One of the consistent themes of military history has been the reduction of decision latency. Engineers use this term to describe the interval between observation and action. From runners and mounted messengers to semaphore, telegraph, radio, radar, satellite communications, artificial intelligence, and autonomous weapons, successive generations of military technology have sought to compress this interval….
For more than half a century, arms control has been one of civilization’s principal safeguards against catastrophic war. Yet today that framework is visibly weakening. Major treaties have expired or been abandoned. Verification disputes have become increasingly contentious. New military technologies routinely outpace existing agreements, while strategic rivalry is extending into emerging domains such as…
In the previous Armed Madhouse article, I argued that War Power has evolved into a self-reinforcing institutional ecosystem whose incentives increasingly favor preparations and actions carrying unacceptable risks of catastrophic armed conflict escalation. That assessment naturally raises a more important question. If War Power is becoming progressively less capable of performing the historical function for…
