U.S. Strategy and Politics

Ask CFR Experts

What are the costs and benefits of China's relationship with North Korea?

Asked by Garrett Smith, from Stanford University

Chinese officials see stability on the Korean peninsula under the Korean Armistice as a component that has enabled China's growth for over three decades. Despite a growing difference between the economic systems of China and North Korea, China's communist party leadership feels an affinity with North Korea because its government, like China's, pursues one-party leadership under a socialist banner.

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Primary Sources

U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court: Order Requiring "the Production of Tangible Things" from Verizon, April 2013

The Guardian obtained a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order requiring Verizon to give the National Security Agency "information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the U.S. and between the U.S. and other countries" on an "ongoing, daily basis" from April 25 through July 19, 2013.

See more in United States, Defense/Homeland Security, Intelligence, U.S. Strategy and Politics

Primary Sources

Statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Recent Unauthorized Disclosures of Classified Information, June 2013

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper released a statement to address the recent "unauthorized disclosure" of a U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order. The document requires Verizon to provide the National Security Agency with detailed telephone call records of millions of U.S.-based customers on a daily basis. In response, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has declassified selected details related to the "business records" provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

See more in United States, Defense/Homeland Security, National Security and Defense, U.S. Strategy and Politics

Op-Ed

The No-Plan Zone

Author: Micah Zenko
Foreign Policy

According to Micah Zenko, "We are deluding ourselves if we believe that we need more time to "think through" U.S. military intervention options for Syria. We have an excellent understanding of what those options are, and a vast majority of officials, policymakers, and the American people do not believe they are worth the effort."

See more in United States, Syria, Wars and Warfare, U.S. Strategy and Politics, Congress and Foreign Policy, Foreign Aid, Foreign Policy History

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Will the United States set up a NATO-like Pacific Treaty Organization in Asia? If so, how?

Asked by Felix Seidler, from Institute for Security Policy at the University of Kiel, Germany
Author: Stewart M. Patrick

Despite its strategic "rebalancing" toward Asia, the United States is unlikely to sponsor a collective defense organization for the Asia-Pacific, for at least three reasons: insufficient solidarity among diverse regional partners, fear of alienating China, and the perceived advantages of bilateral and ad-hoc security arrangements.

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After President Obama’s trip to the Middle East, can he be more assertive in solving Israeli-Palestinian issues?

Asked by Mirvet S Muca, Ph.D, from Naugatuck Valley Comm. College

The conventional wisdom has it that second-term presidents, freed from the need to win another election, tend to be bolder in their initiatives. While that logic may apply to President Obama's domestic policy, it is unlikely to extend abroad.

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See more in Middle East, Israel, Palestinian Authority, U.S. Strategy and Politics, Presidency