Ideas

Top 5 Things to Watch in Congress' 2021 Defense Budget Hearings

On Wednesday, military and civilian leaders of the Defense Department will testify before Congress on their $705 billion budget request for 2021.

Ideas

Trump Is Politicizing the Intelligence Community

The president spent the week reshaping America's IC to serve his political needs. What does that mean for the 2020 election, and for national security?

Ideas

The US Intelligence Community Is Caught in a Collector’s Trap

The information haystack in which we search for useful needles is growing faster than we could ever catch up. Gathering more hay isn't the answer.

Ideas

White-Supremacist Violence Is Terrorism

As commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, I fought America’s enemies abroad. Now we must fight violent, hateful ideologies at home.

Ideas

It’s Time to Talk About Taiwan

Washington’s longstanding policy of strategic ambiguity is increasingly likely to inflame the kind of crisis it was meant to deter.

Ideas

You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus

Most cases are not life-threatening, which is also what makes the virus a historic challenge to contain.

Ideas

The American Public Wants a Sustainable Middle East Policy

Despite the mainstream narrative presenting a deep lack of appetite for another war in the Middle East, the United States will never be able to ignore the region completely.

Ideas

The West Can’t Even Agree on Itself, Much Less China

At the Munich Security Conference, allies argued with each other as much as their adversaries, rejecting Trump administration views on issue after issue.

Ideas

The US Should Get Ready for Syria’s Return from War

Trump seems determined not to play much of a role in shaping how Syria’s myriad conflicts are resolved. That’s a mistake.

Ideas

Trump Is Ill-Suited to Respond to the Coronavirus Outbreak

A crisis that is heading into its third month could draw out every personal and managerial failing that the president has shown to this point.

Ideas

America Is Alone in Its Cold War With China

If the Trump administration is truly going all-in on competition with Beijing, it’s not clear that Trump himself is fully on board. Nor, it’s now clear, are several of America’s closest friends.

Ideas

Let's Use Peer Pressure to End Political Endorsements by Retired Generals

A review of more than 1,000 endorsements by former senior military officers shows that most are just favors for a friend.

Ideas

China’s Chernobyl Never Seems to Arise

Democracy is unlikely to break out in Beijing, but the coronavirus crisis may create an opening for a softer form of authoritarianism.

Ideas

The Inconvenient Truth About ISIS

The group is even bigger now, and America’s conflict with Iran is only making the fight against it more complicated.

Ideas

The Corrosion of World Order in the Age of Donald Trump

Can the world still work together to address today’s most pressing global challenges?

Ideas

The US Doesn’t Need a New New START

There is no reason to believe that withdrawing from the current one would improve U.S. security.

Ideas

The US Should Accept Russia’s Proposed Moratorium on Post-INF Missiles

The temporary measure has no near-term downside — and may jumpstart important arms-control talks.

Ideas

Trump's Former Chief of Staff, John Kelly, Finally Lets Loose

The retired Marine general explained, in the clearest terms yet, his misgivings about Trump’s behavior regarding North Korea, immigration, and Ukraine.

Ideas

The Sanders Doctrine

The presidential candidate wants to redefine American power.

Ideas

How a Stock Bubble Could Unwind America’s National Security

Tesla’s astronomic rise portends a crash that will add heft to the forces of deglobalization.