Ideas
John Bolton Is Misunderstood
The actual track record of Trump’s next national-security adviser offers cause for cautious optimism.
Policy
How John Bolton Views US Allies and Adversaries
His 2007 memoir lays out the incoming national-security adviser’s worldview.
Ideas
Arms Sales Decisions Shouldn’t Be About Jobs
Basic foreign policy principles should drive potential weapons exports, not pork-barrel politics.
Ideas
McMaster's Choice
Before he was the national-security adviser, he wrote a lacerating account of generals who failed in advising Lyndon Johnson. What will he say now that he is free to talk about Trump?
Policy
Trump Backs Off Budget Veto in Odd White House Event Laden with Misstatements
The mischaracterization of the 2018 defense budget as the biggest ever was just the start.
Ideas
John Bolton Will Not End Well
Wait until Trump starts working with this swamp veteran with bad press and Pentagon push-back who likes to name-drop Edmund Burke.
Policy
What John Bolton's Appointment as National Security Adviser Means
Until today, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster was considered Trump's most militant adviser on North Korea.
Threats
The Return of the Iraq War Argument
The North Korea debate shows the enduring attraction of "preventive war."
Policy
What's Next for Trump's Border Wall?
This week, the president inspected eight prototypes, but his administration still has a long way to go before bringing his campaign pledge to fruition.
Ideas
Telling the Truth About CIA Torture
Trump’s nominee to lead the agency should answer a number of tough questions about her role in its now-defunct “enhanced interrogation” program.
Ideas
Team of Sycophants
Tillerson’s dismissal leaves the White House more than ever the conniving and dishonest court of an erratic, ill-informed, and willful monarch.
Ideas
Why Did Trump Fire Tillerson Now?
The specific timing of the move—following the secretary of state’s split from the president to condemn a Russian attack in the U.K.—raises questions about its motive.
Policy
Trump Calls for a Space Force, a Concept His Pentagon Opposes
The president’s words could reanimate a legislative proposal that the defense secretary and others thought they had killed.
Ideas
How Postponing a Wargame Helped Create a Diplomatic Opening
Delaying Foal Eagle 2018 made an underappreciated contribution toward the first meeting of U.S. and North Korean heads of state.
Business
How Much Do America’s Arms Makers Depend on Foreign Metal? No One Seems to Know
Certainly, no one seemed concerned about it until Trump’s tariffs sent them scrambling to find out.
Ideas
The Administration Must Explain Its Use-of-Force Theories. Today.
That's not just a good idea; it's the law. A report to Congress is due on Monday.
Ideas
A Trump-Kim Summit: 'Why the Hell Not?'
Direct talks between America’s and North Korea’s heads of state have never been tried, and nothing else has worked.
Ideas
Foreign Governments Are Funneling Money into Trump's Hotels. We Still Don't Know How Much.
The Trump Organization’s response to the problem of foreign governments trying to curry favor with the president is an empty gesture.
Ideas