Commentary

America’s defense industrial base is in the throes of major change. For the first time in 40 years, major power war is a real possibility. Conflicts in Ukraine and Israel are providing a harrowing glimpse of what that war might…

It was 1940. War raged across Asia and Europe. America had not yet joined the war, but the country was beginning to prepare for the worst. Franklin D. Roosevelt sat in the White House, speaking to his fellow citizens in one of his famous…

The offensive al-Shabaab launched in late February 2025 marks its most ambitious push in years, reversing government gains and reasserting control in swathes of central and southern Somalia. The rapid loss of government control underscores…

Almost four years on from the launch of the trilateral AUKUS pact, the partners’ Pillar II advanced capabilities effort remains a solution in search of a problem. Led by lofty shared ambitions in a host of technological areas, rather than…

While serving on the National Security Council staff in the Biden administration, I was tasked with strengthening the resilience of U.S. critical infrastructure, namely its reliance on GPS for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT)…

When the Pentagon opened combat roles to women in 2015, many assumed the debate on full sex integration in the U.S. military was over. But Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth’s March 12 order to review military fitness, body composition, and…

In a recent interview broadcast live on French television, President Emmanuel Macron declared: Ever since there has been a nuclear doctrine since Charles de Gaulle, there has been a European dimension of vital interests. I have remained…

Has Beijing found a new “assassin’s mace” to keep the U.S. military out of a fight over Taiwan? Ongoing debates over how China’s military would counter U.S. intervention often focus on precision strikes against U.S. forces in the Western…

Maj. Jim Mauldin, a U.S. Army special forces officer of mammoth size and prodigious strength, stood in my office doorway, blocking all light. He wanted something from me, his battalion commander. Jim spoke in a southern Virginia drawl with…

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2021 In 2007, I spent Memorial Day in Fallujah. Although I was on my fifth tour in Iraq, it was the first deployment when I buried friends. I attended more than three…