Ideas
The ‘Rule of Thirds’ Is Bunk
The military services’ shares of overall defense spending have always fluctuated with strategy and need.
Ideas
Should We Care About That Letter?
Retired generals and admirals are, first and foremost, retirees.
Ideas
The 2018 Strategy Is Unworkable. We Need a Fundamental Defense Rethink
We can model our efforts to link long-term defense priorities and resourcing on a post-Cold War review.
Ideas
Shake Off the Pentagon's Industrial-Age Bureaucracy
Five disciplines and five initiatives can help the U.S. military better adapt to 21st-century threats.
Ideas
Why National Cyber Defense Is a ‘Wicked’ Problem
Vulnerable supply chains, sloppy security, and a talent shortage made events like the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack and the SolarWinds hack all but inevitable.
Ideas
When and Why China Might—or Might Not—Attack Taiwan
U.S. policymakers can only guess at what’s driving Beijing, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing they can do about it.
Science & Tech
To Understand 'Zero Trust,' Look to the Roman Empire
When the Romans realized that they could no longer prevent border incursions, they developed methods of fighting the attackers within.
Ideas
Narcissism and National Security
A century ago, the doings of ordinary citizens barely mattered to national security. Today, they matter a great deal more.
Ideas
The US Needs to Impose Costs on China for Its Economic Warfare
The linchpin of a more effective deterrence is developing a more effective way to hurt the Chinese Communist Party if it will not stop hurting the United States.
Ideas
America Needs Competitive Intelligence
Agencies ought to be thinking about how to bring U.S. capabilities to bear on adversaries’ vulnerabilities, in competition as well as in conflict.
Ideas
Why We Need the Advanced Battle Management System
The character of war is changing; ABMS provides the tools for effective command and control into the future.
Ideas
America Can Beat China in Space with Safe Nuclear Propulsion
A reactor that heats up and expels non-radioactive gas promises unprecedented mobility in orbit.
Ideas
We Don’t Have Enough Information to Evaluate Arguments for a New ICBM
The Biden administration should follow precedent and commission an independent look at the case for the Ground Based Strategic Defense program.
Ideas
Ten Years After Bin Laden, We Still Need Better Intelligence Sharing
Leaders should still apply the lessons we learned, when contending with China and Russia.
Ideas
Teamwork Led Us to Bin Laden and Can Keep America Safe
As we look back on the Osama bin Laden raid of a decade ago, three lessons stand out.
Ideas
Illegal Fishing Is a National Security Problem
The stability of countries and regions are threatened by the declining health of fish stocks, and by the groups and governments that run lawless fishing fleets.
Ideas
No ICBMs? Big Problems
We must dispel the unfounded fears of false alarms, place the cost in context, and seriously consider the unpleasant consequences of eliminating ICBMs from the U.S. nuclear force.
Ideas