Ideas

Most-Read of 2020 (So Far)

We're three months into the next year already, if you go by the fiscal calendar. Here's the most-clicked posts on our site since Oct. 1.

Ideas

Progress, Peril, Hope: The Nuclear Decade in Review

U.S. policies that restrained and shrank atomic arsenals have been abandoned. Yet there are hopeful trends as well.

Ideas

Best of 2019: Ideas

Revisit some of the best op-eds and commentary we had the privilege of publishing over the past year.

Science & Tech

Pentagon Remains Bullish on 3D Printing, Despite Regulatory ‘Slog’

Military officials want to put additive manufacturing to broader use, but barriers remain.

Policy

Top US General Defends Afghanistan War

CJCS Mark Milley denied that officials “lied” to the American public about the 18-year conflict.

Ideas

The Lessons of the Afghanistan Papers

Americans need leaders who can tell them how and when they will decide to pull the plug.

Ideas

Can Military Leaders Handle the Truth About Afghanistan?

Our recent poll suggests that public confidence in the military is high, but that it may be on shaky ground.

Science & Tech

Pentagon Wants to Spark an American Small-Drone Industry

Acquisition chief Ellen Lord wants domestic options for small UAVs— and for defensive systems that can bring them down.

Ideas

Add Economic Policy to Deterrence Planning

As crisis brews overseas, U.S. leaders often turn first to sanctions and the like. But the Pentagon acts as if economic coercion doesn’t matter.

Ideas

Can Anything Stop the Flow of Advanced Weapons into Libya?

If the country becomes a nexus for expertise and arms, increasingly deadly regional armed groups could destabilize the region.

Threats

Esper 'Concerned' About Russian Influence in Egypt, Saudi Arabia

The defense secretary says Moscow's other Mideast efforts worry him more than its growing presence in Syria.

Policy

Defense Bill Would Create 'ROTC for Pentagon's Civilian Employees'

The college-based Defense Civilian Training Corps would aim to fill “critical skills gaps” in the department’s workforce.

Ideas

We Really Need to Fix the Federal Budget Process

With the 2020 defense policy bill close to done, here are some ideas for next year.

Ideas

If Ukraine Is Impeachable, What’s Afghanistan?

A misguided war that drags on inconclusively for more than 18 years is, I submit, a great crime.

Ideas

Everyone Knew We Were Losing in Afghanistan

And everyone in charge insisted we were winning.

Science & Tech

Amazon Says Pentagon Got Almost Everything Wrong in JEDI Evaluation

Company officials say Trump's beef with CEO Jeff Bezos led to “substantial and pervasive errors.”

Ideas

The Pentagon Is Ignoring Small Innovators

That’s why I’m proposing a law to give promising small firms an advocate inside the Defense Department.