Former U.S. NATO ambassador Ivo Daalder argues that the scramble to shore up Europe's conventional defense risks overlooking the continent's greatest security weakness: nuclear deterrence. Europe knows it can't fully trust Washington's guarantee anymore. But he lays out a middle path between dependence and nuclearization that would extend France's and the United Kingdom's nuclear umbrella—a course, he argues, that could even repair the transatlantic alliance.

What people in the region actually believe.

Technology experts Kathleen Curlee and Sam Bresnick argue that China is catching up to the United States in space, commercially and militarily. This poses a threat to U.S. military operations, which rely on space-based capabilities. Washington must invest in space defense and also reduce its reliance on the domain.

What will survive when the boom ends.

Why disengagement is not the answer.

Robert Zoellick, an expert on the global economy who served as U.S. trade representative and World Bank president, makes the authoritative case that President Donald Trump’s antagonism toward Canada and Mexico is destroying an economic and security partnership that that enables the United States to project power globally.

America should spy on foreign companies to help its own.

Julianne Smith, who represented the United States at NATO during the Biden administration, argues that Russian hybrid warfare in Europe is escalating quickly, and NATO is not doing enough to deter it. Putin is attempting to discourage support for Ukraine and undermine faith in Article 5, and NATO is responding with an outdated playbook.

Conflicts in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa have become inseparable.

America isn’t ready for the next wave of foreign influence operations.

Reckoning with the country’s real crisis.

How technology empowers—and imperils—dictators.

What Kyiv needs to survive.

Why America and Iran fight on without victory.

America and its allies must scale together for a new era of war.

Use today’s calm to prepare for the next perfect storm.

The Greenland deal proves self-reliance is not an option.

A new stage in Russia's confrontation with Ukraine—and the West.

The real barriers to competitiveness and innovation are still in place.

In humanity’s quest to constrain the dangers from fast-advancing artificial intelligence, many have looked to the most revolutionary technology that preceded it: nuclear weapons. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has called artificial intelligence “far more dangerous than nukes.” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who assigns The Making of the Atomic Bomb to employees and has likened himself to the Manhattan Project scientist Leo Szilard, describes the most powerful AI models as “weaponizable nuclear materials.” When asked how a technology such as AI can be regulated, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman often references the world’s nuclear materials watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. Even the director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, has made the same comparison.These comparisons capture real parallels. Like nuclear weapons, frontier AI is powerful and hard to control. Like nuclear technology, it can be used for good or for ill. And like the Cold War arms race, the race for AI breakthroughs may reorder the global balance of power. The nuclear analogy, then, seems to offer a blueprint for how to effectively govern a promising but potentially dangerous technology such as AI.

The Trump-Xi summit gives Washington a chance to buy time.

The U.S. military needs to build up its endurance.

The country is collapsing even as its regime survives.

The delusions of summitry and the limits of personalist diplomacy.

How Beijing will weaponize digital chokepoints.

Pressure and pain won’t sap Russia’s resolve in Ukraine.

Slow and steady wins the negotiation.

The Houthis’ bold advance has transformed the Middle East’s wars.

9/11 and the unraveling of American democracy.

American businesses need more foreign capital and know-how.

How Europe can disrupt Moscow’s oil windfall.

How America contained—but didn’t end—the terrorist threat.

A confident Beijing and a pragmatic Washington can get along.

What Washington can do to stop starvation.

New threats demand a new homeland defense.

The Netanyahu doctrine could outlast Netanyahu.

America needs its neighbors to counter China.

How to head off a new arms competition.

How Syria can capitalize on the post-Hormuz economy.

The case for a U.S. military drawdown.

After the Iran war, the region has no good options.

Transforming the military has changed the war—and upended politics.

Civilizationism would upend America’s role in the world.

Conservatives finally won and took over the state.

And why Beijing can’t—or won’t—crack down.

The best soldiers know how to think for themselves.

Congress must lead to compete with Beijing.

Preparing for a world of synthetic pathogens.

What the youngest continent stands to gain from growing old.

Hormuz and the new geography of energy power.