Ideas
While ‘Arctic Exceptionalism’ Melts Away, the US Isn't Sure What It Wants Next
Global competition is coming to the northern polar region. U.S. policymakers are not clear on a fundamental question about its future.
Science & Tech
Putin Seeks to Plug Gaps in Russia's State-Driven Tech Efforts
His Wednesday speech acknowledged difficulties Russian researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs face, particularly in the realm of finance.
Ideas
Sending Troops Back to the Middle East Won’t Stop Iran
Knee-jerk deployments only distract from the president’s bigger priorities: China and Russia.
Science & Tech
As Putin Schemes to Extend His Reign, Expect New Forms of Internet Repression
Russia under a president-for-life will likely grow more insular and less open to Western influence.
Ideas
Ep. 62: Wagner and Russian private military contractors
How much do we understand about what these groups are up to? And how much should the U.S. and its allies be concerned?
Ideas
The Global Race for Big National-Security Ideas Is On
The United States faces genuinely new challenges—but tries to understand them using outmoded theories from a bygone era.
Ideas
Russia’s ‘Data Localization’ Efforts May Guide Other Governments
Moscow’s efforts to keep data on home soil are of interest to other authoritarian states — and even some liberal democracies.
Ideas
Building Post-INF Missiles Would Be a Waste, or Worse
New U.S. intermediate-range ground-launched missiles would deliver more undesirable effects than tactical utility.
Ideas
What US Intelligence Thought 2020 Would Look Like
A 2004 National Intelligence Council report was eerily prescient in some ways, and totally off in others.
Ideas
A Bigger Foreign-Policy Mess Than Anyone Predicted
In the 2010s, global affairs turned out far worse than the most pessimistic scenario foretold by U.S. intelligence experts.
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: Editor's Choice
Even with several best-of lists, it's hard to choose among the thousands of articles we published this year. Here are a few notables that we haven't noted elsewhere.
Ideas
Best of 2019: Ideas
Revisit some of the best op-eds and commentary we had the privilege of publishing over the past year.
Ideas
Best of 2019: Defense One Radio
Review the year that was — and consider what's next — with episodes from our award-winning podcast.
Ideas
Put US Post-INF Missiles into Production
The U.S. has waited too long to mimic Chinese intermediate-range weapons.
Science & Tech
Russia Plans to Cut Off Some Internet Access Next Week
The Dec. 23 test aims to evaluate a system meant to control traffic, veil hackers, and quash dissent.
Ideas