Threats

Trump's Immigration Order Is a Propaganda Victory for ISIS

The American president has reinforced the victimhood narrative at the core of the Islamic State’s recruitment pitch.

Science & Tech

The Drones of ISIS

Islamic State fighters are launching an ever-wider assortment of deadly drones, even as their UAV factories come under heavy attack.

Ideas

How Many Airstrikes Did US Forces Execute in 2016?

Estimates from government releases show Iraqi and Syrian targets got hit the hardest.

Ideas

ISIS Ends Its Separate Peace With Turkey

The politics of the attack and its avowal make the Istanbul massacre much more pivotal than many others.

Threats

After ISIS, Iraq's Militias Face Another Fight: Legitimacy

The Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, face a post-war battle for influence that connects Tehran and Washington.

Ideas

The American Leader in the Islamic State

How a military brat from Texas became a devoted jihadist.

Ideas

ISIS in the Caribbean

The spread of Salafi Islam and a government’s blind eye toward recruiting has helped lead more Trinidadians to fight for ISIS than any other country in the Western hemisphere.

Ideas

The Jihadi Thinker Who Ushered in the Era of ‘Anything Goes’ Warfare

Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir died in a recent airstrike, but his ideas will shape Islamic State and al-Qaeda tactics for years to come.

Ideas

As Trump Waits, So Do US War Fighters, Planners

The truth is nobody from the Pentagon to Baghdad knows yet if Trump will escalate or withdraw from America's ongoing fights around the world.

Threats

America’s War-by-Airstrike in Three Charts

The U.S.-led air war against the Islamic State in Mosul, Raqqa, and the region, visualized.

Policy

How Trump Will Fight ISIS Worries Top House Armed Services Democrat

HASC's Rep. Adam Smith, in a C-SPAN-hosted interview, challenged Trump's incoming team to produce a national security strategy that doesn’t alienate the U.S. military's Muslim partners fighting terrorism.

Threats

The YouTube Effect: Intelligence Operations Move Out of the Shadows

The U.S. military’s intel chief describes a shift from “secret wars” to “low-visibility wars.”

Business

White House: $11.6B More Needed for ISIS Fight, Afghanistan

The request brings the expected 2017 price tag for both wars to $85.3 billion.

Policy

Will Trump Keep Obama’s Top Mideast General?

As candidate, he vowed to demand a new anti-ISIS war plan in 30 days. Here’s the top commander who could answer the call—or be fired.

Policy

Now What? Trump’s Long List of National Security Unknowns

Nobody knows what the president-elect will do about ISIS, NATO, or the size and shape of the U.S. military and intelligence workforce.

Ideas

The Shia Power Brokers of the New Iraq

As the embattled country wages war on ISIS in the north, its future may be decided by clerics in the south.

Ideas

Get Ready to Walk Away from Incirlik

As U.S.-Turkey relations cool, retaining access to the air base will require ending our dependence on it.

Threats

US Special Operators Accelerate Killings of ISIS Leaders

Defense Secretary Ash Carter says this will weaken Mosul’s defenders and stop attacks in the United States.

Threats

The Worst Is Yet To Come in Mosul, US Leaders Say

ISIS’ resistance is stiffening as coalition fighters close in on the city.

Science & Tech

ISIS’ Social Media Ops Are Declining, US Military Researchers Say

Over a recent 18-month period, the Islamic State's military-themed messages stayed constant while ones on governance dropped, according to a new report from West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center.