Content

New Atlanticist

Jul 18, 2013

American Decline: Pure Poppycock!

By Harlan Ullman

A specter is haunting the United States. That specter is one of American decline. But this specter isn’t merely exaggerated. It is poppycock.Those who see in America the conditions that led to the fall of the Roman Empire or the catastrophic Grecian wars between Athens (read America) and Sparta (read China) are simply wrong. The […]

China Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Jul 10, 2013

Mr. President Missing in Action?

By Harlan Ullman

Regional crises abound. Massive protests in Egypt that ended the flailing Morsi government to continued bloodshed from Afghanistan to Syria are representative of these crises.

Intelligence National Security

New Atlanticist

Jul 9, 2013

Scanning Cargo Containers Is More Important than Scanning Emails

By Joerg Wolf

The United States has built huge internet surveillance infrastructures, but failed to implement its own 9/11 law about maritime cargo security.

Cybersecurity Maritime Security

Issue Brief

Jun 24, 2013

US-Iran cultural engagement: A cost effective boon to US national security

By Ramin Asgard and Barbara Slavin

This issue brief of the Atlantic Council’s Iran Task Force outlines the 179-year history of US contacts with Iran, which have experienced periods of breakdown but currently are continuing at a low level despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties. It also recommends actions to advance these exchanges as a national security imperative—especially as the […]

Iran National Security

New Atlanticist

Jun 13, 2013

Weak Intelligence Oversight Stems From Citizen Apathy

By James Joyner

The New York Times editorial board complains, “Except for a few leaders and members of the intelligence committees, most lawmakers did not know the government was collecting records on almost every phone call made in the United States or was able to collect anyone’s e-mail messages and Internet chats.”

Intelligence National Security

New Atlanticist

Jun 12, 2013

Can the West Afford Not to Act in Syria?

By Ulrich Speck

The civil war in Syria reveals many uncomfortable truths about today’s geopolitics. One of them is that the EU has made little progress on a common foreign policy in the last two decades.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jun 11, 2013

Who Decides What’s Secret?

By James Joyner

Glenn Greenwald, the civil-liberties columnist who broke the story about the National Security Agency’s massive collection of metadata on U.S. phone and Internet usage patterns, contends that, despite its being classified Top Secret, “There’s not a single revelation that we’ve provided to the world that even remotely jeopardizes national security.”

Intelligence National Security

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2013

Why NATO Won’t Intervene in Syria

By James Joyner

NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen reiterated Friday that the Alliance will not intervene militarily in Syria. While he repeatedly made the same assurances regarding Libya before NATO’s ultimate action, there’s good reason to believe him this time.  First, as Rasmussen noted, “There is a clear difference between Libya and Syria. We took responsibility for the […]

National Security NATO

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2013

The Ghosts of Task Force Smith

By Pete Dillon

Here we are again. Since World War I the United Sates has consistently entered into a post conflict reduction of military capacity that attempts to rebalance the national ledgers and reign in spending.  The contemporary conversation inside the Beltway is saturated with opinions on the best way to proceed this time, even though our nation is […]

National Security Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Jun 3, 2013

What’s Russia Doing in Syria and Why

By Rajan Menon

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has killed some 80,000 of his citizens and driven another 1.7 million into neighboring countries. Unsurprisingly, he has few foreign friends these days. But two have played a pivotal part in his survival: Iran and Russia.

Missile Defense National Security

Experts