Ideas
Escalating the US Air War in Afghanistan Isn’t Working
The dramatic increase in U.S. airstrikes that began last year has brought the country no closer to peace. In fact, Afghan soldiers, police, and civilians are dying at record rates.
Ideas
All the Ways the US Military’s Infrastructure Crisis Is Getting Worse
The weather damage to Tyndall and Offutt AFBs adds to a multibillion-dollar backlog of deferred maintenance that’s taking a strategic toll.
Ideas
Trump's Strange Tweet May Have Kept Nuclear Talks Alive
The president is finally reckoning with the role of sanctions in North Korean diplomacy.
Ideas
To Strengthen NATO, Congress Must Help End Its Reliance On Russian Equipment
Here are three steps to remove a dangerous dependence on the alliance’s primary threat.
Ideas
Will Hypersonics Finally Force the Pentagon to Integrate Kinetic and Non-Kinetic Defenses?
It’s long been too hard to get the U.S. military’s cyber-EW-IO operators on the same page with more traditional trigger-pullers.
Ideas
We Need a NATO/EU for Cyber Defense
The world’s democracies aren’t properly organized to fend off today’s authoritarian attacks, let alone reshape the internet and key industries to stop tomorrow’s.
Ideas
To Protect Africa’s Oceans, Stand Up to China
China is certainly not the only country with predatory fishing fleets, but its boats are the ones that have been invited into our territorial waters by a foreign power.
Ideas
Laser Weapons: A Blueprint for Adding Them to the Force
Directed energy weapons promise a new advantage — if the U.S. accelerates development of related technologies and doctrine.
Ideas
Americans Are Seeing Threats in the Wrong Places
Security means teaching the public which dangers are real and which are not. Trump’s rhetoric isn’t helping.
Ideas
A Nuclear Treaty the Trump Administration Can Support
The U.S. should help advance international proposals to tighten security around nuclear material that terrorists might use.
Ideas
Russia Is Turning Up Its Nuclear Rhetoric. That’s a Problem
U.S. and NATO officials have an interest in steering Russian bluster away from its rising focus on nuclear weapons.
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Why Germany Should Further Boost Defense Spending, and Why It Probably Won’t
Also: why the Trump administration should shut up about it.
Ideas
A Technological Path Out of the Missile-Defense Security Dilemma
As boost-phase defenses become viable, they could reduce the destabilizing effects of longer-ranged defenses on great-power relationships.
Ideas
The USAF Shouldn’t Narrow Competition for Its Satellite Launches
The service’s plan to reduce launch-contract eligibility from three providers to two would reduce incentives to innovate and keep costs down.
Ideas
The US and North Korea Are Back to Talking Tough
Pyongyang’s latest threats don’t necessarily mean diplomacy is dead. But they are a sign of just how deadlocked nuclear talks have become.
Ideas
Who Are the Private Contractors Fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan?
An inside look at this invisible military force.
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‘Cost Plus 50’: Welcome to the US Mercenary Force
All the ways Trump’s proposed allied-protection scheme would undermine our national security.
Ideas
Is the Pentagon Truly Committed to the National Defense Strategy?
Various warning signs say "no." The 2020 budget will tell. Congress must scrutinize it carefully.
Ideas