Preventing Decoupling between the United States and South Korea

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) shakes hands with US President Donald Trump last summer. Photo Credit: Getty Images By: Evan Cooper, Columnist One of the hazards of President Donald Trump’s “pure bilateralism” approach to foreign policy is that the policies of allies can become unaligned from those being pursued by the United States.[i] … Continue reading Preventing Decoupling between the United States and South Korea

What is the Public’s Role in National Security?

By: Evan Cooper, Columnist Photo Credit: Jeffery Smith for The Atlantic  When the security of the American public is at stake, what role does the constituency have in shaping the response to threats? There is a divide between national security leaders and American society on two related fronts: threat prioritization and public mobilization. In a … Continue reading What is the Public’s Role in National Security?

The High Stakes of a Trump-Kim Summit

By: Evan Cooper, Columnist Photo by: Associated Press We do not know precisely when, where, or even if, a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will take place, but public statements indicate such an event is at least a possibility. The stakes of a potential summit would be extremely … Continue reading The High Stakes of a Trump-Kim Summit

Reckoning with Defeat: How to Move Forward in Afghanistan

By: Evan Cooper, Columnist Photo by: Getty Images Defeat is always a possibility in war, but it is not a possibility in the minds of most Americans. Nowhere is this pathology more evident than the war in Afghanistan. The Taliban controls substantial territory and is estimated to threaten 70 percent of Afghanistan.[i] The Afghan government, … Continue reading Reckoning with Defeat: How to Move Forward in Afghanistan

We Should Have Seen It Coming: The Inherent Susceptibility of Democracies to Foreign Intervention

By: Evan Cooper, Columnist Photo by: Associated Press The discovery of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election blindsided much of the American public. It seemed unfathomable that the world’s gold standard for democracy could be covertly manipulated by a competitor. But we should have been prepared. Democracies have always been susceptible to foreign … Continue reading We Should Have Seen It Coming: The Inherent Susceptibility of Democracies to Foreign Intervention

National Security Figures Need to Explain the Impacts of Climate Change

By: Evan Cooper, Columnist Photo Credit: Task and Purpose In a 2014 Department of Defense document, then Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel sounded the alarm that “Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea levels, and more extreme weather events will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict.”[i] Hagel’s warning has borne … Continue reading National Security Figures Need to Explain the Impacts of Climate Change

American Amnesia: Counterterror Strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa

By: Evan Cooper, Columnist Photo Credit: The Nation Prior to the disclosure that four United States special forces members had been killed in Niger, there was almost no discussion of the United States’ military presence in sub-Saharan Africa. Since the news broke, it has become clear that American policymakers continue to see the use of … Continue reading American Amnesia: Counterterror Strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa

There’s a Perfectly Good Alternative to War with North Korea

By: Evan Cooper, Columnist Photo Credit: Voice of America News With North Korea armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can strike major US cities, concern of nuclear conflict permeates the American populace as the standoff threatens to boil over into war.[i] The situation is being compared with the Cuban Missile Crisis, and for good … Continue reading There’s a Perfectly Good Alternative to War with North Korea