Ideas

Trump’s War on the Intelligence Community Is Also About US Elections

With a loyalist as acting director of national intelligence, the official line on issues like Russian election meddling could bend closer to the president’s.

Ideas

Top 5 Things to Watch in Congress' 2021 Defense Budget Hearings

On Wednesday, military and civilian leaders of the Defense Department will testify before Congress on their $705 billion budget request for 2021.

Ideas

Trump Is Politicizing the Intelligence Community

The president spent the week reshaping America's IC to serve his political needs. What does that mean for the 2020 election, and for national security?

Ideas

The US Intelligence Community Is Caught in a Collector’s Trap

The information haystack in which we search for useful needles is growing faster than we could ever catch up. Gathering more hay isn't the answer.

Ideas

White-Supremacist Violence Is Terrorism

As commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, I fought America’s enemies abroad. Now we must fight violent, hateful ideologies at home.

Ideas

It’s Time to Talk About Taiwan

Washington’s longstanding policy of strategic ambiguity is increasingly likely to inflame the kind of crisis it was meant to deter.

Ideas

You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus

Most cases are not life-threatening, which is also what makes the virus a historic challenge to contain.

Ideas

Trump’s New Spy Chief Worked for a Foreign Politician Accused by the US of Corruption

Richard Grenell did not disclose payments for advocacy work on behalf of a Moldovan politician whom the U.S. later accused of corruption. His own office’s policy says that could leave him vulnerable to blackmail.

Ideas

The American Public Wants a Sustainable Middle East Policy

Despite the mainstream narrative presenting a deep lack of appetite for another war in the Middle East, the United States will never be able to ignore the region completely.

Ideas

The West Can’t Even Agree on Itself, Much Less China

At the Munich Security Conference, allies argued with each other as much as their adversaries, rejecting Trump administration views on issue after issue.

Ideas

The US Should Get Ready for Syria’s Return from War

Trump seems determined not to play much of a role in shaping how Syria’s myriad conflicts are resolved. That’s a mistake.

Ideas

State of Defense 2020: Special Report

Our annual service-by-service look at the big questions facing the U.S. military.

Ideas

Trump Is Ill-Suited to Respond to the Coronavirus Outbreak

A crisis that is heading into its third month could draw out every personal and managerial failing that the president has shown to this point.

Ideas

America Is Alone in Its Cold War With China

If the Trump administration is truly going all-in on competition with Beijing, it’s not clear that Trump himself is fully on board. Nor, it’s now clear, are several of America’s closest friends.

Ideas

Let's Use Peer Pressure to End Political Endorsements by Retired Generals

A review of more than 1,000 endorsements by former senior military officers shows that most are just favors for a friend.

Ideas

China’s Chernobyl Never Seems to Arise

Democracy is unlikely to break out in Beijing, but the coronavirus crisis may create an opening for a softer form of authoritarianism.

Ideas

The Inconvenient Truth About ISIS

The group is even bigger now, and America’s conflict with Iran is only making the fight against it more complicated.

Ideas

The Corrosion of World Order in the Age of Donald Trump

Can the world still work together to address today’s most pressing global challenges?

Ideas

The US Doesn’t Need a New New START

There is no reason to believe that withdrawing from the current one would improve U.S. security.

Ideas

The US Should Accept Russia’s Proposed Moratorium on Post-INF Missiles

The temporary measure has no near-term downside — and may jumpstart important arms-control talks.