• IRAN WARIraq War’s Aftermath Was a Disaster for the U.S. – the Iran War Is Headed in the Same Direction

    By Farah N. Jan

    The United States military achieved every objective it set when it went to war in Iraq in 2003. But the military outcome and the political outcome are almost never the same thing, and the gap between them is where wars fail.

  • IRAN WARThe Fantasy of the Iran “Commando Option”

    By Brandan P. Buck

    Special Operations Forces cannot do everything. They are a scalpel that policymakers in Washington, DC, have tended to use as a multitool. Their proposed use in Iran for seizing the regime’s stockpile of enriched uranium is but the latest idea in this trend. It is also the most reckless—an idea closer to fantasy than to feasibility.

  • IRAN WARCIA Agents Successfully Executed a Plan for Regime Change in Iran in 1953 – but Trump Hasn’t Revealed Any Signs of a Plan

    By Gregory F. Treverton

    There are lessons in effecting political change in Iran that can be taken, ironically, from the very U.S.- and British-led clandestine campaign in the mid-20th century that set Iran on the road to the intense anti-Western and anti-American sentiment that has characterized its government policy for decades.

  • WAR RHETORICI’ve Studied MAGA Rhetoric for a Decade, and This Is What I See in Hegseth’s Boasts, Action‑Movie One‑Liners and Gloating Over Dominance

    By Casey Ryan Kelly

    When Trump’s first Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, spoke, his professional tone and demeanor were a stark contrast to Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks on U.S.-Israeli combat operations in Iran. Hegseth not only deviated from the measured tone expected from high-ranking military officials. He flippantly employed villainous colloquialism, delivered with a combative and haughty tone, hypermasculine preoccupation with domination, giddiness about violence, and casual attitude toward death.

  • DRONESCounter-Drone Technologies Are Evolving – but There’s No Surefire Way to Defend Against Drone Attacks

    By Jamey Jacob

    Together, these three types of counter-drone technologies – radio frequency, directed energy and kinetic – provide a comprehensive tool kit for addressing the diverse threats posed by unauthorized drones. However, there is no single ideal solution to counter these threats.

  • CHINA WATCHMaking Hay While Trump Shines: China’s Tactical Step Back

    By Joe Keary

    Xi appears to have concluded that the Trump administration’s behaviour presents a strategic opportunity. The turbulence in Washington’s alliances, mixed messaging on commitments and a renewed focus on transactional diplomacy have created space for Beijing to present itself as a comparatively stable and responsible actor.

  • FRAGMENTATED DEFENSEThe Multi-Domain Blind Spot: The Fragmentation of Space and Cyber

    By Catherine Cline

    Modern adversaries do not respect the traditional boundaries between space and cyber and neither can the nation.

  • MILITARY TECHWe’ve Probably Just Seen the USAF’s Secret Electromagnetic Attacker

    By Bill Sweetman

    Another element in the US Air Force’s plans for long-range operations, essential for Asia-Pacific deterrence, may have emerged from under cover of secrecy: a shadowy uncrewed aircraft designed to fly far and slip into an enemy’s defended zone, undetected until it starts jamming radars. Quite likely, it would carry missiles to knock out radars. Put another way, the evidence adds up to an electromagnetic attack aircraft.

  • CHINA WATCHAllfare: China’s Whole-of-Nation Strategy

    By Michael Margolius

    To analyze how states exert their influence, scholars often compartmentalize actions into rigid analytical frameworks, which obscures the holistic scope of the challenge.

  • CHINA WATCHThe Trump Administration’s Cyber Strategy Fundamentally Misunderstands China’s Threat

    By Matthew Ferren

    The adoption of an offense-first strategy is a dangerous miscalculation. It will not diminish Beijing’s campaigns, and it coincides with a significant deterioration of cyber defenses that have kept U.S. networks and Americans safe.

  • POWER-GRID SABOTAGEHacking the Grid: How Digital Sabotage Turns Infrastructure into a Weapon

    By Saman Zonouz

    The darkness that swept over the Venezuelan capital in the predawn hours of Jan. 3, 2026, signaled a profound shift in the nature of modern conflict: the convergence of physical and cyber warfare. The blackout was the result of a precise and invisible manipulation of the industrial control systems that manage the flow of electricity. This synchronization of traditional military action with advanced cyber warfare represents a new chapter in international conflict, one where lines of computer code that manipulate critical infrastructure are among the most potent weapons.

  • NUCLEAR WARWho Can Start a Nuclear War? Inside U.S. Launch Authority and Reform

    By Erin D. Dumbacher

    The U.S. president can order a nuclear launch without consulting anyone, including Congress, and U.S. nuclear weapons have been prepared to launch within minutes since the Cold War. While reforms to U.S. retaliation policy seem unlikely, restraining a president’s ability to launch a first strike could be possible. 

  • COUNTER-DRONE TECHCapturing Rogue Drones

    A new system is capable of repelling and capturing unauthorized drones. The defensive system’s own drones are equipped with an extendable net which snags unruly drones.

  • LESSONS OF THE VIETNAM FAILUREBookshelf: War Lessons from Robert McNamara

    By Robert Wihtol

    Robert McNamara was the architect of the wasteful, unwinnable U.S. involvement in Vietnam. In retrospect, he stressed the importance of understanding local conditions and having an exit strategy: “Before each operation there should be a paper on how to get out. And if you can’t get out, don’t do it.” As the administration is considering expanding its questionable military efforts in the Caribbean into an invasion of Venezuela, it would do well to heed McNamara’s advice.

  • MILITARY TECHNOLOGYElectromagnetic Warfare: NATO's Blind Spot Could Decide the Next Conflict

    By Clara Le Gargasson and James Black

    The war in Ukraine has exposed a critical front long neglected by Western militaries: electromagnetic warfare (EW). Control over this invisible battlespace, where communications are jammed, drones blinded, and precision weapons thrown off course, can decide the outcome of a conflict.