Ideas

Assessing Trump’s National Security Record

How has he done against four main threats our nation faces?

Threats

N. Korean Hackers Upgraded Their Financial-Theft Tools, Feds Warn

The BeagleBoyz — tied to Pyongyang’s General Reconnaissance Bureau — are thought to have stolen some $2 billion since 2015.

Threats

No Orders To Reduce Troops in South Korea Yet, Esper Says

With traditional U.S. deployments still under review, the defense secretary announced he hopes to visit China by year’s end.

Ideas

Trump’s Nuclear Policy Has Failed

Recognizing that blunders and bad ideas have undermined stability and security is the first step toward recovery.

Ideas

What If Kim Jong Un Dies?

Improvements in U.S.-North Korean relations would still largely be up to Washington.

Ideas

The Coronavirus Gives the US a Chance to Restart Talks with North Korea

Even as Kim launches missiles to distract his worried populace, he is seeking US aid for his country's battle with COVID-19.

Ideas

2020 Dems Need To Get Up To Speed on Nuclear Weapons. Fast.

Front-runners have displayed key misunderstandings, while other candidates have shied away from the topic.

Ideas

Building Post-INF Missiles Would Be a Waste, or Worse

New U.S. intermediate-range ground-launched missiles would deliver more undesirable effects than tactical utility.

Ideas

A Bigger Foreign-Policy Mess Than Anyone Predicted

In the 2010s, global affairs turned out far worse than the most pessimistic scenario foretold by U.S. intelligence experts.

Ideas

Progress, Peril, Hope: The Nuclear Decade in Review

U.S. policies that restrained and shrank atomic arsenals have been abandoned. Yet there are hopeful trends as well.

Ideas

Inside the Collapse of Trump’s Korea Policy

When it comes to America’s last-ditch effort to prevent North Korea from becoming a nuclear power, timing has been everything. Now time’s running out.

Ideas

The Trump Administration’s ‘Denuclearization’ Is A Road to Nowhere

U.S. policy will remain stuck as long as the administration continues to convince itself that the North’s nuclear dismantlement can be achieved on Washington’s timeline.

Threats

How North Korea Soured on Donald Trump

Kim Jong Un only wanted to engage with the president. Now he’s turning on him.

Policy

Esper, Milley Push South Korea to Pay More for US Troop Protection

South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo declined to confirm reports that Trump is asking for a 400-percent hike.

Ideas

On North Korea, the Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost

One of the downsides of highly personalized diplomacy is that when the person in question is debilitated, the diplomacy suffers.

Ideas

Imagine If Obama Had Done This

Republicans have tolerated plenty of foreign-policy moves by Trump that they would never have let his predecessor get away with. Will that continue with Iran?

Ideas

Challenges Pile up on US-South Korea Alliance Agenda

Summer 2019 has been a watershed moment for trends that threaten to compromise South Korea’s position in Northeast Asia.

Threats

The Biggest Winner Of the Japan-South Korea Dispute? China

The Pentagon is on edge after Seoul ends an intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo.

Ideas

How Long Can Trump Keep Ignoring Kim’s Missile Tests?

It’s becoming harder for the president to overlook the fact that the man with whom he claims to have fantastic chemistry is literally going ballistic.

Threats

South Korea's Tough Choice: The US or China?

Caught between its security ally and its top trading partner, Seoul is trying to have it all.