The article argues that recent executive overreach and politicization have severely undermined established norms of U.S. civil-military relations. To restore professional standards, the incoming Congress must actively exercise its oversight powers, moving beyond mere criticism to demanding transparency in defense policy and personnel decisions. Key reforms include enforcing meritocratic promotion processes, requiring documented justification for senior officer removals, and preventing the partisan use of the military. These actions are crucial for bolstering public trust and ensuring the military remains a nonpartisan instrument of civilian control.
The Ukraine Lesson Taiwan Keeps Missing
English Summary
The article argues that Ukraine's success in modern warfare stems not from specific weapons, but from building a resilient ecosystem—including local software, sensors, and mass production capacity—to deploy cheap, abundant unmanned systems. Taiwan is criticized for missing this critical lesson by prioritizing the purchase of expensive traditional platforms over developing its own indigenous technological architecture. For effective deterrence against China, Taiwan must shift its focus from mere procurement to institutional reform, building a localized command-and-control system (analogous to Ukraine's Delta) and mastering distributed, affordable maritime defenses tailored for an island theater.
中文摘要
本文論述，烏克蘭在現代戰爭中的成功並非源於特定的武器系統，而是來自建立了一個具備韌性的生態體系——包括本地軟體、感測器和大規模生產能力——從而部署廉價且豐富的無人系統。文章批評台灣未能吸取這一關鍵教訓，反而將重點放在採購昂貴的傳統平台，而非發展自身的本土技術架構。為有效威懾中國，台灣必須將焦點從單純的採購轉向制度改革，建立本地化的指揮與控制系統（類比烏克蘭的「德爾塔」模式），並掌握適用於島嶼戰場、分散式且平價的海上防禦能力。
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