Sure, time is limited and the internet provides an endless supply of cranks in all categories. That being said, while I'm not familiar with the other writings

Sure, time is limited and the internet provides an endless supply of cranks in all categories. That being said, while I'm not familiar with the other writings of this Dolan person, he's hardly the first to argue that carrier battle groups are, if not outright obsolete, at least pretty poor choices on a bang per buck basis in a fight against a technologically advanced adversary. Are they all cranks? You make a comparison to science, but I do think it's slightly different. A military is by its nature a strongly hierarchical organization, and there's something in such organizations that makes them hard to turn around when circumstances change. A scientist, OTOH, if he manages to upend the status quo, fame and fortune (eh, maybe lets forget that fortune part, but still) awaits him. So maybe military leaders would be well advised to consider outside opinions in order to not be led astray by institutional inertia?