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March 21, 2013
"Kandahar and hope"
Op-Ed, Politico
By Michèle Flournoy, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Michael O'Hanlon
Kandahar. Ancient crossroads of Central Asia. Home province of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and the site from which Osama bin Laden began to prepare the Sept. 11 attacks. Epicenter of the fight pitting Afghan and NATO forces against the Taliban over the past dozen years. Region where patronage networks led by the likes of the late Ahmed Wali Karzai, together with centuries-old tribal rivalries, have greatly complicated our counterinsurgency campaign and efforts to help Afghans establish good, or at least better, governance.
Fall 2004
"Correspondence: Damn the Torpedoes: Debating Possible U.S. Navy Losses in a Tawian Scenario"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 2, volume 29
By Lyle Goldstein, William Murray and Michael O'Hanlon
The authors debate the likelihood of a Chinese submarine blockade of Taiwan in the next several years.
Spring 2002
"Limited National and Allied Missile Defense"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 4, volume 26
By James M. Lindsay, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, Spring 1986 and Michael O'Hanlon
The authors claim that in arguing that the costs of a national missile defense outweigh the benefits, Charles Glaser and Steve Fetter underestimate or ignore three possible scenarios that support the development of a limited NMD system.
Fall 2000
"Why China Cannot Conquer Taiwan"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 2, volume 25
Growing tensions between Taipei and Beijing have led many to call for a more formal U.S. commitment to defend Taiwan. The author contends that even without direct U.S. military involvement, China cannot conquer Taiwan, a situation that is likely to hold for at least the next decade.
Spring 1998
"Stopping a North Korean Invasion: Why Defending South Korea is Easier than the Pentagon Thinks"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 4, volume 22
How likely is a North Korean invasion of South Korea? And what would be its chances of success? The author begins with a claim that there is “a strong body of evidence and a wide array of analytical methods [that] argue…that the Defense Department’s official image of war does not apply to the Korean peninsula.”
