Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Committee on Armed Services, requested that General Martin Dempsey provide an "unclassified assessment of options for the potential use of U.S. military force in the Syrian conflict" and General Dempsey responded on July 19, 2013.

New York Times Chief Washington Correspondant David Sanger interviewed Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter during the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, on July 18, 2013. They discussed military strategy transitioning from two wars, cybersecurity forces, sequestration, nuclear weapons, and intelligence leaks.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence General Counsel Robert Litt delivered remarks titled, "Privacy, Technology, and National Security: An Overview of Intelligence Collection," at the Brookings Institution on July 18, 2013.

Although revelations of NSA spying provoked an angry reaction last week in Brazil, the U.S. and Brazilian administrations should treat this crisis as an opportunity, writes Julia Sweig.

Recent revelations about U.S. surveillance activities in Latin America have provoked a range of negative responses from regional leaders, but the practical consequences will be marginal, says expert Christopher Sabatini.

According to Daniel Markey, Washington must cooperate with Islamabad on drone strikes without diminishing their effectiveness.

While the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has granted U.S. agencies broad legal authority to collect sensitive information, it is hardly a "rubber stamp" for government surveillance requests, says CFR's Matt Waxman.

Gayle Lemmon explores the question of how many U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014.

Micah Zenko examines past examples of U.S. military interventions to inform action in Syria.

"The liberals and revolutionaries who are now dancing in the streets must not rest on their laurels, but must begin agitating for a sustained national dialogue to reinterpret the proper role of the armed forces in the life of the country," writes Steven Cook.

Max Boot argues against claims that the man who revealed NSA secrets saved the U.S. from dictatorship.

Reza Aslan writes about the evolving political changes in Egypt.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran's Association (IAVA) conducts a yearly survey to understand the "challenges and opportunities of [veterans'] day-to-day lives" and how the organization can better address their needs.

How can the United States protect cyberspace "control system of our country," without restricting the open "flow of information on the Internet"? What should countries consider when developing international cybersecurity standards and protocol? What should their citizens know to protect their information and their rights? Cybersecurity Policy Research Links provide news, background information, legislation, analysis, and international efforts to protect government and the public's information.

CFR Senior Fellow Max Boot and the Brookings Institution's Michael Doran argue that the United States should relearn the Cold War craft of political warfare to promote its interests in the Middle East.

Frank Klotz examines President Obama's Berlin speech and his new nuclear weapons guidance and finds them to be a sensible and balanced approach in the post-Cold War world.

Although there is no formal institutional connection between India and NATO, India and the NATO allies, most importantly the United States, informally share an interest in maintaining maritime security in the Indian Ocean and have spent significant resources to combat piracy in this vast area.

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The Obama administration relies on drones for one simple reason: they work. Drone strikes have devastated al Qaeda at little financial cost, at no risk to U.S. forces, and with fewer civilian casualties than many alternative methods would have caused.

Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) created a code of conduct, modeled after the Djibouti Code of Conduct, to increase regional cooperation in combatting piracy. The code of conduct was signed on June 25, 2013, after a conference on maritime safety and security in Yaounde, Cameroon and is also known as the Yaounde Declaration.

Drones are not helping to defeat al Qaeda and may be creating sworn enemies out of a sea of local insurgents. Embracing them as the centerpiece of U.S. counterterrorism would be a mistake.