Strategy with Defense Priorities Director of Military Analysis Jennifer Kavanagh.
February 9, 2026
Op-Ed
The Trump administration’s executive order to curb industry stock buybacks has no teeth, but U.S. lawmakers could and should take advantage.
February 6, 2026
Op-Ed
What happened in Venezuela is the exception, not the rule.
January 7, 2026
Op-Ed
Provisions in this year’s NDAA dismantle oversight, guarantee profits for contractors, and shift financial risk to taxpayers.
December 12, 2025
Op-Ed
The cancellation of the Constellation-class program shows that the military’s shipbuilding problem is Washington, not China.
December 4, 2025
Op-Ed
The defense secretary is expected to roll out new mandates that would in part assist the weapons industry with international business. Why?
November 6, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Dan discusses his new report, “Rethinking the Threat: Why China is Unlikely to Invade Taiwan”
October 18, 2025
Op-Ed
Proposed changes to how the military acquires and tests weapons expose taxpayers to more wasteful spending while undermining the delivery of safe and effective capabilities.
October 9, 2025
Op-Ed
With some wonky, hard to decipher language, a recent GAO report concluded the beleaguered jet will never meet expectations.
October 7, 2025
Video
Pete A Turner welcomes Dan back to the Break It Down Show to discuss his new paper on the military realities of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
September 23, 2025
Video
Nationalize The Defense Industry; GOP’s War On Voting Rights w/ Julia Gledhill, Ari Berman | MR Live
In the second episode of the “Business of War,” a docu-series by Al Jazeera English, Julia discusses the origins of the nuclear triad and the folly of ongoing modernization efforts.
September 4, 2025
Report
An invasion of Taiwan is far more complicated than Washington narratives would suggest.
September 3, 2025
Op-Ed
Removing the profit motive that has allowed private interests to abuse, corrupt, and metastasize the system might be a way forward — if done right.
August 27, 2025
Video
In the second episode of the “Business of War,” a docu-series by Al Jazeera English, Julia discusses the origins of the nuclear triad and the folly of ongoing modernization efforts.
August 16, 2025
Video
In the first episode of the “Business of War,” a docu-series by Al Jazeera English, Julia discusses the revolving door and its pernicious impact on U.S. foreign policy.
August 9, 2025
Op-Ed
Hundreds of billions of dollars have gone to aiding Taipei, but geography is still the island’s best defense
July 11, 2025
Video
Dan joins Kelley Vlahos on the Trip the Beltway Fantastic Podcast.
July 4, 2025
Op-Ed
The Pentagon’s acquisition woes are primarily a programming problem rather than an issue with how the department purchases weapons.
June 25, 2025
Op-Ed
The era of trillion-dollar annual Pentagon budgets is upon us.
June 11, 2025
Op-Ed
Humans should be pushed out of the cockpit.
June 9, 2025
Op-Ed
The DoD will have to rely on biased sources in and outside the services that have approved half-baked weapons, vehicles, and aircraft before.
June 4, 2025
Policy Memo
Examining recent executive and legislative efforts to reform the defense acquisition system.
May 5, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Julia joins Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast to discuss the Pentagon audit and military spending’s role in the economy.
April 19, 2025
Op-Ed
Full court press by Silicon Valley and friends for the military to — surprise — eradicate funding restrictions for new tech.
April 16, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Chris and Geoff join John Glaser on the Cato Institute’s Power Problems Podcast.
April 15, 2025
Op-Ed
Someone should tell Trump the real reason the fleet is so small.
April 2, 2025
Op-Ed
His recently announced meager $580m reduction is just an exercise in reshuffling.
March 25, 2025
Video
In our latest video, Julia breaks down how defense spending could make the US more–not less–secure and save at least 60 billion dollars per year.
March 19, 2025
Video
Julia Gledhill joins More Perfect Union to discuss Pentagon waste.
March 13, 2025
Op-Ed
Without Cost Accounting Standards, the Pentagon loses much of its ability to hold contractors accountable for unreasonable expenses borne by the government.
March 13, 2025
Op-Ed
The military should step back and take a breath before committing to what may amount to suicide by Silicon.
March 10, 2025
Video
Julia Gledhill discusses how to enact deep Pentagon budget cuts, and prospects for military budget reform under President Trump.
February 28, 2025
Op-Ed
The president has the opportunity to push the United States and other nuclear-weapon states to abide by their disarmament promises regarding nuclear weapons.
February 24, 2025
Op-Ed
Contractors want ‘streamlining’ but taxpayers are getting rooked from all the gilding in design
February 20, 2025
Issue Brief
Independent combat testing of new weapons is under threat.
February 3, 2025
Report
Conservative estimates suggest over $60 billion in annual savings by tackling wasteful Pentagon spending and inefficiency
January 28, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Van, Julia, and Matt discuss how to think about Biden’s Gaza ceasefire deal, AI, and the meaning of D-Day in light of militarism today.
January 7, 2025
Issue Brief
Evaluating arguments for the United States to spend more on national security – and the potential consequences of doing so
December 2, 2024
Policy Memo
Prioritize strategic stability and accountability over a dangerous and unsustainable search for supremacy.
November 26, 2024
Policy Memo
The next administration should strengthen oversight and transparency to protect against military waste
November 25, 2024
Op-Ed
At the current spending rate, in another generation we will have a lot of rich contractors and no aircraft or Naval fleets to speak of
October 21, 2024
Commentary
Julia Gledhill joins the Squaring the Circle podcast to discuss new reporting the Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution at DOD.
September 25, 2024
