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.
Autonomous Ukraine: One Woman's Path From a U.S. College Campus to the Ukrainian Battlefield
English Summary
Cat Buchatskiy, a Ukrainian who left U.S. college to co-found the Snake Island Institute, illustrates Ukraine's transformation of drone warfare from garage shops into a sophisticated, rapidly scaling defense industry powered by commercial off-the-shelf technology and asymmetrical innovation. Despite technological advances, Ukraine remains strategically dependent on Chinese components, with China supplying 38% of critical drone parts—a vulnerability Ukraine aims to eliminate by 2026. Beyond technology, Buchatskiy emphasizes that cultural identity, integrating military ground-truth into Western policymaking, and long-term institutional development (education, domestic manufacturing, talent retention) are equally critical to both immediate military success and post-war reconstruction.
中文摘要
一名為共同創立蛇島研究所而從美國大學輟學的烏克蘭人 Cat Buchatskiy 闡述了烏克蘭如何將無人機戰爭從車庫作坊轉變為一個由商用現成技術和不對稱創新驅動的複雜且快速擴展的國防工業。儘管技術不斷進步，烏克蘭在戰略上仍然依賴中國的零組件，中國供應了 38% 的關鍵無人機零件——這是烏克蘭旨在 2026 年前消除的脆弱點。除了技術之外，Buchatskiy 強調，文化認同、將軍事實地經驗融入西方政策制定，以及長期的體制發展（教育、國內製造、人才保留）對於眼前的軍事成功和戰後重建同樣至關重要。
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