Mad Libs: War Edition

THE MOST OVERLOOKED NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT TO THE U.S. IS …

U.S. economic decline. —Thomas Bowditch, Paul Kapur, Edward Luttwak * The global proliferation of cheap surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missles. —Spencer Ackerman * A weak China. —Kristen Lord * Gun swarms. —John Arquilla * Christian extremism. —George Perkovich * Saudi Arabia’s fragility. —Peter W. Singer * Cyberattacks. —Robert D. Kaplan * The spread of precision-guided weaponry and supporting capabilities. —Thomas Mahken * Overreactions to security threats. —Benjamin H. Friedman * Pandemics. —David Barno * WMDs. —Frank Carlucci * Global warming. —John Nagl * The deficit. —Ian Livingston * Our inability to learn from our past mistakes. —Christopher Preble

AL QAEDA IS …

Weakened but still lethal. —Robert D. Kaplan * Sliding toward strategic defeat. —Graham Allison * Dangerous, vulnerable, but still persistent. —Thomas Bowditch * Yesterday’s terrorist problem. —Erik Dahl * Nearly defunct. —David Barno * Through as an organization, but still alive as an organizational concept for other groups. —Thomas Keaney * Dead. —Edward Luttwak * Like Godfather’s Pizza: It was never that successful, but we are likely to hear from nutjobs who were part of it for years to come. —Peter W. Singer * Toast. —Donald M. Snow * Losing the war of ideas among Muslims. —Kori Schake

THE EXAMPLE OF PENTAGON BLOAT THAT MAKES ME ANGRIEST IS …

The F-35. —John Arquilla (“A trillion dollars for a new fighter, when we’ve had only one fighter shot down by an enemy fighter in 40 years, is a sheer waste.”), Thomas H. Johnson, Paul Kapur, Barry Posen, Peter W. Singer * The preposterous number of U.S. aircraft carriers. —William Rosenau * Billions of dollars in the last 10 years on canceled weaponry. —David Barno * The Pentagon is no more bloated than any federal agency. —Jamie M. Fly * The number of people and size of headquarters. —Robert Cassidy * The large bases in Afghanistan. —Carter Malkasian * U.S. Special Operations Command. —Edward Luttwak * Its inability to complete an audit. —Christopher Preble

BARACK OBAMA’S BIGGEST MISTAKE AS A WARTIME PRESIDENT HAS BEEN …

Tripling down in Afghanistan. —Graham Allison * The premature withdrawal of the surge forces from Afghanistan. —Peter Mansoor * Not getting out of Afghanistan faster. —Donald M. Snow * Letting his reelection campaign affect his decision-making. —Robert D. Kaplan * His overly rapid drawdown from Iraq. —Kenneth M. Pollack * His slow response to the Arab Spring. —Kristin Lord * His failure to stand up to the military and act as his own chief strategist. —John Arquilla * Thinking of himself as a peacetime president. —Danielle Pletka

THE BEST NATIONAL SECURITY IDEA OF THE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN IS …

Mitt Romney’s plan to increase naval shipbuilding from nine new major warships per year to 15. —Robert Haddick * Ron Paul’s proposition that the U.S. is not the solution to every international problem. —Graham Allison * Jon Huntsman’s call for a quicker-than-planned withdrawal from Afghanistan. —John Deni * A strong and well-trained U.S. military is the world’s best guarantee of peace. —Peter Mansoor * The willingness to review Pentagon spending. —Richard Kohn * Still waiting to hear one. —Linda Robinson

The opinions here are those of the respondents alone.