In one word—yes.
“I’ve been, in one capacity or another, in the intel business for 52 years and I don’t remember a time when we had been beset by more crises and challenges around the world” -James Clapper
During the Forum, Secretary Johnson focused on the evolving nature of the terrorism threat, what we need to do in response, and the need for resiliency.
The Aspen Security Forum offers the opportunity to hear directly from the people developing and executing our security strategy.
Over the last 15 years, the fervent embrace of drone strikes have helped the U.S. create the most far-reaching counterterrorism apparatus in history.
Many people — ordinary citizens and high-ranking government officials alike — tacitly view the torture issue as a moral dilemma. They acknowledge that the practice is morally repugnant, but they also assume that it is a fast and effective method for securing vital information that cannot otherwise be obtained.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee released its findings of a 6,200 page report detailing a secret CIA program of detention and torture implemented under President George W. Bush.
On March 12, Congressman Adam B. Schiff’s op-ed “Let the Military Run Drone Warfare” ran in the New York Times, pushing an agenda that’s been on the lips of a number of wonks and politicians ever since Obama’s May 2013 “drone speech”: Transfer the U.S. drone program from the Central Intelligence Agency to Joint Special […]
Ethiopia’s signing last month of a $800 million broadband network with Chinese telecoms giant ZTE has some pundits again focusing on Chinese economic espionage in Africa. The agreement calls for the establishment of a 4G broadband network in the capital Addis Ababa and a 3G network throughout the rest of the country. The project should […]
Among Pakistan’s many problems—rampant power cuts, extremist violence, anemic economic growth, widespread poverty—it can seem puzzling that a disease that has claimed only 58 new victims in the last few years has commanded so much attention. Polio, or poliomyelitis, has suffered a stunning defeat in the last 30 years, with a worldwide eradication rate of […]
The fact that the end users, the Free Syrian Army, to whom the US government has decided to send ‘lethal aid,’ is closely affiliated with individuals and organizations still listed on the Department of Treasury’s ‘SDN’ List, people and groups the Office of Financial Assets Control (OFAC) has banned as importers or recipients of US goods (especially weapons), doesn’t seem to bother the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Perhaps the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is confused? Unaware that a transfer of weapons from the US, directly or through an intermediate buyer, to any organization or individual listed on OFAC’s list would constitute an illegal arms sale?
Each week, the editorial team at ForeignPolicyBlogs.com publishes a list of must-read articles from around the web. This week: Tweeting diplomacy, Cuba, Jordan, the U.S. in Pakistan, and one article on Margaret Thatcher.
Not so long ago, after twelve hours in the air, I found myself stranded at an international airport at 2 in the morning. The flight had been delayed—my pre-arranged pickup had abandoned his mission or just not shown up, and there was one taxi about to pull out and head home for the night. I was still 90 miles from my room for the night, and offered him twice the normal rate to take on one last fare, which he pointed out, wasn’t even close, direction-wise, to his own waiting bed. But for twice the money, and for Allah, he would do it.
Prompted by the release of the Hollywood film “Zero Dark Thirty,” the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative Washington think tank, hosted a panel a few weeks back on the subject of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (EITs). The panelists were three high-ranking officials of the Central Intelligence Agency from the administration of George W. Bush. Gen. Michael […]
Also check out Foreign Policy Blogs’ Maxime Larive (“Great Decisions 2013: Imperfect Union. From Survival to Existentialism”) and Alex Corbeil’s (“Morsi, the military and the Egyptian Youth”) reviews of “Great Decisions in Foreign Policy” 2013 season. The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden…Is Screwed By Phil Bronstein Esquire For the first time, the Navy SEAL (“the […]