United States and Canada

Ukraine Crisis Tests Obama’s Foreign Policy Focus on Diplomacy Over Military Force

By Scott Wilson, Washington Post

Ukraine has emerged as a test of Obama’s argument that, far from weakening American power, he has enhanced it through smarter diplomacy, stronger alliances and a realism untainted by the ideology that guided his predecessor.

US Navy Releases New Arctic Strategy

By US Navy

From United States Navy:  The U.S. Navy released an updated Arctic Roadmap Feb. 24 to prepare naval forces over the next 15 years for operations in the Arctic Ocean.

Strengthening the US-Japan Alliance

On February 26, 2014, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security held a not-for-attribution roundtable briefing on the US-Japan alliance and what it portends for US extended deterrence in Asia. The briefing featured Mira Rapp-Hooper, Stanton nuclear security fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and was presided over by project co-chair Richard […]

Hagel’s Defense Cuts: The Least Bad Choice

By James Joyner

Defense secretary Chuck Hagel announced Monday force cuts that would leave the United States with the smallest Army it has had since 1940. While the Pentagon concedes that this comes with strategic “risks,” the biggest risk is that a future president will nonetheless commit our country to wars that require a massive ground presence.

The Pacific Century Myth?

By James Clad and Robert A. Manning

Straight-line projections may predict America’s imminent ouster as top economy – but they miss much. For some time now, it has been fashionable to say that we have begun what will be a “Pacific Century.” We have seen a flood of books of late, variations on the theme of When China Rules the World, as one put […]

The Pentagon Is Picking an Unnecessary Fight With Congress

By James Joyner

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel previewed the president’s five-year Pentagon budget request expected to be released next week and it is a shot across the bow at Congress. The proposal thumbs its nose at sequestration budget caps, insists on another round of base closures, targets popular acquisitions programs and the National Guard and otherwise flouts the expressed […]

Is DOD Ready for the Defense Challenges of 2024?

By Barry Pavel

Chuck Hagel’s Press Conference Will Be a Hint With the FY2015 defense budget and the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) both due out next month along within a range of upcoming congressional hearings, how should we assess whether our defense establishment is preparing strategically to meet the key security challenges looming in our future?

Foreign Minister Steinmeier on Possible Shift in German Foreign Policy

By Christiane Hoffmann and Ralf Neukirch, Spiegel

Excerpts from interview with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier conducted by Christiane Hoffmann and Ralf Neukirch.

Pentagon Budget Preview: Implications for US Defense

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey previewed the Pentagon’s FY2015 on Monday, February 24. Major highlights included the proposed cutting Army personnel from 480,000 to approximately 440,00; the retirement of both the A-10 Thunderbolt II and the U-2 spy plane; the addition of 4,000 people to […]

Transition Seminar for Adm. Ferguson, Incoming Commander of US 6th Fleet

Working with both European and African allies and maritime partners, US Naval Forces Europe and US Naval Forces Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF)/ US 6th Fleet leads security efforts in an area of responsibility consisting of the eastern half the Atlantic Ocean, hugging Europe and following the coast of Africa from the North Pole to Antarctica. In order […]