Ideas

A Solid Plan to Compete with China in Artificial Intelligence

The NSCAI’s new report should also be taken as the first plank in a national technology strategy.

Ideas

A Salami Slice for Taiwan’s Security

The U.S. can put a revisionist tactic to its own use in the Western Pacific.

Ideas

Modeling Software Once Led Us to the Precipice of Nuclear War. What Will AI Do?

The Pentagon must heed the lessons of RYAN and Able Archer amid its artificial-intelligence aspirations.

Ideas

Space Force Should Embrace the Natural Inclusivity of Space Nerds

It would make the nascent service better at many things, including recruiting.

Ideas

ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s Sub-Saharan Affiliates Are Poised for Growth in 2021

A rundown on jihadi groups’ expansion in the Sahel and Nigeria, the Horn of Africa, and the continent’s southeastern Swahili coast.

Ideas

Four Ways US Naval Forces Should Be More Assertive

Non-aggressive assertiveness can achieve long-term advantages and have strategic effects.

Ideas

‘Great Power Competition’ Is a Dangerously Simple Frame

To correctly set force posture, the Pentagon needs to look more deeply at the world’s actors, their preferences, and relationships.

Ideas

What Can the Pentagon Realistically Get from Its Advisory Boards?

A former chair says the boards provide a lot, could do better — and help weed out impractical or oversold ideas.

Ideas

The One Area Where the US COVID-19 Strategy Seems to Be Working

By spending lots of money and not worrying about liability, America is beating Europe in the vaccine race.

Ideas

The Border Mess That Trump Left Behind

Reversing the previous administration’s cruelties isn’t the same as an unconditional welcome.

Ideas

The Day Private Willie Mays Threw Out My Dad

Two lives intersect in a story of baseball, military service, and American society in the Korean War era.

Ideas

Biden Wants to Restore NATO. Macron Is Looking to Move On.

The two leaders appeared to talk past each other at this week’s Munich Security Conference.

Ideas

China’s Military-Civil Fusion Strategy: What to Expect in the Next Five Years

Even as the term has all but disappeared from official documents, its tenets are being strengthened and extended.

Ideas

How to Teach Troops about the Constitution

We can’t assume they know enough about what they’re swearing to support and defend.

Ideas

Want to Shed Older Weapons? You Need a Solid Plan

To overcome Congressional resistance, the Pentagon needs to work with combatant commanders and industry to ensure that new systems will be ready to take the place of existing ones.

Ideas

Don’t Downgrade Space

Moves and hints portend a worrying shifting of priorities under the Biden administration.

Ideas

Confederate Military Base Names Just Met Their Gettysburg

A Black admiral, a gruff Marine, a never-Trumper, and the maker of a viral video slamming Confederate sympathizers? Say goodbye to “Fort Bragg” and the rest.