Defense & Security

"Nuclear weapons seem to be in almost everybody's bad book, but the fact is that they are a powerful force for peace. Deterrence is most likely to hold when the costs and risks of going to war are unambiguously stark. The more horrible the prospect of war, the less likely war is. Deterrence is also more robust when conquest is more difficult.…

Between 2008-2012 over 144 million people were displaced by a sudden onset of disasters in more than 122 countries, a number far higher than the number of refugees and internally displaced by conflict and persecution during the same period.  Unpredictable climate-related calamities and the associated socio-economic costs test our current legal…

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, was killed on the 26th of October in a raid carried out by U.S. Special Forces when he detonated a suicide vest in the Syrian province of Idlib. In a statement the following day, U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged the role of Iraq, Turkey, Russia, the Kurds, and the Syrian government in…

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the most powerful alliance in history. Since World War Two, with American leadership, NATO has guaranteed the security, stability, and prosperity of the international order. It protected democracies from the Soviet Union’s aggression during the cold war. Today, NATO continues to ensure global peace and…

As the world’s attention is increasingly focused on Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf, it’s essential to look at the civil war in Yemen, a battlefield in the proxy fight between the U.S. and Iran.  The conflict in Yemen—one of the Arab world’s poorest states—has roots that extend back to the Arab Spring uprisings of the early 2010s—and…

By terminating of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, a key Cold War-era arms control pact, the United States and Russia have reignited the risk of a global arms race.  On August 3rd, 2019, the United States formally announced its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, a key Cold War-era arms control…

During a trip to Poland on July 31st, 2019, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stated that “Germany will not take part in the sea mission presented and planned by the United States,” pointing out that the U.S. strategy of exercising maximum pressure against Iran was wrong. After withdrawing from the Iran Nuclear Deal—formally known as…

The United Kingdom's national security challenges are amplifying by the day. Existing security measures and strategies are incapable of combating the hydra of extremism, foreign espionage, international terrorism, and serious organized crime. Drug trafficking, immigration, and containerized illegal trade, and their detrimental impact on industry…

With the advent of the twenty-first century came differing classifications of national security threats and a shifting order of strategic preeminence. The risk of extremism and consistent alienation of citizens in European countries have both expanded and diversified. Some European Union member states in the EU require security sector reforms and…

With a potential peace settlement on the horizon, much will depend on the prospects and challenges for the integration of Taliban battlefield commanders and fighters into the ranks of the Afghan military, police, and security service—else they could become a significant source of instability, igniting a new conflict by morphing into another…

For the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the National People's Army, strategic positioning is key to spreading influence from the organization's core to the grassroots level. NPA tactics of dispersal, concentration, and shifting can be viewed from two perspectives: in line with their activities or ideological, political, and…

Back in 2004, when Afghan and American generals were laying the foundations for the post-Taliban Afghan army and security forces the number one question in the minds of everybody around the table was “who will pay for it?”  In those days, it was assumed the burden would fall on the United States and its allies, but that calculation is changing…