I've read a little of O'Hanlon's work this past year and I've found it interesting and persuasive. IMO the pieces I've read have been well informed, hard-nosed and with a healthy skepticism about political BS from all sides. He calls himself and his ilk, "Cheap Hawks" and has written numerous papers, books, and OpEd pieces to that end.
Here's an excerpt of his extensive bio package at Brookings (not including the pubs list as long as your arm many of which are available on-line at the Brookings site).
brookings.org
Michael E. O'Hanlon
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies
Expertise
Arms treaties, Asian security issues, civil warfare, European security issues, military technology, missile defense, peacekeeping operations, U.S. defense strategy and budget
Current Project: 2001-2002 defense budget; national missile defense
Background
Adjunct Professor, Columbia University; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; former Defense and Foreign Policy Budget Analyst, National Security Division, Congressional Budget Office (1989-94); former Research Assistant, Institute for Defense Analyses; former Peace Corps Volunteer, Congo
Education: A.B., Princeton University, 1982; M.S.E., Princeton University, 1987; M.A., Princeton University, 1988; Ph.D., Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, 1991
Here's a good article in FA:
Star Wars Strikes Back
by Michael O'Hanlon
From Foreign Affairs, November/December 1999
foreignaffairs.org
SUMMARY
Ronald Reagan's dream never died; it only faded slightly. Star Wars is still with us in a scaled-back form. Although theater missile defenses -- popularized by the Gulf War's Patriots -- are now widely accepted, debate still rages over a nationwide system. Republicans worry about rogue states and terrorists with nukes, Democrats worry about angering Russia and violating treaty obligations, and neither side listens to the other. America is pouring billions of dollars into research and development, ignoring the fundamental flaws that missile defense has yet to overcome.
His OpEd piece in the LA Times and Jan. 28, critiquing the propose massive increases in the DOD's budget, is worth a read too:
Saluting the Military's Wishes Has a Penalty
Los Angeles Times, January 28, 2002
Michael E. O'Hanlon, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies
brookings.org
The Bush administration has announced that it will seek an increase of $48 billion in next year's military budget, bringing it to roughly $390 billion. Even in these times, it is unnecessarily high and takes money away from other more needed domestic programs.
To get a sense of how big the proposed budget increase would be, consider a few facts. Adjusting for inflation, this would be the largest year-to-year increase in the defense budget since the Korean War. American defense spending would exceed the Cold War norm and almost equal the Reagan-era average. It would exceed Russia's or China's military budget almost tenfold. ... |
