Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

Explore the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s latest insights, commentary, articles, media hits, and in-depth reports

All commentary & analysis

In the News

Oct 1, 2018

Woods Quoted in Express UK on the Facebook Hack

By Beau Woods

Read the full article here

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

In the News

Sep 29, 2018

Woods Quoted in The Telegraph on Facebook Breach

By Beau Woods

Read the full article here

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

IranSource

Sep 28, 2018

Europe Unlikely to Avoid Trump’s Iran Sanctions

By SAMANTHA SULTOON

Prompted by the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA), the remaining signatories are urgently seeking ways to maintain the agreement—both for strategic reasons and to preserve its trade benefits. A British, French, and German proposal to launch an independent channel for maintaining trade […]

Iran
The 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade during a drill held in the Golan Heights in northern Israel. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Issue Brief

Sep 27, 2018

The evolving Iranian strategy in Syria: A looming conflict with Israel

By Nader Uskowi

Iran began its military involvement in Syria in 2011, at the outbreak of the civil war. Tehran’s immediate objective was to defeat the Syrian opposition militarily to save Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The maintenance of the Shia-Alawi-dominated regime in Damascus was key to the Islamic Republic’s long-term regional strategy, the creation of a contiguous Shia […]

Iran Security & Defense

IranSource

Sep 27, 2018

Beware of Following Another Chalabi Figure Into an Iranian Quagmire

By Borzou Daragahi

A tale from more than a decade ago serves as a warning for both the US and Iran in the wake of the devastating September 22 terror attack on a military parade that killed at least twenty-five people in the provincial capital of Ahvaz. It was around 2006 when reports started emerging of a man […]

Iran

In the News

Sep 26, 2018

Metzl in the Hill: US has an Ace up its Sleeve in the Great Race with China: Immigration

By Jamie Metzl

Read the full article here.

China

IranSource

Sep 26, 2018

Not My Fault: Trump and Rouhani Exchange Blame Over Failure to Meet

By Holly Dagres

“Now I’m Trump’s lovely man!” one Persian language tweet read with a picture of a smiling President Hassan Rouhani. The tweet was from hashtag #LovelyMan, an Iranian social media response to US President Donald Trump’s tweet. On September 26, shortly before he addressed the United Nations General Assembly, Trump wrote on Twitter: “Despite requests, I […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Sep 26, 2018

Trump accuses China of meddling in midterms. It’s all about trade.

By David A. Wemer

Trump offered no specific evidence of China’s purported “meddling” during his speech, but tied it directly to the trade issue, saying Beijing wants him to lose “because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade and we are winning on trade.”

China Trade and tariffs

New Atlanticist

Sep 25, 2018

Trump puts America first at the United Nations

By Ashish Kumar Sen and David A. Wemer

“The United States will not tell you how to live or work or worship,” US President Donald J. Trump told the assembled leaders, but “we only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return.”

International Organizations Iran

In the News

Sep 25, 2018

Metzl Joins CNN to Talk Trump and UNGA

By Jamie Metzl

Watch the full discussion here.

New Atlanticist

Sep 25, 2018

Europe unlikely to avoid Trump’s Iran sanctions

By Samantha Sultoon

The establishment of a sanctions evasion tool would undermine the EU’s own sanctions enforcement by creating a domestic workaround that could to be applied to any other sanctions program now or in the future.

Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion France

IranSource

Sep 25, 2018

Making Sense of Iran’s Economy Once All US Sanctions Resume

By Hoorozan

Though August 6 marked the first set of re-imposed US sanctions against Iran, the economy had already started feeling the pain months earlier. Uncertainty about the future stirred up turbulence in the Iranian foreign exchange, and caused scarcity as well as a sharp price increase of essential goods, in addition to the gradual withdrawal of […]

Iran

In the News

Sep 24, 2018

Ullman in UPI: Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court Hearings Present a Different Danger

By Harlan Ullman

Read the full article here.

United States and Canada

In the News

Sep 24, 2018

Vershbow Joins Fox Business to Discuss North Korea

By Alexander Vershbow

Watch the full discussion here.

Korea

NATOSource

Sep 24, 2018

ANGRY TRIDENT

By August Cole

Editor’s note: This short story describes a hypothetical future war in northern Europe between Russian and NATO forces using advanced technology. RUSSIA-NORWAY BORDER Small mountains of bicycles marked the Norwegian-Russian border at the Storskog crossing, piled high like shimmering haystacks in the November moonlight. Alongside them on the Russian side were cars and buses dusted […]

Conflict Defense Technologies

In the News

Sep 21, 2018

Manning in the Hill: Positive Moon-Kim Summit Creates a Diplomatic Opening in North Korea

By Robert A. Manning

Read the full article here.

Korea

IranSource

Sep 21, 2018

The Books the Trump Administration Should Read to Understand Iran

By Holly Dagres

When US President Donald Trump delivered his Iran strategy speech in October 2017, rather than focus on the important points that were being made, most Iranians zeroed in on him referring to the Persian Gulf as the “Arabian Gulf.” It was seen as a major insult by many Iranians who proudly view the body of […]

Iran

IranSource

Sep 20, 2018

Iranian Attacks in Iraq Are More About Messaging Than Reality

By Borzou Daragahi

US and Iranian officials traded accusations earlier this month over an attack on Iran’s consulate in the southern city of Basra, followed by mortar or rocket attacks that appeared to target US missions in the capital, Baghdad. Tehran blames Washington for being behind the trashing of its consulate. The allegation was simply untrue. The protesters […]

Iran Iraq

Report

Sep 19, 2018

Whose truth? Sovereignty, disinformation, and winning the battle of trust

By John Watts

In an era of increasing technological, cultural and geo-political change, the rise of disinformation undermines the institutions that nations rely on to function and creates risks across society. At the heart of the challenge is the battle of truth and trust. In this report, “Whose Truth: Sovereignty, Disinformation and Winning the Battle of Trust, John […]

Disinformation Media

In the News

Sep 19, 2018

Woods Quoted in MIT Technology Review on California Cyber Law

By Beau Woods

Read the full article here.

Cybersecurity Security & Defense
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