Ideas

Russia Is the Biggest Backer of Cybercrime. The US Must Get Serious About Deterrence

Convincing Putin that further attacks will trigger automatic, severe responses is the best way to start.

Ideas

The Divide Between Silicon Valley and Washington Is a National-Security Threat

Closing the gap between technology leaders and policy makers will require a radically different approach from the defense establishment.

Ideas

Academic Paywalls Harm National Security

Embracing the open-access movement would help defense leaders make America safer and strengthen their ties with the tech industry.

Ideas

Trump’s New Vetting Center Just Opened. Will It Make Us Safer?

Too little is known about the visa and immigration center, including the extent of its authority and whether adding a bureaucratic layer will cause more problems than it solves.

Ideas

Yes, the UN Is Still Necessary

In his dramatic Dec. 4 speech decrying the international body, Secretary of State Pompeo seems to have confused cause and correlation.

Ideas

Four Steps to Fix the Security Clearance Backlog

Clearance delays are hurting the aerospace industry — and national security.

Policy

Trump Taps Loyalist Fox News Veteran as UN Ambassador

Heather Nauert, currently the State Department’s chief spokesperson, is not known for challenging her superiors.

Ideas

New Poll Data Should Be a Clarion Call to Those Who Believe in Global Engagement

The partisan gap is widening on several key foreign-policy priorities — as is the generation gap.

Ideas

Would a $700 Billion Budget Really Sink the Pentagon?

Resistance is already forming to a proposed decrease in 2020 spending. It’s important to understand just what that decrease means.

Ideas

Saudis, Yemen War Leading New Democrats Away From Obama Foreign Policy

They also want to rein in presidential war powers.

Ideas

Trump's Iran-Centric Syria Policy Takes Shape

Congress likely won’t take action to rein in the military powers it granted the president after the 9/11 attacks—powers that Trump uses with the broad aim of countering Iran.

Ideas

Who Will Prevent the Next India-Pakistan War?

China’s stakes and vulnerabilities in South Asia have grown. U.S. leaders should make use of this.

Ideas

US Foreign Policy Could Use Some Bush-Era Prudence

George H. W. Bush’s restraint was remarkable, and worth imitating.

Ideas

Germany Develops Offensive Cyber Capabilities Without A Coherent Strategy of What to Do With Them

Germany has traditionally prioritized defense over offense in cyberspace. That's now beginning to change.

Ideas

Assessing George H.W. Bush’s National-Security Legacy

The first president Bush made the world safer as the Soviet Union crumbled.

Ideas

Deployed Civilians Can’t Get Worker’s Comp — and That’s Bad News for a Military that Depends on Them

Thanks to a legal double standard, a civilian injured or sickened in a warzone has an impossible burden of proof.

Ideas

The Trump Administration Wonders: Should We Seek a ‘Cold War’ With China?

As the White House spars with a rising China, it can look to the United States’ postwar dealings with the Soviet Union for guidance.

Ideas

New Documents Rewrite ISIS’ Origin Story

A secret biography suggests that Abu Ali al-Anbari defined the group’s radical approach more than any other person.

Ideas

The Pentagon Must Pay More than Lip Service to Innovative Companies

The military has poured billions of dollars into the Small Business Innovation Research program — yet resists putting its fruits to use.

Ideas

The Senate Takes a Step to Void America’s Blank Check to the Saudis

Washington can continue to work with Riyadh, but it need never again accept flagrant violations of human rights, international norms, or U.S. national interests.