Security & Defense

Panetta: ‘Will NATO retreat from its responsibilities?’

By Leon Panetta, Department of Defense

From Leon Panetta, Department of Defense:  Since 1949, NATO has been an unprecedented force for global security and prosperity, developing into the most effective and capable and enduring multilateral security alliance the world has ever seen.  

Are Drones Really Working?

By Danya Greenfield

President Obama’s nomination of John Brennan, who currently serves as the White House Senior Advisor for Counterterrorism, should occasion a debate regarding how the United States can best confront, respond to, or mitigate our most pressing security challenges, including the current counterterrorism strategy. In particular, John Brennan’s nomination as CIA director should spur re-evaluation of […]

Needed: A Brain-Based Approach to Strategy

By Harlan Ullman

Suppose you are in great health, exceedingly fit and athletically gifted. During a routine medical checkup, you receive some very bad news. You have developed a degenerative condition. Without a lengthy and painful course of treatment, in five years time or less, you will be hardly able to walk, let alone run or play any […]

Pivot Toward Pacific not Away from Middle East

By Aaron Burgstein

Since the announced “pivot” to the Pacific, much hand-wringing and consternation has focused on what it means for the United States’ security relationships with Europe.

Obama’s Team of Mentors and His Legacy

By Frederick Kempe

President Barack Obama has been commander-in-chief for four years, but the world only now will see the full flower of Obama foreign policy unfold. It likely will have less to do with any grand ambition to shape an increasingly dangerous world, and instead will be focused on avoiding new wars as he focuses on what […]

Video: Interoperability, capabilities, and partnerships top priorities for new NATO commander

By NATO

From NATO:  General Jean-Paul Paloméros said on Monday (14 January) that his top three priorities as Supreme Allied Commander Transformation were to foster Allied interoperability and capabilities and bolstering cooperation with partners.

Mali: No way to go to a war going nowhere

By J. Peter Pham

French aircraft strafed Islamist rebels in Mali for the third day in a row on Sunday. Additional French troops arrived in the West African country’s capital to shore up its rickety transitional government in the face of an offensive by the militants who seized control of northern provinces last spring and have been imposing their […]

Banks seek NSA help amid attacks on their computer systems

By Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post

From Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post:  Major U.S. banks have turned to the National Security Agency for help protecting their computer systems after a barrage of assaults that have disrupted their Web sites, according to industry officials.

Parliament: Cyber attack could fatally compromise British military

By U.K. House of Commons