The Center for Defense Information (CDI) is a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...

organization based in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

It specialized in analyzing and advising on military matters.

History

The Center for Defense Information was founded in 1971 by an independent group of retired military officers including Adm. Gene La Rocque and Adm. Eugene Carroll. In 2005, the Center for Defense Information expanded by creating the Straus Military Reform Project for the purpose of promoting military reform in the Pentagon and Congress. Winslow T. Wheeler, a former Capitol Hill staffer and General Accounting Office assistant director, directs the Straus Military Reform Project at CDI. The Project was launched by a matching grant from Philip A. Straus Jr. Straus and his family have long supported activities at CDI and continue to be major supporters of the Project's endeavors. In May 2012, CDI joined the Project on Government Oversight. After the

2008 United States elections Elections in the United States, Elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008, during the war on terror and the onset of the Great Recession. It was considered a Wave elections in the United States, Democratic wave election, with ...

, CDI released ''America’s Defense Meltdown: Pentagon Reform for President Obama and the New Congress'', a collection of briefing papers by a dozen defense intellectuals and retired military officers. In 2010, CDI released a second anthology, ''The Pentagon Labyrinth: 10 Short Essays to Help You through It''. Since the mid-2000s, CDI has focused on the

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, supersonic Stealth aircraft, stealth strike fighters. A multirole combat aircraft designed for both Air superiority fighter, air superiority and att ...

as what it says is the embodiment of the Pentagon's acquisition problems—being both unaffordable and a huge disappointment in performance. Formerly, CDI operated under the umbrella of the World Security Institute. In 2012, the World Security Institute closed, and CDI merged with the Project On Government Oversight (POGO). In addition, POGO continued the publication of ''The Defense Monitor''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C. 1971 establishments in the United States