Ideas

The Pentagon Must Replace Some Hackable Computer Chips

Last year’s vulnerability revelations, combined with the tardiness of manufacturers’ responses, leave the military with an expensive choice.

Policy

Turkey Will Make F-35 Parts Throughout 2020, Far Longer Than Anticipated

U.S. officials had aimed to get Turkish companies out of the jet’s supply chain by March.

Ideas

The Global Race for Big National-Security Ideas Is On

The United States faces genuinely new challenges—but tries to understand them using outmoded theories from a bygone era.

Ideas

Iran’s Smart Strategy

The Iranians chose neither to fold nor to fight. It is not clear at this point who was more deterred by whom.

Ideas

The US, Iran, and the Consequences of Breaking International Law

Some in the U.S. act as if only naked might matters in foreign policy. Yet American policy in Iran and Iraq illustrates something different.

Ideas

Why US Officials Are Revealing More about Cyber Ops

It’s part of a “costly signaling” gambit. Will it deter America’s enemies?

Threats

US, Iran Back Away From Conflict—For Now

The crisis appears to be cooling, at least for now, as U.S. lawmakers — and presumably the president — return their focus to the looming impeachment trial in the Senate.

Threats

Offering No Evidence, Esper Says Soleimani Attack On US Was ‘Days’ Away

Meanwhile, confusion continues over draft letter citing plans to move U.S. forces in Iraq.

Ideas

The Blueprint Iran Could Follow After Soleimani’s Death

Here’s what to expect after the U.S. killing of Iran’s most powerful military commander.

Ideas

The Soleimani Assassination Is America’s Most Consequential Strike This Century

The U.S. attack against the top Iranian general will have far greater repercussions than the killings of al-Qaeda and ISIS leaders.

Threats

Soleimani Strike Could Imperil US Troops In Iraq

Trump and his allies have sought to frame Iraq’s response to the strikes as a choice between Tehran and Washington, but the situation is not so black-and-white for Baghdad.

Ideas

The US Recently Made a Smart Move Toward Iran. Killing Soleimani Wasn’t It

The decision to focus on Tehran’s proxies in the wake of the embassy attack was the right course.

Ideas

Iran Loses Its Indispensable Man

The killing of Qassem Soleimani robs the regime of the central figure for its ambitions in the Middle East.

Threats

Iran’s Soleimani Killed in Trump-Ordered Airstrike

The stunning killing of the Quds Force leader follows Iranian-backed militia attacks on U.S. embassy in Iraq, and months of Tehran testing Washington’s stomach for violence.

Ideas

In Iraq, the US Gets Hit Where It Hurts

The storming of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad demonstrated that America doesn’t have a monopoly on pressure.

Ideas

Most-Read of 2020 (So Far)

We're three months into the next year already, if you go by the fiscal calendar. Here's the most-clicked posts on our site since Oct. 1.

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.