War Room welcomes Dr. Rob Farley, author of Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force, to discuss and critique the National Security Act of 1947 which included the establishment of an independent Air Force. Was it wise to separate the Air Force from the Army and pursue an unrealized promise of airpower solving national security problems on its own? Is the interservice rivalry that followed more destructive than helpful – and did the Goldwater-Nichols Act do enough to mitigate it? What can one learn from the establishment of an independent air force when considering new or emerging domains such as space or cyber? These and other questions are debated under the moderation of Dr. Mark Duckenfield, Chair of the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College.
When the military is pressed into offering solutions, one of the things that comes out of the tool kit is airpower, because we have an entire bureaucracy dedicated to airpower.
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Rob Farley is an assistant professor at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky. Mark Duckenfield is the Chair of the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or the Department of Defense.
Photo credit: Cecilio Ricardo/U.S. Air Force