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 Autonomous Battlefield
English Summary
Autonomous warfare is emerging not through visible robotic armies, but through the quiet, rapid deployment of machine-executed missions, exemplified by current conflicts in eastern Ukraine and the Middle East. The core shift involves systems operating at speeds unmatched by human operators, increasingly coordinating as networked, platoon-sized units without continuous human intervention. This trend necessitates a fundamental doctrinal pivot, as military forces must adapt to command structures that assume machine-to-machine coordination. Failure to rapidly integrate these autonomous capabilities risks strategic disadvantage for any force reliant on traditional, human-centric command and control.
中文摘要
自主戰鬥的興起並非體現在可見的機器人軍隊，而是透過機動、快速部署的機器執行任務。東烏克蘭和中東的當前衝突便是例證。核心轉變在於系統的運作速度已超越人類操作員的能力，它們正日益協調成網路化的、如同排隊單位的單元，且無需持續的人為干預。此趨勢要求軍事力量進行根本的教義轉變，必須適應假設機器間協調的指揮結構。若未能迅速整合這些自主能力，任何依賴傳統、以人為中心的指揮與控制系統的武力，都將面臨戰略劣勢。
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