Ideas
Trump’s Wall Fixation Is Impeding Border Security
The president’s push to “build the wall” fails to grasp the role of modern technology in policing U.S. borders.
Ideas
Donald Trump's Pattern of Deference to the Kremlin Is Clear
Any specific incident might be explained away fairly easily. As a pattern, they’re too weird to dismiss with a shrug.
Ideas
The Shutdown and the Damage Done
America's institutions are withering, says one longtime Foreign Service Officer who's calling it quits.
Ideas
Bolton’s Big Iran Con
There’s no evidence behind the national security adviser’s dire warnings about Tehran’s nuclear intentions.
Ideas
What Someone Needs to Explain to Trump About ‘National Emergencies’
It’s not just the likelihood that he will lose in court—it’s how he will lose that matters.
Ideas
FBI Agents Say the Shutdown Is a Threat to National Security
Nearly 5,000 FBI special agents, intelligence analysts, attorneys, and professional staff have been furloughed.
Ideas
Paul Whelan Isn’t a Spy, and Putin Knows It
The American’s detention reminds us that Russia continues to perfect dirty tricks pioneered by the KGB.
Ideas
Why Trump Is Trying to Create a Crisis
The president didn’t declare a state of national emergency on Tuesday night, but he laid the foundation for doing so.
Policy
In Primetime Addresses, Trump and Democrats Show No Progress Toward Ending Shutdown
Both sides highlight federal employees, but for very different reasons.
Business
Defense Companies Starting to Feel Effect of US Government Shutdown
Firms working for NASA, DHS, and other shuttered federal agencies are taking hits to their cash flow.
Policy
Can Pat Shanahan Serve as ‘Acting’ Defense Secretary Forever?
The law is unclear, and the situation all but unprecedented.
Policy
Will the Government Ever Reopen?
After a contentious meeting with lawmakers, President Trump said the government could stay closed “for a very long period of time,” and mused about declaring a state of emergency.
Ideas
The Truth About the Soviet War in Afghanistan
Trump mischaracterized it in an attempt to justify his own disastrous policy in the region.
Policy
Trump Instructs Pentagon to Curb Watchdogs' Access to Secret Military Reports
Transparency groups decry move as hindering the work of inspectors general.
Policy
Trump Just Killed His Own Defense Strategy
The commander in chief has torn up 17 years of counterterrorism plans, offering instead his strange mix of talking points and lies.
Policy
GOP Lawmakers: Shutdown Could Last for Weeks
Trump summoned House and Senate leaders to the White House but failed to persuade them to fund the border wall.
Ideas
Trump Escalates His Assault on Civil-Military Relations
The president’s public disparagement of retired generals compounds the damage he has done.
Policy
Goodbye, Mattis. Goodbye, Syria. Hello, 2019
Dramatic shifts abound as Trump puts US military’s war plans in doubt, Democrats resurge in Congress, and the Pentagon gets a new boss.
Ideas
Meet the New (Acting) US Defense Secretary
With no military experience and just a year and a half in government, the former Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan has yet to develop a foreign-policy vision of his own.
Ideas