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.

The 113th Congress continues the trend in a gradual increase in religious diversity that is mirroring trends in the country as a whole.

A "disposition matrix," the continuously expanding database that highlights intelligence on targets and strategies for handling them, has become an important aspect in one of the most difficult categories of suspected terrorists: U.S. citizens.

Through an in-depth analysis of modern Mexico, Shannon O'Neil provides a roadmap for the United States' greatest overlooked foreign policy challenge of our time--relations with our southern neighbor.

Harvard University professor and economist Martin Feldstein, and Princeton University professor and economist Alan Blinder discuss the implications of the fiscal cliff and how an agreement can be reached.

Julia E. Sweig argues that President Obama has an opportunity to revitalize U.S. relations with its neighbors to the south.

Julia E. Sweig says the recent "fiscal cliff" deal marks the end of the grand bargain, and "the new normal in Washington is one of hyper partisanship, in which the Republicans have learned that if they wait long enough the Democrats will soften at the end of negotiations."

A former top National Security Council officer in the Bush White House tells the full inside story of the Bush administration and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

President Obama signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (also called the "fiscal cliff bill") into law on January 2, 2013.

President Obama signed the annual National Defense Authorization Act for FY13 into law on January 2, 2013.

After coming to a slow crawl on the fiscal deal, this Congress will leave a legacy of the fewest enacted laws than any since 1947; Jonathan Allen writes that the best the 112th Congress has been able to do is "avert the worst."

The November election had many consequences, but few may be as profound as its impact on the likelihood of immigration reform, says Richard N. Haass.

Elections throughout the world in 2012 brought several countries to a crossroads as they struggled with the eurozone debt crisis, the formation of post-Arab Spring governments, and recovery from economic malaise. This timeline revisits twelve of the year's most pivotal elections.

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.

The McKinsey Global Institute explains how to increase and create a better American infrastructure while saving money.

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.

In an interview with PRISM, Richard N. Haass discusses U.S. foreign policy in the context of the war on terror, the conflict in Syria, and a number of other issues.

Michael A. Levi says, "The benefits of the oil and gas boom—jobs, wealth and, in the case of natural gas, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions—offer plenty of reasons to continue to develop these resources judiciously. But we should beware of turning this potential blessing into an unintended curse."

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.

Ray Takeyh says, "Ali Khamenei may not want a deal with America, but increasingly he cannot afford not to have one. Ironically, a more circumscribed agreement that allows him to sustain the essential character of his nuclear program and his slogans of resistance may be his path out of the dilemma of his own creation."