A Maritime Kill Web Force in the Making: Deterrence and Warfighting in the 21st Century

As Vice Admiral (Retired) Dewolfe Miller underscores: "Ultimately, peer threats are what drives change and inspires clarity in the way the Navy mans, trains, and equips its forces to defend freedom and deter aggression on a global scale. "A Maritime Kill Web Force in the Making" is the story of the evolution of the US Navy and its preparation for high-end warfare.
This is essential because the future of combat is to bring trusted and verifiable assets to the fight. The emphasis has been on connectivity, accelerated tactical decision making, as well as common equipment, that allows integration of systems within single services, across services and into allied services in a deliberate and disciplined manner. This publication provides a timely reminder of why the transformation of today's force is so necessary."

A long-time analyst of global defense issues, Dr. Laird has worked in the U.S. government and think tanks such as the Center for Naval Analysis and the Institute for Defense Analysis. He is a Columbia University alumnus, where he taught and worked for several years at the Research Institute of International Change, a think tank founded by Dr. Brzezinski.

He is a frequent op-ed contributor to the defense press and he has written several books on international security issues. Dr. Laird has taught at Columbia University, Queens College, Princeton University, and Johns Hopkins University. He has received research grants from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the United States Institute for Peace.
He is the editor of two websites, Second Line of Defense and Defense.info. He is a member of the Board of Contributors of Breaking Defense and publishes there on a regular basis. He is a regular contributor to the Canadian defense magazine FrontLine Defence. He is a Research Fellow at the Williams Foundation, Canberra, Australia The Honorable Edward Timperlake is the former Director Technology Assessment, International Technology Security, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and served on the Board of The Vietnam Children's Fund, a pro-bono project that has built 48 elementary schools in Vietnam.
Previous positions he has held include serving on the Professional Staff, House Committee on Rules focusing on illegal foreign campaign donations to the American political process. As an Assistant Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs, he was a member of The White House Desert Shield/Desert Storm Communications Task Force. He created the "TASCFORM" analytical methodology for measuring the modernization rate of military aircraft worldwide for both the Director Net Assessment and Central Intelligence Agency and was Principal Director Mobilization Planning and Requirements/OSD in President Reagan's first term.
His Bachelor of Science is from the US Naval Academy, and MBA from Cornell University.
He is a carrier qualified US Marine Fighter Pilot finishing his tour as Commanding Officer VMFA-321.
He co-authored the New York Times Best Seller, Year of the Rat, along with co-authoring Red Dragon Rising and Showdown.
Most recently, he coauthored with Robbin Laird and Richard Weitz, Rebuilding American Military Power in the Pacific: A 21st Century Strategy.