Maxwell School News and Commentary

"I think, after the dust settles and we've had a chance to look at it in retrospect, Mark's reputation is going to stand up very well, and I'm confident that 20 or 30 years from now, the historians going to be very kind to him," says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

“What people are seeing now is what people have seen every summer for as long as I’ve been alive,” says William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs. “Folks are taking their summer National Guard duty right now and riding convoys to wherever they’re going to be. For many of us, it’s a regular scene in the summer on the highways.”

“When accidents like this happen, they shouldn't be that much of a surprise to people just because of how dangerous these kind of environments could be," says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, says the disappearance of the submersible underscores the dangers associated with operating in deep water and the recreational exploration of the sea and space, “two environments where in recent past we’ve seen people operate in hazardous, potentially lethal environments,” Murrett tells the AP.

“North Korea’s recent development and initial testing of a long-range solid-fuel ICBM does represent a significant step forward in its ongoing development of potentially nuclear-capable delivery vehicles,” says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs. 

“There are just a lot more things in the atmosphere we have to worry about,” says retired Vice Adm. Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

Right now, it could be any number of things thanks to the high volume of unmanned devices or aircraft that take up space in the sky at any given time, says Vice Adm. (ret.) Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

"A bizarre situation with this balloon, in particular, is best understood as an attempt to kind of clarify what the terms of engagement are," says Dimitar Gueorguiev, associate professor of political science. "And what you’ve seen over the past couple of days is that surveillance aircraft at a certain level of altitude are now probably more likely to happen and are more at risk of being shot dow," he says.