Ideas

An Isolationist President, In Love With Drones and Special Forces

Obama’s no realist; history suggests little promise for the path he has chosen for the U.S.

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The End of the US-Dominated Order in the Middle East

Critics say the Obama doctrine has given Russia the upper hand in the region; the president says Moscow’s welcome to try to use it.

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The Hidden Costs of Obama's Vision of American Power

Grand strategies are judged by their consequences, not by their intentions, and in the Middle East the consequences are not looking pretty.

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In Defense of the Obama Doctrine

Obama is still trying to win Washington over to American power as he sees it: limiting military interventions while convening players for peace.

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The Obama Doctrine

The U.S. president talks through his hardest decisions about America’s role in the world.

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Obama's 'Red Line' That Wasn't

Inside the president’s last-minute decision not to bomb Syria in 2013.

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US Ballistic Missile Defense Needs A Boost

Amid ominous tests by Iran and North Korea, why is the Missile Defense Agency’s budget shrinking?

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Do ‘Guardian Forces’ Belong in the Military?

More and more national security workers in and out of uniform never get close to combat. It's time to rethink their place in the system.

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The US Government Is Secretly Huddling With Tech Firms to Fight Extremism

A coalition of civil rights groups wants to be included in the closed-door meetings to keep the feds in check.

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What It Would Take to Build Trump's Border Wall with Mexico

The presidential candidate is pledging the largest infrastructure project since the U.S. highway system. And it makes no sense at all.

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Let Russia's Planes Keep Flying Over US, Just Like Ike Wanted

The Pentagon dithered while Moscow upgraded. It’s time to catch up — not scrap the Open Skies Treaty.

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What the 2016 Presidential Candidates Get Wrong About the Future of War

They fail, they lack, they misunderstand, they pander, they don’t get, and they just don’t know national security – not according to our Future of War roster of experts.

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China Is Watching the FBI-Apple Battle Very Closely

Even if the U.S. government abandons its insistence on a backdoored iPhone, Beijing may not.

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Here's How Easily a Wanted War Criminal Can Travel the Globe

Sudan's pledges of support against enemies of the West and Saudi Arabia have greased the skids for alleged war criminal and President Omar al-Bashir's 21-country world tour.

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Russian Subs Are Reheating a Cold War Chokepoint

As the GIUK gap returns to importance, NATO must look to regenerate its anti-submarine forces.

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How NATO Can Disrupt Russia's New Way of War

Here are a few things the West can do against Moscow’s potent combo of special forces and electronic warfare.

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The US Needs to Whip Its Disaster-Response Plans Into Shape

It's time to digest the lessons of Haiti and Ebola and get ready for the mega disasters ahead.

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When It Comes to Tech and Terrorism, the Government Is Asking for the Wrong Kind of Help

There are many ways the tech industry can help turn up the heat on terrorists without compromising the rest of us.

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When the Enemy Is Everywhere: The Rise and Fall of the 'Kill Box' in US Military Strategy

Once a hallmark of state-on-state conflict, simply finding oneself inside of an American kill box in today's counterterrorism wars is enough to be retroactively defined as guilty.

Ideas

Don't Fall for Obama's $3 Billion Arms Buildup at Russia's Door

There is no Russian resurgence. Washington is playing on your Cold War fears to get you to pay for something the U.S. does not need and can’t afford.