Ideas

$264B for ICBMs That Would Be Destroyed in the Ground? No, Thanks

Creating a spiffy new “nuclear sponge” makes neither fiscal nor strategic sense.

Ideas

Countering China’s Military Challenge, Today

Denying the PLA its objectives in the 2020s requires diversification, distribution, and resiliency across posture and mission.

Ideas

Germany’s Military an Unexpected Star in Pandemic Relief

The Bundeswehr’s ubiquity and effectiveness in various facets of the COVID response has created an unusual problem.

Ideas

Biden Should Sink This Proposed Nuclear Weapon

None of the arguments for the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile hold water.

Ideas

Afghanistan Will Know No Peace Without Pressure on Pakistan

Inconsistent global powers, foreign politics, and indifference to Pakistan’s Taliban sponsorship continue to frustrate Afghans and spoil peace efforts.

Ideas

Release the Last ‘Low-Value’ Afghanistan POW Held at Gitmo

International law required the U.S. to release Asadullah Haroon Gul five years ago. Now there is truly no reason to hold him.

Ideas

The USAF’s Bad Bets on Pilot Retention Show It Needs Outside Help

Service leaders think the same old tactics can reverse a pilot shortage in a resurging economy.

Ideas

No F-35s for UAE, Please

The sale is likely to deepen existing conflicts and further enmesh the U.S. in the region.

Ideas

Can the US and Russia Agree to Disagree?

The relationship is cold, but there are still some areas of mutual interest.

Ideas

It Was Never All or Nothing in Afghanistan

This is not something we hoped to see from national security leaders and a president we admire so much.

Ideas

Afghanistan’s Situation Didn’t Change. American Politics Did

The Biden administration says it can fight terrorism in a way that its predecessors called impossible. Can it?

Ideas

'I Felt Hate More Than Anything': How an Active Duty Airman Tried to Start a Civil War

Steven Carrillo’s path to the Boogaloo Bois shows the hate group is far more organized and dangerous than previously known.

Ideas

What a Real People-First Pentagon Budget Would Include

Family-support and mental-health services need a long-overdue plus-up.

Ideas

The Intelligence Community’s Deadly Bias Toward Classified Sources

Its willful blindness to publicly available information is hurting national security.

Ideas

Beware ‘Just Say China’ Politics

Republicans screamed for more spending to counter China. Democrats are claiming their infrastructure bill does just that. It’s a dangerous game.

Ideas

American Support is Needed to Resolve a POW Crisis in the Caucasus

Azerbaijan is illegally holding some 200 Armenian troops and civilian captives.

Ideas

The Arctic Is No Substitute for Suez. We Should Keep It That Way.

One obvious way to reduce tensions in the region is to slow climate change and the use of northern sea routes.

Ideas

What Is DevSecOps, Anyway?

How one company used it to accelerate improvements to an Air Force cyber defense program.