Ideas
Three Ways to Judge the Pentagon’s Tech-Sector Outreach
Hint: it’s not about how many zeroes are on the first checks.
Science & Tech
The Problem with the Pentagon's Hypersonic Missile
Military officials say their superfast weapons of the future won’t carry nuclear warheads. But will other nuclear nations believe it when the missiles start flying?
Ideas
Harvard’s Love-Hate Relationship with the US Military
The gap between America’s elite educational institutions and its military remains wide. Harvard faces a moral imperative to help close it.
Business
Carter Seeks New Powers for Joint Chiefs, Top Commanders in War on Terrorism
Obama’s defense secretary unveils his Goldwater-Nichols reform plan, and the most sweeping changes to the military's top command in a generation.
Business
Giddy Among Fellow Nerds, Carter Pitches Pentagon Work to Techies
The defense secretary takes his outreach tour to robotics labs and startup centers in Austin and Boston.
Business
Carter Watches PBS on Fridays, and Other Bombshells from His Email
SecDef's redacted private messages reveal — gasp! — Washington insiders asking about jobs for friends and challenge coins for their kids.
Business
Seeking to Boost Its Public Image, F-35 Joins the Airshow Circuit
Program officials are trying to improve popular perceptions of the late, over-budget Joint Strike Fighter.
Business
Is The Government Getting Stingier With Cyber Threat Data?
Virginia Tech's network security chief thinks so. He says overclassification is making it harder to prep and respond.
Ideas
Keep America's Top Military Officer Out of the Chain of Command
I lived through Goldwater-Nichols. Congress should know why it's still a bad idea to give the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who advises the president, that kind of power.
Policy
Why Is The Pentagon’s Personnel-Reform Chief Stepping Down? It’s Complicated
Even before Brad Carson got beat up on Capitol Hill, he was ensnared in a Catch-22.
Ideas
Do ‘Guardian Forces’ Belong in the Military?
More and more national security workers in and out of uniform never get close to combat. It's time to rethink their place in the system.
Business
The Pentagon's New Grading System for Civilians May Take Even Longer to Get Started
Six years after Congress mandated it, the U.S. military says it's ready to test a new way to assess its civilian workers. But a federal union claims the test-run will be deeply flawed.
Science & Tech
We’re On the Same Side, Carter Tells Silicon Valley
As the FBI-vs.-Apple battle heats up, the defense secretary makes his own pitch to the tech industry.
Ideas
When the Enemy Is Everywhere: The Rise and Fall of the 'Kill Box' in US Military Strategy
Once a hallmark of state-on-state conflict, simply finding oneself inside of an American kill box in today's counterterrorism wars is enough to be retroactively defined as guilty.
Ideas
Congress Will Rethink Combatant Command Boundaries
Reshaping, or even deleting, some of the four-star headquarters that run America’s military operations around the world could be part of broader Defense Department reforms.
Ideas
Start Preparing for the Collapse of the Saudi Kingdom
Saudi Arabia is no state at all. It's an unstable business so corrupt to resemble a criminal organization and the U.S. should get ready for the day after.
Ideas
Congress Must Stop the Decline of Our Military Readiness
Here's what President Obama's final defense spending request should have included.
Science & Tech
The Army Has Made a Robot Cockroach
Biologically inspired robot bugs could be the next big thing in intelligence collection.
Policy
What Happened When Ash Carter Crashed Davos
The defense secretary's legacy may have been forged in the Alps, connecting economic elites to the Pentagon — and the war on terrorism.
Ideas