Ideas
Donald Trump's Pattern of Deference to the Kremlin Is Clear
Any specific incident might be explained away fairly easily. As a pattern, they’re too weird to dismiss with a shrug.
Ideas
Shipmates, Information Management Is a Life-or-Death Proposition
In the U.S. Navy, using and protecting data isn't just for "the IT guys" anymore. Everyone needs to get on board.
Ideas
The Shutdown and the Damage Done
America's institutions are withering, says one longtime Foreign Service Officer who's calling it quits.
Ideas
Bolton’s Big Iran Con
There’s no evidence behind the national security adviser’s dire warnings about Tehran’s nuclear intentions.
Ideas
What Someone Needs to Explain to Trump About ‘National Emergencies’
It’s not just the likelihood that he will lose in court—it’s how he will lose that matters.
Ideas
America’s Foreign Policy in the Middle East is Not What Pompeo Claimed
In Cairo, the secretary touted stronger U.S. engagement in the region, all evidence to the contrary.
Ideas
Moscow’s Little-Noticed Islamic-Outreach Effort
Russia is promoting Islamic moderation in unison with Arab powers—and further cementing its position in the Middle East.
Ideas
Why China’s Military Wants to Beat the US to a Next-Gen Cell Network
For Beijing, the race to 5G has always been linked to its national strategy for military-civil fusion.
Ideas
The US Isn’t Really Leaving Syria and Afghanistan
Even if American troops come home in a timely fashion, they will likely return before long.
Ideas
Democrats Are Wrong About Defense Spending
The need for investment is only likely to grow in the coming years.
Ideas
The Truth About the Soviet War in Afghanistan
Trump mischaracterized it in an attempt to justify his own disastrous policy in the region.
Ideas
China, Huawei, and the Coming Technological Cold War
2019 might be the year that splinters the global technology system into distinct spheres of influence.
Ideas
Fill the Cracks in NATO's Maritime Strategy
If Russia decides to attack the Western alliance, it would do so along several fissures that need shoring up.
Ideas
Trump Escalates His Assault on Civil-Military Relations
The president’s public disparagement of retired generals compounds the damage he has done.
Ideas
Meet the New (Acting) US Defense Secretary
With no military experience and just a year and a half in government, the former Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan has yet to develop a foreign-policy vision of his own.
Ideas
The Biggest Nuclear Threats of 2018 Will Follow Us into the New Year
We whistled past the graveyard this year. Let’s be smarter in 2019.
Ideas
The Kurds Have Been Betrayed Again by Washington
Time and again, powerful allies on whose support they thought they could rely abandoned them.
Ideas
A Giant Repair Job Awaits the First Post-Trump SecDef
It will be a rebuilding project the likes of which has not been seen since the Vietnam War.
Policy