Policy

Trump Installs Senate-Rejected Retired General As Pentagon Policy Chief

Anthony Tata moves up one grade level — with some limits attached.

Science & Tech

Pentagon's 'AI Factory' Looks To Distribute Tools Across DOD

The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center will begin rolling out its Joint Common Foundation next year, its new director says.

Policy

Trump Fires Esper, Taps NCTC Director to be Acting SecDef

Christopher Miller becomes Trump's fourth acting defense secretary just 72 days before Inauguration Day.

Exclusive Ideas

What Today’s Generals Could Learn from George Washington's Evolution

In his military thinking early on, Gen. Washington failed to see the big strategic picture. But the 44-year old "could observe, reflect, and adjust more than most senior commanders."

Policy

Biden Takes Lead In Pennsylvania; Win Would Decide Presidency

Many news outlets, including the Associated Press, have not yet made the call and Trump is not conceding.

Ideas

Whatever Happens in the Election, Get Ready for a Rocky Transition

Trump says if he loses, he won’t help hand over power, and if he wins, he'll root out government employees he deems disloyal to him.

Ideas

We Are Our Own Worst Enemy

America’s national security depends on our ability to turn today’s hyperpartisan division into tomorrow’s cooperation.

Ideas

Time to Rethink Arms Sales to Taiwan

Once, they might have tilted the military balance. Now they just destabilize the region.

Ideas

What Clinton’s Foreign Affairs Article May Mean for the Defense Budget

Her approach, more rebalancing rather than modernizing, avoids a simple zero-sum frame of defense vs. non-defense spending.

Policy

Administration Rushes Out Guidelines for Ending Civil Service Protections

Just two days after the executive order, initial instructions are issued on converting career federal policy-making positions to at-will appointments.

Ideas

In A Post-COVID World, We Need AI More Than Ever

Artificial intelligence tools promise, among other things, to make the Pentagon more efficient.

Policy

‘Stunning’ Executive Order Enables Politicized Civil Service

President Trump's new directive allows thousands of federal jobs now filled through competition to be turned into at-will positions.

Ideas

As the US Slumps Away, China Subsumes African Security Arrangements

Organizations created to fight terror groups after 9/11 are becoming conduits for Beijing’s surveillance and influence.

Ideas

What We Don’t Know About Military Innovation

It’s time to take stock of the Pentagon’s various rapid-acquisition efforts.

Policy

Milley Speaks Out — and Trump Stays Mum

After a controversial summer, the Joint Chiefs chairman is holding his own with a string of public pronouncements.

Threats

Thousands of US Troops Will Remain in Afghanistan Past Christmas

They won't be home for Christmas. Trump's national security advisor says the president was only expressing a "desire" with that tweet.

Ideas

'Esper's Lie?' I Don't Think So

After nearly a generation of dominating focus on counterinsurgency operations, the U.S. military is underprepared in 2020 for great power competition.