In a review of Stanley McChrystal's My Share of the Task, Max Boot says throughout McChrystal's career, the general was unshakably dedicated to his soldiers, to his wife, and, above all, to the Army and nation.
Max Boot says recent films about the CIA focus on the agency's successful operations, but also highlight a real problem—that it's actually a hypercautious bureaucracy.
Douglas Dillon Fellow Micah Zenko analyzes the potentially serious consequences, both at home and abroad, of a lightly overseen drone program and makes recommendations for improving its governance.
A precipitious drawdown to 6,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014 would cripple the U.S. counterterrorism mission and Afghan security forces, vastly increasing the risk of a Taliban takeover, says Max Boot.
Why do mass shootings, such as the December 2012 incident at a Connecticut elementary school, occur more frequently in the United States than other major democracies? This Backgrounder examines select countries.
The United States' approach to counterinsurgency, championed by General David Petraeus, helped produce stunning results in parts of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The independent report of the Accountability Review Board examines the circumstances surrounding the September 11-12, 2012, killings of four U.S. government personnel in Benghazi, Libya.
Micah Zenko says, "Similar to everyday choices like which brand of cereal to buy, how senior military officials present and characterize military options strongly influences policymakers' decisions."
Richard A. Falkenrath says Showtime's blockbuster series Homeland is great television, but not a useful guide to real-world homeland security. Hint: we always tap the suspect's cell phone.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released this report on December 10, 2012. The report reports data on apprehensions and successful illegal entries from 2006 to 2011.
Max Boot reviews The Generals by Thomas E. Rick, a book that traces the evolution of prevailing attitudes toward the promotion and relief of generals from the 1940s to present day, seeking to discover how the Army changed so dramatically in the past sixty-plus years and the consequences for the future of American military power.
The Public Interest Declassification Board, established by Congress, released this report on "Transforming the Security Classification System" on December 6, 2012.
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.
Kenneth Anderson and Matthew C. Waxman say some view automated technology developments as a crisis for the laws of war. But provided we start now to incorporate ethical and legal norms into weapons design, the incremental movement from automation to genuine machine autonomy already underway might well be made to serve the ends of law on the battlefield.
The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda. Download the printable CFR Experts Guide.
The author analyzes the potentially serious consequences, both at home and abroad, of a lightly overseen drone program and makes recommendations for improving its governance.