Ideas

Why Soldiers Might Disobey the President’s Orders to Occupy US Cities

Because it might be their duty to do so. Two ethicists at Navy schools explain.

Ideas

Terrorists Aren’t Staying In Jail as Long as You Might Think

Most convicted of terror offenses stay just a few years, and receive far too little rehabilitation support before and after they leave.

Ideas

Milley's Chance to Right His ‘Mistake’

The Joint Chiefs chairman now says he was wrong to walk with the president. Will he survive to push back a second time?

Ideas

Lessons from Yemen’s Missile War

After five years, hundreds of long- and short-range missiles fired, and more than 160 missile-defense intercepts, it’s time to take stock.

Ideas

Stop Training Police Like They’re Joining the Military

If policing is to change, the spotlight must turn toward police academies, where new recruits are first inculcated into the folkways of their profession.

Ideas

We Need Joe Biden

Donald Trump has failed. Our national cohesion and security can’t wait another five years.

Ideas

Dear Mr. Secretary, You Can Rename Army Bases Right Now

If the Army’s civilian leader is serious about starting to address institutional racism, here’s a helping hand.

Ideas

Explainer: What Is Antifa?

Despite Trump's attempts to paint the movement as an organized threat, its members are decentralized, rarely violent, and focused on resisting the persecution of minority groups.

Ideas

Petraeus: Take Rebel Names Off US Army Bases

It is time to remove the names of traitors like Benning and Bragg from our country’s most important military bases.

Ideas

Biden’s Foreign Policy Would Be Better Than Trump's, But Just Barely

The former vice president lacks a consistent philosophy of when and how to use military force.

Ideas

America Is Giving Up on the Pandemic

Businesses are reopening. Protests are erupting nationwide. But the virus isn’t done with us.

Ideas

Ep. 71: The future of Arctic security, with U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Karl Schultz

The Coast Guard commandant shares some of his concerns about China, Russia, how the coronavirus has challenged the force, and more.

Ideas

This is Not a Civil-Military Crisis

Recent statements by uniformed leaders are anodyne expressions about U.S. law. Those by retired four-stars are more problematic.

Policy

What The Iraq War Can Teach Us About Better Policing

One lesson: if you treat a neighborhood like a battlespace, you’re well on the way to losing the war.

Ideas

Cool It With the ‘America In Decline’ Talk

Clear-eyed assessment, not reductive defeatism, is required to develop a foreign policy that meets U.S. interests.

Ideas

James Mattis Denounces Trump as a Threat to the Constitution

In an extraordinary condemnation, the former defense secretary backs protesters and says the president is trying to turn Americans against one another.

Ideas

America’s Generals Must Stand Up to Trump

Our military leaders are willing to take a bullet for this country. But are they prepared to take a pink slip?

Ideas

I Cannot Remain Silent

Our fellow citizens are not the enemy, and must never become so.

Ideas

Police Militarization Has Fostered a Culture that Sees Protesters as ‘The Enemy’

I served 27 years as a police officer, I have observed this militarization firsthand, and studied how it affects confrontations.

Ideas

Is the Conflict in Libya a Preview of the Future of Warfare?

Drones. Mercenaries. Disinformation campaigns waged on social media.