Introduction The Obama administration was caught flatfooted by the recent Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. Not only did the intelligence community fail to warn senior off…

With the increase in subnational international activity, the United States should create an appropriately staffed office within the State Department to serve as a facilitator. This achievable bureaucratic reform would enable the U.S. government to appropriately facilitate activity already underway, enlist city and state leaders as allies in U.S. diplomacy, and prevent policy confusion.

Across eight years, two administrations, and the direct interventions of a deputy secretary of state and three special envoys, U.S. attempts to promote a lasting peace for Darfur have failed. The mos…

The imminent drilling of Cuba's first offshore oil well raises the prospect of a large-scale oil spill in Cuban waters washing onto U.S. shores. Washington should anticipate this possibility by imple…

As Zimbabwe moves closer to elections, the prospect for political violence, even civil war, grows. President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and Prime Minist…