Ideas

What Will Change Now?

After Paris? By now, the war in Syria has become so complicated that 'this doesn't change anything.'

Threats

France Vows 'Merciless' Response to ISIS-Claimed Attacks in Paris

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks that killed at least 129 people. President Francois Hollande called the attacks an 'act of war.'

Threats

US Air Strike Hits ISIS in Libya, Chief Presumed Dead

The U.S. airstrike in the Libyan front was underway before the Paris attacks began, stressed a senior U.S. official.

Ideas

The Secret to Defeating the ISIS 'Caliphate' Might Just Be in Islam Itself

Nearly 100 years after the last Ottoman caliph was exiled, the Sunni world has yet to wholly define itself. And if good people don't step in, worse ones—like ISIS—will.

Threats

Carter: Gulf Allies Need Better Special Operators, Ground Forces More Than 'Fancy' Jets

In an interview, the U.S. defense secretary says America’s Arab allies need fewer high-end fighter jets and more training of ground forces and special-operations troops.

Science & Tech

How The Russian Crash Investigation Could Alter the War On Encryption

If intercepted communications prove an ISIS bomb caused the crash in Egypt, it could be just the boost surveillance state advocates need.

Ideas

Is There a Sunni Solution to ISIS?

David Ignatius calls for reconciliation among Iraqi Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. But this oversimplifies the bargain that needs to be struck.

Ideas

How ISIS Spread in the Middle East

Tracing the roots of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria—and how to stop it.

Ideas

Counterterrorism's False Trade-off Between Security and Freedom

Fighting terrorism across the globe involves a dangerous paradox: the better it works, the less we appreciate the need for it.

Ideas

Trump Is Right About 9/11

Given that Bush’s advisors still dominate the GOP foreign-policy establishment, his record both before and after 9/11 remains relevant to the terrorism debate.

Ideas

The Boko Haram War Machine Is Far from Defeated

Pushed back by government troops, the extremist group has shown its flexibility by returning to more asymmetric tactics.

Threats

How Many ISIS Fighters Has the US Actually Killed?

The U.S. Defense Department cautions against using 'body counts' as a metric of success in its campaign against the Islamic State. But it continues to advertise them anyway.

Ideas

Turkey’s 10-Sided War With Itself

The unfortunate reality is a Turkish society now made up of mutually distrustful — and sometimes violent — camps.

Threats

Turkish President Issues Media Blackout After Bombings

Following a deadly attack at a peace rally, social media users also reported signs that their access was also being throttled.

Ideas

Today’s Terrorists Want To Inspire

How terrorism has—and hasn’t—changed, from the Algerian War to ISIS.

Ideas

The Islamic State's Recruiting Has Hit Britain Particularly Hard

British Muslims are caught in a pincer movement: with public and government suspicion on one side, and a seductive and supposedly empowering ideology on the other.

Ideas

The West Point Professor Who Contemplated a Coup

A controversial law professor resigns after calling his intellectual opponents treasonous, and perhaps exaggerating his credentials.

Ideas

The Allure of ISIS Has Reached Long-Stable Ghana

So far, recruits number a tiny handful of people in a nation of 26 million. But Ghanaians should hear alarm bells ringing.

Policy

Jeb Bush ‘Won’t Commit’ to Ban on Torture

Bush “not struggling with” undoing President Obama’s executive order that codified the ban on enhanced interrogation techniques.

Threats

How Violent ISIS Videos Help Mobilize New Recruits

Aug. 19 will mark one year since James Foley’s execution was posted on YouTube. Such videos offer, to certain minds, a paean to masculinity and a path out of powerlessness.