Science & Tech

We’re On the Same Side, Carter Tells Silicon Valley

As the FBI-vs.-Apple battle heats up, the defense secretary makes his own pitch to the tech industry.

Ideas

When the Enemy Is Everywhere: The Rise and Fall of the 'Kill Box' in US Military Strategy

Once a hallmark of state-on-state conflict, simply finding oneself inside of an American kill box in today's counterterrorism wars is enough to be retroactively defined as guilty.

Ideas

Congress Will Rethink Combatant Command Boundaries

Reshaping, or even deleting, some of the four-star headquarters that run America’s military operations around the world could be part of broader Defense Department reforms.

Ideas

Start Preparing for the Collapse of the Saudi Kingdom

Saudi Arabia is no state at all. It's an unstable business so corrupt to resemble a criminal organization and the U.S. should get ready for the day after.

Ideas

Congress Must Stop the Decline of Our Military Readiness

Here's what President Obama's final defense spending request should have included.

Science & Tech

The Army Has Made a Robot Cockroach

Biologically inspired robot bugs could be the next big thing in intelligence collection.

Policy

What Happened When Ash Carter Crashed Davos

The defense secretary's legacy may have been forged in the Alps, connecting economic elites to the Pentagon — and the war on terrorism.

Ideas

Drone Pilots Are Breaking the Old Definitions of Valor

Traditional notions of heroism don't always leave room for those U.S. troops engaged in high-tech, cutting edge warfare.

Business

After OPM Hack, Security-Clearance Requests Will Run Through the Pentagon

The White House directive comes as the OPM shifts its background investigations to a newly-created National Background Investigations Bureau.

Ideas

In an Era of Cheap Drones, US Can’t Afford Exquisite Weapons

Various technological advances are about to make hundred-drone swarms a reality, and a nightmare for today’s top-of-the-line weapons.

Ideas

'Kill-Em-All With Airstrikes' Is Not Working

Here’s a summary of the anti-ISIS bombing campaign: 30,000 fighters - 20,000 killed = 30,000 fighters

Business

The US Military: An Alternative to the Brutalities of the Modern Economy

Millions of service members who live on military bases around the world experience a kind of economic and social security foreign to most of America’s middle class.

Business

Guantanamo Set to Transfer 17 Prisoners, A Milestone in Several Ways

President Obama isn’t letting a legislative freeze stop him from whittling the detainee population to meet a long-held goal.

Business

NSA Will Overhaul Its Workforce Next Year

Spy agency wants to ‘break down cylinders,’ tie domestic and overseas action together, and create an entirely new legal regime.

Ideas

The US Military Just Lost Its Carbon Exemption, But Don't Expect Big Changes Soon

Under the Paris climate agreement, countries are no longer exempted from cutting military emissions. Here's how that figures into U.S. plans, which are not set to begin for many years.

Business

How US Military Structure Overcomes the Gender Pay Gap

While sexual harassment remains an issue, military pay is non-negotiable and all troops must 'lean-in'.

Ideas

Access to Talent: Why Shattering the Military's Glass Ceiling Matters

Future wars will be won far more by out-thinking enemies than by out-muscling them, and including women in every part of the U.S. military makes America’s defenses stronger.

Business

Special Ops Survey Showed 85% Opposed Serving With Women

If integration of women is going to work, special operations leaders will have to convince the rank-and-file.

Business

No Exceptions: Carter Opens All Military Jobs to Women

In a historic decision, Ash Carter rebuffs Marine Corps, says the joint “force of the future” must integrate at every level and open its doors to America’s finest — male or female.