Ideas

How Trump Will Affect the India-Pakistan Balance of Power

Human rights promotion and developmental funding are poised to decline under a Trump administration, reducing American leverage in Kabul and Islamabad—and giving China an upper hand.

Ideas

So Far, Trump’s Talk Has Only Hurt America’s Counterterrorism Effort

Can the candidate who alienated Muslim Americans and gave thumbs-up to torture reverse course as president? A conversation with former FBI agent Ali Soufan.

Ideas

Crises from Europe to the Asia-Pacific Await Donald Trump

The world has reacted to Trump’s victory. Soon Trump will have to react to the world.

Ideas

Five Foreign-Policy Challenges for President-Elect Trump

America and the world are inevitably in for a rocky ride—at odds with the simple solutions espoused by politicians on the campaign trail.

Science & Tech

Obama to Successor: Put Fed IT Under One Roof, For Its Own Protection

Obama officials say they're preparing an 'options paper' for the next president’s transition team that envisions consolidating IT services similar to the way DISA works within the Defense Department.

Ideas

Why Clinton Gets My Vote, by Former Defense Secretary William Perry

The veteran of GOP and Democratic administrations says Trump is unfit for the presidency.

Ideas

Talking to Russia Cannot Save Syria

Putin and Assad make ISIS look hesitant by comparison when it comes to mass homicide.

Ideas

Rein in the National Security Council

Created as a coordinating body, the NSC has become a policymaking powerhouse whose White House status hides it from oversight.

Ideas

Yemen Has Become the Graveyard of the Obama Doctrine

The human costs of facilitating Saudi Arabia’s proxy war have been enormous, and there’s no end in sight.

Ideas

Progress or Oppression—You Decide, Obama Tells the UN in His Final Address

From mass migration to North Korea’s nukes, Obama’s lofty speech contained little guidance about how to resolve the world’s intractable problems.

Ideas

Powerful Countries Don't Nuke First

A no-first-use approach toward nuclear weapons is the policy of Goliath, not Gandhi.

Policy

McCain to White House: If You Won’t Establish a Cyber Defense Policy, Congress Will

‘Ignoring the issue, as the White House has done, is not an option,’ said the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman on Tuesday.

Science & Tech

The US Has Its First Cybersecurity Director

Gregory Touhill, a retired Air Force one-star, will be the first to hold the job, which was created in the wake of the OPM hack.

Threats

Even Duterte’s Slurs Can’t Break US-Philippines Ties Cemented by Chinese Aggression

Attention is turning to the Scarborough Shoal, just west of the Philippines, where many fear Beijing will build more islands to expand its control of the South China Sea.

Ideas

When Allies Become Enemies (Before the War is Over), Obama's ISIS Plan Has Another Problem

The U.S. wanted Turkish and Kurdish fighters to fight, but not fight each other. Now the administration is scrambling to keep local allies with their own interests focused on America's goal: defeating ISIS.

Ideas

How Obama Is Enabling the Next President to Launch Illegal Wars

If his administration gets its way, it would be even easier for future commanders in chief to take military action without approval from Congress.

Ideas

The Biden Doctrine

Has the vice president made a lasting contribution in foreign policy?

Ideas

Obama's Last Chance to Terminate US Nuclear Policy (Thanks to Trump)

Here are four ways Obama can make humanity safer from nuclear weapons before anyone else gets the launch codes.

Ideas

How Not to Plan for ‘The Day After’ In Libya

Once again, the Obama Doctrine has encouraged improvisation over long-term strategy.

Ideas

This is the War Against al-Qaeda the Next US President Will Inherit

Fifteen years after invading Afghanistan in pursuit of the 9/11 attackers, the U.S. is bombing a half-dozen more countries.