Ideas

Ep. 11: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani; Former FBI Agent Clint Watts on Russian disinformation, fake news and more.

Welcome to our podcast about the news, strategy, tech, and business trends defining the future of national security.

Science & Tech

China Likely Knew about Spectre and Meltdown Bugs Before the US

Fixing hardware and software vulnerabilities requires global information sharing—and that includes U.S. cyber adversaries.

Ideas

The Coming Split in NATO

Trump wants our European allies to build their military strength. What will it look like if they do?

Ideas

Trump vs. NATO: It's Not Just About the Money

The president’s emphasis on spending obscures a much deeper skepticism of alliances.

Policy

‘I Believe in NATO’ Says Trump at Summit, Allaying Morning Fears of Pullout

To some surprise, the president gave his strongest backing for NATO yet, minutes after leaving an emergency meeting of alliance leaders to address his threats on spending levels.

Policy

Donald Trump Didn’t Kill NATO, But…

Trump was on relatively good behavior, but NATO leaders acted more like salesmen than statesmen, defending the very existence of the alliance that protected the West for 70 years.

Science & Tech

China, Russia, and the US Are All Building Centers for Military AI

But their burgeoning approaches to state-sponsored research are divergent as the countries themselves.

Science & Tech

The Pentagon Wants to Automate Some Classification Decisions

The proposed software would help defense officials make classification decisions and automatically enforce them.

Threats

Russian Special Forces Just Practiced Invading an Island Near Finland

It’s the latest in a series of military exercises that regional observers call provocative and intimidating.

Ideas

NATO Doesn’t Need 4% Defense Spending

Trump's new call for allies to spend 4 percent of their GDPs on defense makes no sense. Even America shouldn't do that.

Ideas

The West Will Survive Trump

The trans-Atlantic alliance has seen worse.

Defense Systems

Deasy pauses on JEDI cloud acquisition

The DOD CIO set cloud as his office's top priority. But when it comes to the JEDI request for proposal, he's directed staff to "pause" to compile a comprehensive review.

Science & Tech

Hacker Caught Selling Maintenance Manuals for Military Drones

A poorly configured router allowed the theft of drone manuals, a list of maintainers, material on the Abrams tank, and more.

Ideas

A No-Cost, No-Brainer of a Nuclear Deal

Extending New START would be an easy win out of the Trump-Putin summit.

Ideas

Don’t Give Russia the Gift of Extending New START

With Moscow’s recent behavior, there’s no need to rush on a treaty that still has nearly three years to run.

Science & Tech

The Rocket for America’s Next Space Plane Just Fired 10 Times in 10 Days

By 2021, the Phantom Express is slated to carry new satellites to orbit on a daily basis.