Ideas
Best of 2019: Ideas
Revisit some of the best op-eds and commentary we had the privilege of publishing over the past year.
Ideas
Best of 2019: Defense One Radio
Review the year that was — and consider what's next — with episodes from our award-winning podcast.
Ideas
Inside the Collapse of Trump’s Korea Policy
When it comes to America’s last-ditch effort to prevent North Korea from becoming a nuclear power, timing has been everything. Now time’s running out.
Ideas
Put US Post-INF Missiles into Production
The U.S. has waited too long to mimic Chinese intermediate-range weapons.
Ideas
The Lessons of the Afghanistan Papers
Americans need leaders who can tell them how and when they will decide to pull the plug.
Ideas
Can Military Leaders Handle the Truth About Afghanistan?
Our recent poll suggests that public confidence in the military is high, but that it may be on shaky ground.
Ideas
Russia Is Waging Asymmetric Warfare Against the US — And We’re Letting Them Win
We must do more to harden against these attacks on our economy, institutions, and the public.
Ideas
What We Talk About When We Talk About Russia
American conservatives who find themselves identifying with Putin’s regime refuse to see the country for what it actually is.
Ideas
The Trump Administration’s ‘Denuclearization’ Is A Road to Nowhere
U.S. policy will remain stuck as long as the administration continues to convince itself that the North’s nuclear dismantlement can be achieved on Washington’s timeline.
Ideas
Under Trump, the US Has Become a Leading Source of Global Instability
The country is now a known unknown, increasing the risk of crises from the Middle East to East Asia to Central America, a new survey suggests.
Ideas
Add Economic Policy to Deterrence Planning
As crisis brews overseas, U.S. leaders often turn first to sanctions and the like. But the Pentagon acts as if economic coercion doesn’t matter.
Ideas
The FBI Needs to Be Reformed
The inspector general’s report identified real weaknesses, particularly with the policies and procedures that govern investigations of political campaigns.
Ideas
US Forces Can’t Hide from Ubiquitous Satellites. They Need to Fool Them.
A new generation of deception-and-denial ideas is needed to counter global monitoring from space.
Ideas
The Foreign-Policy Parallels Between Trump and the Ayatollahs Are Uncanny
Neither the U.S. president nor Iran's leaders are as willing to go toe-to-toe as they might seem.
Ideas
Nixon’s Leniency After My Lai Hurt Veterans. Trump’s May, Too.
A president’s actions in 1971 helped turn public opinion against those who fought the Vietnam War.
Ideas
Can Anything Stop the Flow of Advanced Weapons into Libya?
If the country becomes a nexus for expertise and arms, increasingly deadly regional armed groups could destabilize the region.
Ideas
Democrats Retreat on Nuclear Policy
The 2020 authorization bill fails to check Trump’s worst impulses.
Ideas
We Really Need to Fix the Federal Budget Process
With the 2020 defense policy bill close to done, here are some ideas for next year.
Ideas
‘Are You in This?’
If so many Americans believe Russia is an ally, China is a good business partner, and terrorism isn’t worth fighting anymore, how can the United States be counted on for global security?
Ideas