The crux of this issue is that the Marine force really isn't very well designed for the type of fight it's facing in Iraq.

The entire Marine force was designed around the concept of amphibious warfare, which is a good deal different from the kind of conflict they're fighting in Iraq today, hundreds of miles from the sea. The Marines are a light force; they kick in the door but they are not supposed to occupy all the rooms.

Gordon England has believed since he was in industry that the acquisition system is broken. If given the opportunity, he'll push to change almost every aspect of the way the Pentagon does business because he believes billions of dollars are being wasted.

Because Gore doesn't show great enthusiasm for missile defense, he's not going to initiate another big program that has to be fit into a tight program, ... That's probably a net positive for contractors.

If you're Frank Lanza, you're getting on in years, you don't have a clear succession plan in place, and your share price may be as high as it's going to get. Why wouldn't you be thinking about selling?

Existing levels of demand are driving the market toward one provider of launch services.

It's time for the administration to do a fundamental reassessment of what it is that we are willing to do in order to stabilize Iraq. The United States needs to draw a line in terms of how deep it is willing to be drawn into Iraqi domestic politics.

The big question going forward is how intensive the military commitment to Iraq remains. If it stays at current levels, then the Army is facing a recruiting challenge every month for years to come.

It's hard to overstate how important this technology is to future U.S. military plans.

It's not hard to see where this story ends -- he won't be effective in office. He's losing his ability to execute his agenda.