Ideas
To Deter China, Relearn The Lost Art of Dissuasion
Threats of denial or punishment will not deter a peer adversary fighting at home.
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Users Can’t Be Afterthoughts in the Pentagon’s AI Efforts
The troops, commanders, and civilians who will use artificial-intelligence tools have vital roles to play in creating, training, and improving them.
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Are Directed-Energy Weapons Behind the Havana Syndrome?
As an aerospace engineer and former Vice Chair of the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, I can attest to the effectiveness of such weapons.
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Biden Just Gave France Something More Valuable than a Submarine Contract
The White House endorsement of European defense apart from NATO is worth more than a $66 billion deal with Australia.
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Why France Is Getting No Sympathy for Its Lost Sub Deal
Its European neighbors have long bristled at Paris’ self-dealing and aggressive sales tactics.
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AUKUS Is the Death Knell of Australia's Strategic Ambiguity
At what cost is Australia attempting to strengthen its deterrence of China?
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Trade Versus Subs: The Risky U.S. Tradeoff in the Asia-Pacific
Which will matter more, a dozen more nuclear subs on the U.S. side of the ledger or a trade pact that could draw many of the world's largest economies ever-closer toward China?
Ideas
The Taliban PR Campaign Has Not Ended, But Transformed
Messages of liberation and inclusiveness have given way to ones that serve the consolidatation of power.
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How Chinese Strategists Think AI Will Power a Military Leap Ahead
The U.S. military should ready itself for a warfighting environment in which the PLA’s realizes its vision of "intelligenization."
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Generals Should Not Have to Break the Rules to Prevent Nuclear War
Rather than criticizing Milley, we need to change the policy that put him in an impossible spot.
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The U.S. Should Get Serious About Submarine Cable Security
Three trends are accelerating risks to underwater cables’ security and resilience.
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Boost Defense Spending? Congress Owes Us a Better Explanation
The proposed 2022 budget plus-ups add to a long history of hiding flimsy arguments behind dramatic rhetoric.
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Between Then and Now, They Did Not Die in Vain
I was among the first to parachute into Afghanistan in 2001. This is how I will remember the war.
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Seven Movies Worth Watching About 9/11
Some of these films are fictional. Others are inspired by, or based on, actual events. Each tries to provide insight into what the events of that day unleashed.
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‘Dear America’: Gold Star Families Want ‘Archaic’ Support Systems Fixed
The Pentagon team that manages them “have not protected us, and they have refused to listen."
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The Defense Budget Process Is Broken
What the U.S. needs isn’t more money for the Pentagon, but an honest and tough debate about strategy.
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Italy’s Carabinieri Were the Perfect Force for the Kabul Evacuation
The soldier-policemen of this hybrid outfit went outside the wire to bring thousands to safety.
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The Forever War is Dead. Long Live the Forever War
The fight against terrorism will continue, yet our body politic is weakened by double-speak.
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What Went Wrong in Afghanistan?
The next decade will produce many studies to answer that question, but here is a preliminary answer from a long-term Afghanistan watcher.
Ideas