This is one of two pieces by our contributor James Kitfield, who’s won more Gerald Ford Defense Reporting awards than anyone else (3), on the challenges and mistakes America has made in grappling with the complex threat of global terrorism. As James puts it in his summary sentence: U.S. counterterrorism forces continue to learn and adapt… Keep reading →

Apparently following North Korea’s playbook for getting under the skin of President Trump, Iran wheeled a new missile, named the Khorramshahr, through Tehran during a parade last week on Friday, held to commemorate the 1980 start of the Iran-Iraq war. A few hours later, Iran published a video of a launch, see Figure 1 for… Keep reading →

North Koreans are showmen: large 16-wheeled off-road trucks carrying missiles through the streets of Pyongyang are all about showing the ‘American Bastards’ that North Korea has credible road-mobile ICBMs. The ‘Young General,’ as Kim Jong-Un likes to style himself, has even claimed those ICBMs can threaten San Diego, Texas and Washington DC. American leaders have… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The most challenging national security problem for the Obama administration may be one of its own creation: the micromanagement of the Pentagon and Intelligence Community by a bloated and lackluster National Security Council. This is one of those stories I’ve talked with dozens of people about for months. Every single person with whom I’ve spoken… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Vatican remains one of the world’s great powers. Pope Francis can’t deploy divisions, so Stalin might dismiss him and his organization. However, I’ve never forgotten a comment by Doug Simon, one of my Drew University political science professors at a semester I spent studying the United Nations. “Who do you think has the best intelligence organization in… Keep reading →

[UPDATED 2:10 pm with comment from President Obama & Pentagon spokesman Kirby] Western media are hardly going easy on Russia. But in all the often-excellent coverage I’ve read so far of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 disaster – which claimed 295 lives – no one* is pointing out two basic facts that point towards Russia and… Keep reading →

LONDON: Sitting in my room here across the street from the building where D-Day was planned and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower huddled for months worrying over those shallow beaches and terrible cliffs, it’s easy to lose sight of the current agonistes faced by Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon leadership and our allies about the F-35A fire.… Keep reading →

The nuclear deal reached with Iran in Geneva opens a new era in US-Iranian relations, even if the agreement is a tentative one. For the first time since Iran’s secret nuclear work was discovered in 2002, the two nations have outlined a way to allay fears the Islamic Republic is building nuclear weapons. The Geneva agreement… Keep reading →

This year’s Farnborough Airshow is bookmarked by the Euro crisis, and the fates of the Chinese and American economies. On the defense side, there is the end of a land war era for the U.S. and significant uncertainty about how global events will change how countries seek to arm and defend themselves in the years… Keep reading →

Little progress was made towards a deal between Iran and the six major powers at talks this week in Iraq.With speculation about a possible Israeli strike still high, one key aspect of a possible conflict with Iran has been little discussed. Michael Adler, an expert on Iran’s nuclear capabilities at the Woodrow Wilson Center here… Keep reading →