Ideas

Revamp the International Officer Training Program Before Inviting Nations Like Myanmar

For 40 years, the U.S. program has helped strengthen ties with partner nations and their rising military stars. More can be done.

Policy

Hillary Clinton Tears Into Trump's 'Bizarre' National Security

The GOP presidential contender's foreign policy views are 'dangerously incoherent. They are not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies,' she said Thursday in California.

Ideas

The Myth of American Disengagement

For too many in the foreign policy debate, "engagement" is code for unilateral military intervention. Here's a more honest way to measure Obama's record.

Policy

Is There a Hillary Doctrine?

A conversation with Mark Landler about the foreign-policy differences between Obama and his former secretary of state.

Policy

Trump Makes His Own Head Spin Talking Foreign Policy

The Republican front-runner delivered his most scripted address yet laying out what he called his 'consistent' and 'unpredictable' national security ambitions.

Ideas

Genocide, Empty Threats, and a Warning to Obama, Clinton, and Trump

I watched America’s broken promise fuel Radovan Karadzic's terror in Bosnia.

Ideas

Not Just Trump: The Chilling Rise in Global Authoritarianism

Terrorism and drone war are feeding a larger sense of insecurity, driving some to xenophobia and jingoism.

Ideas

The Dangerous Myth of 'America Must Lead'

A world in which the forces of light vie against the forces of darkness, with America charged with ensuring the triumph of good over evil—that isn’t Obama’s world.

Ideas

Why Does Obama Fight Wars He Deems Unwinnable?

The uncertainty he projects about his policies undermine the half-hearted military efforts he undertakes.

Ideas

An Isolationist President, In Love With Drones and Special Forces

Obama’s no realist; history suggests little promise for the path he has chosen for the U.S.

Ideas

The End of the US-Dominated Order in the Middle East

Critics say the Obama doctrine has given Russia the upper hand in the region; the president says Moscow’s welcome to try to use it.

Ideas

The Hidden Costs of Obama's Vision of American Power

Grand strategies are judged by their consequences, not by their intentions, and in the Middle East the consequences are not looking pretty.

Ideas

In Defense of the Obama Doctrine

Obama is still trying to win Washington over to American power as he sees it: limiting military interventions while convening players for peace.

Ideas

The Obama Doctrine

The U.S. president talks through his hardest decisions about America’s role in the world.

Policy

The 3 Worst National Security Ideas Out of the Iowa Debate

A closer look at the candidates’ remarks on foreign policy reveal plenty of bumper-sticker slogans, but few serious proposals that could actually help keep the country safe.

Policy

The Obama Doctrine Has No Heir in Hillary Clinton

As Clinton puts more distance between her foreign policy and President Obama’s, his national security legacy may prove short-lived.

Policy

Annotated: President Obama’s 2016 State of the Union Address

A complete transcript of the president's speech from Tuesday night—with an eye on what lies ahead in U.S. national security. Click the yellow highlights for notes, thoughts, charts and links.

Policy

Swooning for Saudi Arabia

What the Middle East needs is not intensified conflict, as some 2016 contenders advocate, but a series of political compromises to help end the civil wars traumatizing the region.

Threats

Syrian Refugees in Turkey Are Facing the Same Terror They Once Fled

A journalist's death exemplifies a bitter truth: The easiest and closest refuge is not always the safest.