Ideas
Cyber and Space Weapons Are Making Nuclear Deterrence Trickier
If you can’t trust your networks or satellite communications in a crisis, ‘use-or-lose’ scenarios get a lot closer.
Ideas
Inside Pakistan’s Biggest Business Conglomerate: The Pakistani Military
Retired military officers are profiting from private security contracts around some of Pakistan's most contested regions, stoking new fears of nepotism and corruption.
Ideas
America Shouldn’t Take Sides in the 1,400-Year-Old Sunni-Shia Conflict
The Iran-vs.-Saudi Arabia proxy war isn’t worth getting our military involved.
Ideas
It Takes a Nuclear Weapons Lab to Find a Nuclear Weapons Lab
That’s why the US needs to continue to support cutting-edge science.
Ideas
Don’t Kill the Nuclear Cruise Missile
The CBO’s recent cost-cutting option discounts the loss of capability and risks of cancelling the next-generation ALCM.
Ideas
Paris Pullout Shows How The US Is Shrugging Off Its Global Leadership
If America so easily tosses aside a hard-won diplomatic victory, what else is it willing to jettison?
Ideas
Why America Loses Every War It Starts
There’s no school for presidents, JFK said — but there needs to be a way to bring knowledge and understanding to bear on presidents’ decisions.
Ideas
The Most Dangerous Man in the World
It is dawning on Congress that no one can stop President Trump from ordering a nuclear attack.
Ideas
We’re Losing Our Chance to Regulate Killer Robots
After four years of nearly fruitless debate, nations are gathering once more to talk AI and autonomous weapons.
Ideas
Taking Putin's Word For It
Trump wants to believe both the Russian president’s denial of election meddling, and the conclusions of his own intelligence agencies. But he can’t have it both ways.
Ideas
Al-Qaeda Has Rebuilt Itself—With Iran's Help
Interviews with al-Qaeda members and bin Laden’s family reveal a pact that allowed the group to prepare for its next phase.
Ideas
Bridging America's Civil-Military Gap — At Sea
As a former senior defense official, I wanted to help my undergraduate students learn about the military. Fortunately, so did several of my veteran shipmates.
Ideas
The Future Has Arrived for Mohammed bin Salman
But in the wake of his ruthless purge, can he avoid the pitfalls and excesses of a previous generation of Saudi leaders?
Ideas
The Middle East Is Nearing an Explosion
Fear is the one thing preventing it—but could also precipitate it.
Ideas
Here’s How the US Army Should Arm Itself for New Threats
Stop hoping for a funding bump and start making existing weapons work better together.
Ideas
Pentagon: We Want You — to Get Us Into The Cloud Much Faster
We need the private sector's help to vault DOD into the world of elastic computing and machine learning.
Ideas
It Took Comfort 39 Days to Get Pierside in Puerto Rico. That's a National-Security Problem.
The hospital ship's poor utilization suggests that the US military's biomedical support doctrine needs shoring up.
Ideas
Give ISIS Fighters Due Process
'Even in victory and when stung by injury,' we must hold to the law — lest we grant extremists a victory of their own.
Ideas
DoD is Losing the Budget Endgame
Lawmakers have prioritized tax cuts, and now there’s just one way left for the defense budget to recover.
Ideas