Ideas
Trump Signs Executive Order to Boost Federal Cyber Workforce
Initiatives include cyber aptitude assessments for agency insiders and a President’s Cup cybersecurity competition.
Science & Tech
Fighter Jets with Missile-Killing Lasers Take Another Step Toward Reality
U.S. Air Force says a ground-based laser downed multiple test missiles over New Mexico.
Science & Tech
US Drones May Soon Run on Open-Source Software
The Defense Innovation Unit is exploring whether a popular commercial platform could help the military keep up with the rapidly advancing drone industry.
Ideas
Protecting Civilians Still Matters in Great-Power Conflict
It’s easy to see why counterinsurgency campaigns tread carefully around local bystanders. It’s no less important in larger-scale war.
Threats
Pentagon Warns Of China’s Rise in the Arctic, Missile Subs, Influence Operations
Annual "China Military Power" report notes that Beijing’s deterrence fleet is up to six ballistic missile subs.
Science & Tech
Instagram and Facebook Ban Far-Right Extremists
Alex Jones, Infowars, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer, Paul Nehlen, and Louis Farrakhan have all been removed from the platforms.
Ideas
Why Baghdadi Risked a Video Appearance
ISIS faces dangers as an organization that are more significant than the ones Baghdadi does as an individual.
Ideas
A US-Russia-China Arms Treaty? Extend New START First
Trump’s proposed pact is likely a pipe dream — or a smoke screen for scuttling yet another arms-control agreement.
Ideas
In the Global Power Era, Remember the Bin Laden Raid
The Defense Department must make choices, but we cannot become complacent about the fight against terrorism.
Ideas
How an Elaborate Plan to Topple Venezuela’s President Went Wrong
The United States thought all the pieces were in place for Maduro to leave. Then everything came crashing down.
Defense Systems
USAF seeks safe space for AI development
The Air Force's Cognitive Engine software platform will package code-based tools to be better accepted by Defense Department systems.
Ideas
Ep. 43: Nuclear weapons awareness in the 20th and 21st centuries
We explore the public’s changing awareness of nuclear weapons, and efforts to get young people to engage.
Ideas
The Pentagon Is Flubbing Its Pitch to Silicon Valley
Appeals to patriotism won’t move America’s tech industry. Other approaches might work better.
Ideas
You Can Now Bid on DOD's 2nd-Largest-Ever Cloud-Services Contract
The up-to-$8 billion DEOS is only the first phase of the Defense Department's plan to buy common communication, collaboration and productivity capabilities.
Science & Tech
Maduro’s Media Crackdown Fails as Protests Overwhelm Caracas
The blue armband uprising of Venezuelan soldiers shows that viral messaging remains the future of protest.
Defense Systems