Travis Sharp
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR AND MILITARY POLICY ANALYST
202-546-0795 ext. 123
tsharp AT armscontrolcenter DOT org
Sharp blogs at Iraq Insider
Travis Sharp is the Communications Director and Military Policy Analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation where he directs print, TV, and radio communications strategy and performs policy work on national security spending, military policy, and Iraq. He originally came to the Center as a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow.
Prior to joining the Center, Sharp interned on a congressional campaign in his home district in California and spent a summer working at the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office. He went to college on a soccer scholarship, winning two conference championships during his varsity career, and received the Mauricio Romero Prize in Politics and the Ralph Lane Peace and Justice Prize.
Sharp has published letters and articles in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, ISN Security Watch, Washington Post, Peace Review, United Press International, Asia Times Online, Middle East Online, and Foreign Policy in Focus.
Sharp holds a B.A. in History and Politics, with minors in African Studies and Humanities, from the University of San Francisco.
SHARP IN THE NEWS
Travis Sharp Publishes Letter to the Editor in The Hill
On July 17, military policy analyst Travis Sharp published a letter to the editor in The Hill titled "Saxton’s Ill-Advised Proposal to Tie Defense Spending to GDP."
Travis Sharp Quoted in Trends Magazine on Middle East Arms Sales
On July 15, Travis Sharp, an analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, said "These are systems that form the backbone of any country's military capabilities: anti-missile technologies, intelligence gathering and radar systems, and precision munitions technology. The UAE has been really pushing hard to improve its military capabilities in the last few years. They’re in the midst of a pretty significant build-up. A lot of this is just standard, textbook military modernization after beginning to accrue significant wealth. If it’s a country by a body of water, it has to protect its ports, it needs to protect its shipping lanes...Economic interests play a pretty big role."
Travis Sharp Quoted in Defense News on Iraq War Supplemental
On June 20, Travis Sharp, a military policy analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said that "There was never any question that Congress would pass the Department of Defense money in the funding bill. All of the wrangling over the past few months was over how much domestic spending could be included."
RECENT BLOG POSTS BY SHARP
RECENT WEB ARTICLES BY SHARP
Jul 23, 2008 Total Iraq and Afghanistan Supplemental War Funding To Date
This updated fact sheet provides a revised tally of Iraq and Afghanistan war costs to date, and offers ways to keep such a massive amount of money in perspective.
Jul 17, 2008 Saxton’s Ill-Advised Proposal to Tie Defense Spending to GDP
U.S. defense spending has increased markedly under the Bush administration and is now at its highest level, in inflation-adjusted terms, since World War II. Tying defense spending to GDP basically amounts to using overall wealth creation to justify ever-increasing defense budgets. If the American economy triples in size, should our grandchildren spend three times more on defense than we do today just because they are three times richer?
Jul 7, 2008 Is Iran Currently an Existential Threat to the United States? A Side-By-Side Comparison of Military Capabilities
Iran currently presents a number of serious problems for the United States. However, the current threat posed by Iran is exaggerated by conflating it with Iran's potential, but far from certain, acquisition of a nuclear weapon in the future. In this new analysis, the two countries' conventional military capabilities are compared side-by-side. The bottom line is clear: Iran does not currently represent an existential threat to the United States or its allies, and there is still time to find a peaceful solution to Iran's nuclear program.
Jun 16, 2008 Despite Soaring Budgets, Pentagon's Weapons Acquisitions Process Falters
The past decade has seen incredible growth in the amount of money spent by the United States on its national defense. But DOD can only recover from the past and present, while preparing for the future, if it fixes the acquisitions process and starts giving American taxpayers the return-on-investment they deserve. Steps must be taken right away to ameliorate the crisis in weapons acquisitions.
Jun 12, 2008 Analysis of Senate Armed Services Committee Action on the FY2009 Defense Authorization Bill (S 3001)
The Senate Armed Services Committee released its markup of S. 3001, the Fiscal Year 2009 Defense Authorization bill, on May 1, 2008. S. 3001, as reported to the full Senate by the Armed Services Committee, fully funds the administration's $612.5 billion FY2009 National Defense request. As part of this total, the Committee authorized $70 billion in additional funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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