Ideas

Speak Up, John Bolton

The national-security professionals who have left this administration owe the American people the truth about the president.

Ideas

Ransomware Has a New Target

A successful attack on an IT services provider can lock up the data of dozens of government and private clients at once.

Ideas

Bolton’s Departure Signals Trump’s Foreign-Policy Pivot

The president is turning away from conflict and toward diplomacy—and that will shape his choice of the next national security adviser.

Ideas

The Problem at the Core of Progressive Foreign Policy

Democratic presidential candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have ambitious plans but seem unwilling to make the trade-offs they would require.

Ideas

Trump OKs Ukraine Aid — But That’s Not the Right Choice

America doesn’t gain anything by escalating an unwinnable war on Russia’s border.

Ideas

Africa, Great Power Competition, and the US Navy

Russia and China want to leverage Africa's people and resources. U.S. Naval Forces Africa aspires to work with African partners to bring about a secure and prosperous continent.

Ideas

A Terrific Deal—For the Taliban

The president should have to answer for the Afghanistan mess in the 2020 election.

Ideas

We Can’t Secure 5G Networks by Banning Huawei Gear

The next-generation network simply doesn’t work like the current one. Staying safe will require a new relationship between business and government.

Ideas

After 9/11, US Intelligence Reinvented Itself. It's Time to Do It Again

After missing the Sept. 11 plot, spy agencies reoriented toward terrorism. Now technological threats require a new round of reforms.

Ideas

It’s Time for Congress to Rein in US Arms Exports

A staggering 70 percent of Americans believe that selling American arms abroad makes us less safe at home.

Ideas

John Bolton Will Hold This Grudge

His dismissal by tweet came after an unusually long prelude of disrespect, both by President Trump and by favored allies.

Ideas

The White House’s Impossible Job

The problem is not that Trump failed to get along with John Bolton—it’s that he doesn’t want a national security adviser in the first place.

Ideas

When it Comes to Allies, Americans Get It

New polling reveals Trump's disparagement of U.S. allies remains a bridge too far for most Americans — and it should remain so.

Ideas

America’s Déjà-Vu Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Like Obama in Iraq, Trump wants to stop fighting before the war is done.

Ideas

Two Cheers for Esper’s Plan to Reassert Civilian Control of the Pentagon

One might believe that leaving more decisions to uniformed experts would depoliticize policy. The opposite is true.

Ideas

‘Get a Weapon’: Advice to a Deploying Woman

That's what a veteran told me as I prepared to join U.S. forces in Baghdad. I thought he meant I needed a way to fend off the enemy.

Ideas

How Not to Run the World

Once upon a time, the American commitment to regularity in meetings and reasoned decision making allowed the rest of the world to sleep a little easier.

Ideas

The Mattis Two-Step

The forever general’s attempt to "stay out of politics" is bringing him right into it.

Ideas

What Happens After the INF Treaty?

Deterrence and arms control have long shaped U.S. national security policy. A negotiator of the 1987 agreement asks: What now?