Ideas

President Trump Sets a Remarkable Bar for Critiquing His Military Operations

The president took to Twitter to argue that publicly discussing the success or failure of a mission 'only emboldens the enemy.'

Ideas

Four Ways to Automate Cyber Defense

Humans aren’t fast enough to respond to network attacks and breaches. Machines can help us, if we help them.

Ideas

Why are US Forces in Yemen at All?

'The truth of the matter is that America is killing people — terrorists and others — because its leaders don’t know what else to do.'

Ideas

'You’re Fired!' Will Not Fix Federal Cybersecurity

Sacking agency heads after a breach won’t make data and systems safer. Here’s what will.

Ideas

The Right — and Wrong — Lessons of Trump’s Yemen Raid

Americans have to allow its elite men and women to be aggressive, to take risks, and to, on occasion, fall short.

Ideas

Welcome to America’s ‘Nuclear Sponge’

If ICBMs are meant to draw enemy missiles toward American soil, it’s time to rethink our nuclear strategy.

Ideas

Making America’s ICBMs Great Again

SecDef Mattis had some questions about the value of the land-based part of the triad. Here are some answers.

Ideas

Truth, Trump, and Security: We Need This Independent Commission Into Russian Meddling

It’s not over, yet. We must restore Americans’ trust in us and their government. Here's my plan.

Threats

Trump's Immigration Order Is a Propaganda Victory for ISIS

The American president has reinforced the victimhood narrative at the core of the Islamic State’s recruitment pitch.

Ideas

15 Questions Trump Should Answer About His 'Safe Zones'

If the president is serious about this, White House officials must clarify exactly what this new and expansive military mission would entail.

Ideas

What Trump's Reshuffling of the National Security Council Means

A former Bush and Obama NSC staffer says changes to the Council's top committee suggest Trump may exclude it from his decision-making entirely.

Ideas

We Conservatives Warned You, Trump Will Not Get Better. Here's What You Can Do.

To my friends thinking of serving this administration, either you stand up for your principles and decent behavior, or you go down as a coward or opportunist.

Ideas

5 Things to Know Before the US Reduces Its Role at the UN

Trump’s hyper-nationalist, 'America First' agenda will play well with his populist base. But it signals a reckless abdication of U.S. global leadership.

Ideas

The Dangerous Delusion of 'We Should've Kept the Oil'

The president has said he wants to support the troops, but his careless comments put U.S. lives at risk in Iraq.

Ideas

Why Iraq Needs the Oil

Taking it, as Donald Trump has mused about doing, is not only illegal—it would tear the country apart.

Ideas

The Art of Dealing with Pakistan

Trump’s transactional approach to foreign policy may help get Islamabad moving in the right direction.

Ideas

No Way to Honor Sacrifice

On Saturday, President Trump stood in front of the CIA’s Memorial Wall and gave a speech that said more about himself than those the wall commemorated, or the agency they served.

Ideas

The Foreign Crises Awaiting Trump

Trump wants to undo the liberal international order the U.S. built and replace it with a 19th-century model of nationalism and mercantilism. Its unwinding cannot, and will not, be pretty.