War makes for strange bedfellows, and among the oddest pairings that World War II produced was that between "Wild Bill" Donovan's Office of Strategic Services and the emigre German Jewish Marxists he hired to teach Washington about the Nazis.

In this Energy Brief, Blake Clayton and Adam Segal argue that cyber threats to oil and gas suppliers pose an increasingly challenging problem for U.S. national security and economic competitiveness.

The United States' current respite from geopolitical rivalry ought not to be wasted, writes Richard N. Haass.

In this Wall Street Journal op-ed, Michael Levi makes the case that Tesla Motors' strengths could also prove to be its weaknesses.

Peter Orzag and John Bridgeland suspect that scarcity will increasingly impact Washington's fiscal policy.

Peter Orszag writes that cities installing traffic cameras to curb speeding and impose fines may also be tempted to monetize the data that those cameras collect.

This timeline examines the events that precipitated the U.S. war in Afghanistan as well as the history of the war.

President Barack Obama gave these remarks in Berlin on June 19, 2013. He discussed a wide-range of foreign policy topics in relation to "peace with justice," including reduction in nuclear weapons, cooperation on climate change, and strategies to combat security threats.

The newly elected moderate Iranian president may lead the United States to loosen economic sanctions on the country, according to Carla Robbins.

In her testimony before the Senate Subcommmittee on Western Hemisphere and Global Narcotics Affairs, Shannon K. O'Neil discusses the United States' bilateral security relationship with Mexico and argues that a strong and safe Mexico will have positive benefits for the United States, while a dangerous Mexico will have repercussions far beyond the southern U.S. border.

The U.S. education system is not as internationally competitive as it used to be; in fact, the United States has slipped ten spots in both high school and college graduation rates over the past three decades, according to a new report and scorecard from the Council on Foreign Relations' Renewing America initiative, which examines the domestic foundations of U.S. power. U.S. national security is directly linked to issues such as education because shortcomings among American workers threaten the country's ability to compete with other countries and set a compelling example internationally.

"It is troubling that someone who lectured on constitutional law for a dozen years…would misidentify the president's primary pledge and obligation," Micah Zenko writes. In this article, Zenko highlights the discrepancies between constitutional obligations of the U.S. presidency and what President Obama and former President Bush have identified as primary obligations.

The scorecard infographic and accompanying progress report, "Remedial Education: Federal Education Policy," highlights the main challenges facing the U.S. education system and assesses whether federal education policy is effectively addressing them.

In a Foreign Affairs snapshot, Thomas E. Donilon says, "Energy is a profoundly important aspect of U.S. national security and foreign policy: the availability of reliable, affordable energy is essential to economic strength at home, which is the foundation of U.S. leadership in the world."

Yes, the United States is pivoting to Asia, one of the reasons for the tête-à-tête last week between Barack Obama and Xi Jinping. But behind the scenes, President Obama has actually been reorienting U.S. diplomacy toward Europe.

Matt Waxman argues that even if President Obama is able close Guantanamo, nothing he has done so far will prevent the creation of another detention facility.

The U.S. military can learn from West Point about how to approach sexual misconduct cases, writes Jeanne Hull.

"[U.S.] secrecy policy is founded on a set of principles so broadly conceived that they do not provide unequivocal guidance to government officials who are responsible for deciding whether or not to classify particular topics."

Peter Orszag explains that employment, in and of itself, may provide health benefits in the form of decreased rates of depression, increased mobility, and improved life expectancy as compared to those who are unemployed or retired.

The Supreme Court ruled on June 13, 2013, that Myriad Genetics could not patent human genes they isolated from the bloodstream, because the company "did not create anything," but that synthetic forms of the genes may be eligible for patents.