Business

Increased Tensions With Iran Could Boost Defense Spending

After three years of substantial increases, the defense budget was supposed to flatten. Experts say that’s now unlikely.

Ideas

Who’s Next? Trump Crossed a Line with Soleimani’s Assassination

The Iranian was much more than a general. Who else is the U.S. president willing to kill?

Ideas

The US Recently Made a Smart Move Toward Iran. Killing Soleimani Wasn’t It

The decision to focus on Tehran’s proxies in the wake of the embassy attack was the right course.

Science & Tech

The US Made Great Strides in Quantum Computing in 2019

Game-changing results may not be so far off.

Ideas

Iran Loses Its Indispensable Man

The killing of Qassem Soleimani robs the regime of the central figure for its ambitions in the Middle East.

Threats

Iran’s Soleimani Killed in Trump-Ordered Airstrike

The stunning killing of the Quds Force leader follows Iranian-backed militia attacks on U.S. embassy in Iraq, and months of Tehran testing Washington’s stomach for violence.

Ideas

What US Intelligence Thought 2020 Would Look Like

A 2004 National Intelligence Council report was eerily prescient in some ways, and totally off in others.

Policy

Best of 2019: Politics

A look back at some of the top political stories of the year.

Ideas

A Bigger Foreign-Policy Mess Than Anyone Predicted

In the 2010s, global affairs turned out far worse than the most pessimistic scenario foretold by U.S. intelligence experts.

Ideas

In Iraq, the US Gets Hit Where It Hurts

The storming of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad demonstrated that America doesn’t have a monopoly on pressure.

Ideas

Most-Read of 2020 (So Far)

We're three months into the next year already, if you go by the fiscal calendar. Here's the most-clicked posts on our site since Oct. 1.

Ideas

Progress, Peril, Hope: The Nuclear Decade in Review

U.S. policies that restrained and shrank atomic arsenals have been abandoned. Yet there are hopeful trends as well.

Ideas

Best of 2019: Editor's Choice

Even with several best-of lists, it's hard to choose among the thousands of articles we published this year. Here are a few notables that we haven't noted elsewhere.

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.

Business

Boeing Has Relieved CEO Muilenburg. Now What?

The next CEO will have to right the 737 program, keep the tanker on track, and figure out why a recent rocket launch went awry.

Policy

Why Trump and Biden Can’t Cut Troops in Afghanistan Much More

Even ‘bare minimum’ counterterrorism forces require critical intelligence only U.S. personnel can provide, officials warn.