Ideas

Libya’s UAV Strike Should Galvanize Efforts to Do Something About Autonomous Weapons

Thorny definitional questions aren’t going to get easier, but the time to settle them has come.

Policy

Biden Seeks State Department Budget Boost, But Ambassador Nominations Lag

Slow pace of nominations is the “missing piece" of the president's drive to emphasize diplomacy’s importance in foreign policy, one analyst said.

Ideas

Your Home Insurance Policy Helps Illustrate Why Modern Conflict Is Destabilizing

Will insurers pay to repair houses in Gaza? How about U.S. infrastructure damaged by state-sponsored ransomware?

Ideas

Three Political Crises Drove the Gaza Violence

Millions of civilians were endangered by three sets of beleaguered politicians who lack a popular mandate.

Policy

Biden, Moon Seek Return to Normal After Four Years of ‘Chaotic’ Trump

But the U.S. and South Korean leaders remain far apart on topics from North Korea to human rights.

Ideas

Détente with Iran Could Unlock a Foreign Policy Gold Mine

Bringing Tehran back into the diplomatic fold would foster other progress.

Policy

Lawmakers Scold Pentagon for Leaving Afghanistan Without ‘Over-the-Horizon’ Plan

“Why would we leave Bagram when we don’t have an alternative closer than UAE?” said the Armed Services Committee’s top Republican.

Ideas

Narcissism and National Security

A century ago, the doings of ordinary citizens barely mattered to national security. Today, they matter a great deal more.

Ideas

Teamwork Led Us to Bin Laden and Can Keep America Safe

As we look back on the Osama bin Laden raid of a decade ago, three lessons stand out.

Ideas

Defense One Radio, Ep. 81: The future of Afghanistan

Ben Watson talks with Greg, a Green Beret medic who served in Afghanistan, and with Long War Journal's Bill Roggio.

Ideas

China to US: Back Off and Calm Down

Foreign Minister Wang Yi just delivered a raw, propaganda-tainted rebuke of Washington’s leaders for stoking “fears” of China’s rise.

Ideas

Afghanistan Will Know No Peace Without Pressure on Pakistan

Inconsistent global powers, foreign politics, and indifference to Pakistan’s Taliban sponsorship continue to frustrate Afghans and spoil peace efforts.

Policy

‘It’s Time to End the Forever War’: Biden Announces Withdrawal from Afghanistan

As for the idea that U.S. troops on the ground would produce a solution: “We gave that argument a decade.”

Ideas

Beware ‘Just Say China’ Politics

Republicans screamed for more spending to counter China. Democrats are claiming their infrastructure bill does just that. It’s a dangerous game.

Ideas

In Great Power Wars, Americans Could Again Become POWs

After years of training for counterinsurgency, today’s soldiers need to know how to survive large-scale warfare.

Policy

‘We Will Leave' Afghanistan Likely This Year, Biden Declares

But not by May 1. "It's not my intention to stay there for a long time, the question is how and under what circumstance,” the president said, at the White House.

Policy

Afghanistan Deadline is ‘Too Soon’ for Biden Administration, Top House Dem Says

‘Running for the exits pell-mell by May 1 is dangerous,’ said HASC Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, who backs pulling out ‘responsibly.’

Business

Pentagon Picks Lockheed, Northrop-Raytheon Team to Develop Missile Interceptors

Officials reject a bid by Boeing, which builds the current generation of missile interceptors.

Ideas

What Trump and His Mob Taught the World About America

The allure of democracy was the nation’s best asset abroad, but the president squandered it by inciting political violence.

Ideas

After COVID, What Should American Foreign Policy Do?

The pandemic reminds us that American leadership can determine whether the arc of history bends toward something better or something worse.