The United States' approach to counterinsurgency, championed by General David Petraeus, helped produce stunning results in parts of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The U.S. Senate voted on December 4, 2012 to approve amendment 3262 to the National Defense Authorization Act, S. 3254. The amendment requires Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to provide a report to the Armed Services Committees regarding U.S. military options in Syria.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave this speech, "The Fight Against Al Qaeda: Today and Tomorrow", at the Center for a New American Security on November 20, 2012.

On the subject of targeted killings, Micah Zenko says nations must be transparent about their adherence to international law and defend attacks' proportionality.

Rather than focus on dramatic raids and high-tech drone strikes, special operations should refocus its attention on working with and through non-U.S. partners to accomplish security objectives, says Linda Robinson.

In this world of grave uncertainty and looming threats, it is unlikely that the United States will ever have a peacetime president again, says Micah Zenko.

The argument of Thomas Ricks' new book, The Generals, is simple: since the end of World War II, the combat performance of the U.S. Army has been subpar, primarily because the highest-ranking generals have been reluctant to fire underperforming generals lower in the chain of command.

While effective, Special Operations Forces (SOF) have little lasting effects, so the increased reliance on SOF to get the job done in the Middle East and South Asia is worrisome, says Max Boot.

Micah Zenko says that while it's admirable for senior defense leadership to adopt a forward-looking approach, the U.S. military cannot predict where future conflicts will emerge and where they will be deployed to fight.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave these remarks to the PLA Engineering Academy of Armored Forces in Beijing, China on September 19, 2012.

The Department of Defense released this strategy document, "Capstone Concept for Joint Operations: Joint Force 2020" on September 10, 2012.

A history of targeted killings and the U.S. policy stance toward their use in military practices.

Max Boot says public apathy isn't necessarily fatal for the war effort. It could even provide the opportunity to finally get it "right."

Leslie H. Gelb says Kofi Annan's mission in Damascus was doomed from the start. Obama should not try to fill the void—but rather leave that mostly to Syria's neighbors.

In her testimony before the House Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, Linda Robinson details how U.S. Special Operations Forces can be restructured to better confront global challenges.

Max Boot says the Middle East remains in turmoil. The U.S. should boost its air and naval assets in Asia but leave the other military branches free to focus on other regions.

Any action Brazil takes in Africa should be based on peaceful cooperation and not military escalation, writes Nikolas Kozloff.

With Mali's north under rebel control, fears are growing that a breakaway Islamist state could emerge, writes Xan Rice at the Financial Times.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave these remarks at the Shangri-La Security Dialogue on June 2, 2012 in Singapore.

NBC News published this Department of Justice confidential white paper on February 5, 2013, which outlines the legal framework that would allow the U.S. government to "use lethal force in a foreign country" against a U.S. citizen highly involved with al-Qaeda or its associates. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators requested all classified documents related to the legality of targeted killings of Americans be released.