Ideas
What AI Can and Cannot Do for the Intelligence Community
A realistic appraisal of artificial intelligence shows limits but real promise.
Ideas
After COVID, What Should American Foreign Policy Do?
The pandemic reminds us that American leadership can determine whether the arc of history bends toward something better or something worse.
Ideas
The SolarWinds Hack Doesn’t Demand a Violent Response
Major retaliation is more likely to spur escalation than improve deterrence.
Ideas
Where Year Two of the Pandemic Will Take Us
As vaccines roll out, the U.S. will face a choice about what to learn and what to forget.
Ideas
Split Up NSA and CYBERCOM
And have the signals-intelligence agency report directly to the Director of National Intelligence.
Ideas
US Tech Firms Must Stop Helping China’s Defense-Linked Organizations
Additions to the U.S. blacklist are welcome and overdue, but companies need to be warier of others as well.
Ideas
The Big Hack Is Damaging. That Doesn’t Make Russia 10 Feet Tall.
U.S. leaders must not overestimate a country with a weak economy and overrated military.
Ideas
Why German Troops Won’t Get Armed Drones
The reasons, which go back to Angela Merkel’s East German upbringing, are leaving the Bundeswehr dependent on allies and partners.
Ideas
Don’t Discount America’s Interest in Keeping Africa Safe
As the Pentagon removes more troops, consider what its modest investment has garnered.
Ideas
Biden Must Prioritize Missile Defense
The new president will be pressed to choose between short- and long-term improvements. The rise in threats mean he must pursue both.
Ideas
How We’re Building a 21st-Century Space Force
Only by staying lean, agile, and tightly focused on our mission can we succeed in protecting the United States.
Ideas
Pushing Billions in Arms Sales Is Not an ‘Accomplishment’
It matters to whom the weapons are flowing and how they will be used.
Ideas
If You Don’t Hire Robots to Attack Your Networks, You’re Not Doing Security Right
Complying with DoD’s new cybersecurity regulations requires hard data, the kind that pretty much requires automation to compile.
Ideas
Keep Politics Out of National-Security Advisory Boards
Trump’s appointment of loyalists to a DOD board sets a dangerous precedent.
Ideas
We Need a Goldwater-Nichols Act for Emerging Technology
The 1986 law made joint experience a prerequisite for high rank. We must do the same for technological facility.
Ideas
Will COVID Finally Force Us to Think Differently About National Security?
The “softer” approaches of irregular war offer outsized benefits during competition and armed conflict alike.
Ideas
Sweeping Hack Gives Biden a Mandate to Reorient America’s Cyber Strategy
It’s long past time to wrest the focus from offense back to defense.
Ideas
How to Turn General Austin Into Secretary Austin
Some advice from the author of “The Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defense.”
Ideas
How to Build Trust in the Vaccines
To succeed in immunizing the population against COVID-19, the United States must draw on the resources it already has.
Ideas