Ideas
The Election Without a Debate over War
We go to the polls without the candidates having exchanged meaningful thoughts about the American way of war — and what we might do differently.
Ideas
Esper’s Curious Partners-and-Allies Initiative
Why now? And are the combatant commanders on board?
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Donald Trump is No Jack Kennedy. Or Khrushchev.
The president lacks the experience, character, credibility, and confidence to navigate our country through a Cuban Missile Crisis. We need Joe Biden.
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The Best Tech for Troops (Needs an Easier Path to Reach Them)
The Pentagon must keep lowering barriers for startup companies, especially in artificial intelligence and machine learning — and help them stay in the game.
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The West Is Surprisingly Well-Equipped for Gray-Zone Deterrence
Authoritarian officials and oligarchs interact with Western nations in ways that give democratic governments leverage.
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The October (or November) Surprise Neither Trump Nor Biden Wants
We need independent, scrupulously apolitical intelligence analysis in the White House that can compete with our worst instincts.
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What Clinton’s Foreign Affairs Article May Mean for the Defense Budget
Her approach, more rebalancing rather than modernizing, avoids a simple zero-sum frame of defense vs. non-defense spending.
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How to Avoid a Violent Election Season
Beware the 'security dilemma.' Tell Americans that arming up, or posturing to do so against each other, could only make things worse.
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In A Post-COVID World, We Need AI More Than Ever
Artificial intelligence tools promise, among other things, to make the Pentagon more efficient.
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Want Real Security? Create Better Global Digital Rules and Norms
The longer the U.S. waits to throw its weight behind efforts to create rules for today’s digital competition, the less hope it has of retaining advantage.
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The Head of US Intelligence Has Ceased to Be an Honest Broker
The result has been grave damage to U.S. counterintelligence and electoral security efforts.
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Preserve the Jones Act
China’s burgeoning fleets underscore the importance of legislation that bolsters our own.
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As the US Slumps Away, China Subsumes African Security Arrangements
Organizations created to fight terror groups after 9/11 are becoming conduits for Beijing’s surveillance and influence.
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The Right’s Disinformation Machine Is Getting Ready for Trump to Lose
QAnon has become a linchpin of far-right media—and the effort to preemptively delegitimize the election.
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Ep. 75: Army Chief Gen. McConville
How is the U.S. Army dealing with COVID? And what about that new joint project with the Air Force, CJADC2?
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What We Don’t Know About Military Innovation
It’s time to take stock of the Pentagon’s various rapid-acquisition efforts.
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To Reboot Arms Control, Start with Small Steps
Stop accusing. Set aside questions of structure. Start talking.
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Why Donald Trump’s Debt is a National Security Risk
If you owe someone a lot of money, they have leverage over you. To whom, exactly, does the U.S. president owe this money?
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The Third Coronavirus Surge Has Arrived
This week’s COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations make clear that the U.S. is once again sinking deeper into the pandemic.
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