National Security

In my years of government service, I have spent quite a bit of time as a briefcase carrier and “go-fer” for some pretty capable and talented diplomats in the U.S. Foreign Service. While being a diplomat was not my...

At past FPRI history institutes I have praised and thanked the teachers in attendance because I likened them to front-line soldiers in the war to prove the ignorance of America’s youth is not invincible. Our subject this weekend makes...

Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, with extensive help from the Ethiopian Army, has run the Council of Islamic Courts out of the country. The warlords have turned in their heavy weapons, and their personal militias have joined the national army....

Since this is the season for gratuitous and unsolicited advice (see any high school/college graduation ceremony near you), I thought I would join in with some thoughts for General Hayden in his new job at the CIA. I am...

Much ink has been spilled in the aftermath of the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) since its release in February 2006. Overall, many reactions appear to be the same: the document is a mixed bag. Depending upon one’s views,...

Paul Pillar’s article in the March/April 2006 Foreign Affairs, “Intelligence, Policy, and the War in Iraq” makes sad reading.  Pillar, who left the intelligence community last year, would have us believe that from his low-level position therein, he watched while...

The Foreign Policy Research Institute held a conference on the future of American military strategy on 5 December 2005 at the Union League of Philadelphia. A distinguished group drawn from the current and retired ranks of the military (active...

The New Security Environment The post-9/11 security environment is characterized by uncertainty and the need to be prepared to confront a wide range of adversaries across the spectrum of conflict. At one end of the spectrum is the potential...

Recent months have seen a spate of media reporting about the CIA’s involvement with the torture of individuals captured during the war on terror and the resulting secret detention of these individuals in undisclosed locations.  This drumbeat cumulated with...

Beyond theory and beyond the important issue of how we should be fighting the war on terrorism, what is the public understanding of what our Army represents today and where is it going in the future to enhance our...