Ideas
Summer Reading 2017: Defense One’s Top Picks
Here are some big ideas for you while soaking up the sun or just relaxing on your summer vacation.
Ideas
Easing A Flashpoint for War in the East China Sea
U.S. leaders must lay the diplomatic groundwork for long-term solutions — or risk falling into conflict, World War I style.
Ideas
Transgender Soldiers Want the Dignity of Serving Their Country
A CIA officer writes about the men and women in uniform alongside whom she serves.
Ideas
How Green Energy Will Help Slow Nuclear Proliferation
The move to renewable energy offers the ability to delineate between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ nuclear actors in a way that we simply can’t today.
Ideas
Can Trump's National Security Council Handle a Real Crisis?
The people in the Situation Room inevitably neglect basics that will keep them, and the rest of us, alive. In this White House, the risks are especially high.
Ideas
What America Should Learn from North Korea's Latest Missile Test
Preventive war, if it was ever a viable option, certainly isn't now.
Ideas
How the US Can Help Ukraine Help — and Defend — Itself
When Secretary Mattis arrives for his upcoming visit, he should bring promises of arms for the military and support for anti-corruption forces and the country’s defense industry.
Ideas
It’s Long Past Time to Rethink US Military Posture in the Gulf
The rift between Qatar and other Gulf nations should prompt a long-overdue review of what the Pentagon keeps in the region, and where.
Ideas
Improve Hawai’i’s Missile Defenses — Now
The islands need interceptor missiles to fend off possible attack from North Korea.
Ideas
What’s Left to Sanction in North Korea?
It’s already one of the most isolated countries in the world. Can further financial punishment really change its decisions?
Ideas
The Downsides of John Kelly's Ascension
The former Marine general is unlikely to succeed in his new job, even as his appointment contributes to the decay of American civil-military relations.
Ideas
Give Up on Denuclearizing North Korea
The question now is how to convince it not to use its weapons.
Ideas
The US Air Force Needs More Bombers Than It's Asking For
The only problem with the B-21 Raider acquisition strategy is that the minimum purchase should be 164 of the stealthy jets, not 100.
Ideas
US Cyber Diplomacy Has Bigger Problems Than the Closure of its Coordination Office
The Trump administration isn’t making it a foreign policy priority.
Ideas
The US Army’s Next Big 5 Must Be Capabilities, Not New Platforms
The service’s weapons are increasingly unsuited for tomorrow’s battlefields, but there’s too little time and money to start from scratch.
Ideas
Trump’s Ceasefire May Hand Russia the Keys to Southwestern Syria
The US must quickly send monitors to the ‘safe zones’ — or cede yet more regional influence to Moscow and Tehran.
Ideas
'Dunkirk' Should Remind Us What Wars Are Like (And That We’re Still Fighting Them)
After our veterans screened the movie's powerful and familiar portrayals of combat, we think Americans should be talking more about our endless presence in Afghanistan and the multi-front war against ISIS.
Ideas
If Trump Undermines the Iran Deal
A report suggests the president is looking for ways to get out of the accord. It says a lot about how he views the world.
Ideas
The End of American Support for Syrian Rebels Was Inevitable
Where the insurgency is concerned, Trump and Obama have plenty in common.
Ideas