Ideas

The US Should Never Develop Another Joint Fighter

The savings rarely materialize when the services try to develop common weapons, but the problems sure do.

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Don't Let China Steal the US Military's Logistical Edge

It's time to harden defenses against hackers seeking data and state-owned companies buying up key suppliers.

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China's Military Wants to Put Its Nukes on a Hair Trigger

If Barack Obama gets one thing done at the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, it should be dissuading Xi Jinping from doing this.

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Obama's Record as Commander-in-Chief, By the Numbers

He vowed to end America's wars, but has mostly just changed who’s doing the fighting.

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Some Good Reading for the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit

As the curtain prepares to rise on tomorrow's opening in Washington, take a moment to read the best from Defense One staff and contributors.

Ideas

Is That All There Is? Obama’s Disappointing Nuclear Legacy

The biggest roadblock to making the world safer from nuclear weapons turned out to be the president's own team.

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Let’s Not Give Suicide Bombers So Much Credit—Sometimes They Have No Strategy

The Brussels attackers may have been responding to territorial losses in Iraq and Syria, but that's not the only possible scenario.

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The FBI Should Tell Apple About the iPhone Vulnerability, If It Can

White House cybersecurity guidelines suggest disclosure, but the feds may not actually have the information.

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Genocide, Empty Threats, and a Warning to Obama, Clinton, and Trump

I watched America’s broken promise fuel Radovan Karadzic's terror in Bosnia.

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It's Time for China to Turn Nuclear-Security Pledges into Reality

Beijing's made a good start, but must buckle down before terror groups exploit corruption to devastating effect.

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The Changing Logic Behind Suicide Bombings

What was once purely a strategic action has become a tactical move meant to help hold territory.

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ISIS Is Using the Media Against Itself

It doesn’t matter if the coverage that follows an attack is negative. For ISIS, any coverage is good coverage.

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The All-Too-Human Reason Nuclear Material Isn’t Secure Enough

Every facility that holds it is vulnerable to security complacency.

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Not Just Trump: The Chilling Rise in Global Authoritarianism

Terrorism and drone war are feeding a larger sense of insecurity, driving some to xenophobia and jingoism.

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NATO Needs to Move Two Brigades East, and That’s Just a Start

The world is changing around the alliance; here's what its leaders must do to keep up.

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Keep America's Top Military Officer Out of the Chain of Command

I lived through Goldwater-Nichols. Congress should know why it's still a bad idea to give the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who advises the president, that kind of power.

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The Dangerous Myth of 'America Must Lead'

A world in which the forces of light vie against the forces of darkness, with America charged with ensuring the triumph of good over evil—that isn’t Obama’s world.

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Putin Got Exactly What He Wanted in Syria

Russia pulls out of Syria, going home with the leverage Putin came for. The U.S.-led coalition must seize the moment.

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Hey, America: Don’t Forget Your Soldiers While Spending Billions on Future Weapons

AUSA President Gordon Sullivan describes what a smaller, busier Army means for American power, global instability, and the troops themselves.

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Why Does Obama Fight Wars He Deems Unwinnable?

The uncertainty he projects about his policies undermine the half-hearted military efforts he undertakes.