Photo Credit: Getty Images By: Madison Creery, Columnist Last year the U.S. National Defense Strategy highlighted Russia as a central challenge to U.S. national security.[i] Yet, during that same year headlines across the globe predicted Russia’s military modernization program and international influence would soon decline.[ii] A May 2018 announcement claimed that Russia’s 2017 defense budget … Continue reading Russian Cyber Operations: Closing the Gap on U.S. Conventional Supremacy
Category: United States
Policy Options for Fighting Deepfakes
Photo Credit: CNN By: Conrad Stosz, Guest Columnist Advances in machine learning are making it easy to create fake videos—popularly known as “deepfakes”—where people appear to say and do things they never did. For example, a faked video of Barack Obama went viral in April in which he appears to warn viewers about misinformation.[i] Falsehoods already … Continue reading Policy Options for Fighting Deepfakes
Abyei: A Fleeting Opportunity
UN Peacekeeping in Abyei. Photo Credit: United Nations By: Hamad Abbas, Columnist To prevent another deadly conflict and protect foreign policy interests, the United States should exert pressure on Sudan and South Sudan to resolve the territorial dispute of Abyei peacefully. Time is of the essence as the United Nations recently announced its plans to … Continue reading Abyei: A Fleeting Opportunity
Force for Hire: The Private Market for Special Operations Forces
Photos Credit: US Navy By: Taylor Clausen, Columnist Uniformed military forces today are widely considered to be the primary individuals tasked with employing the use of state-sanctioned force. However, in the history of warfare, the soldier has rarely had this monopoly. Mercenaries – today called private military contractors - have continuously been employed by states … Continue reading Force for Hire: The Private Market for Special Operations Forces
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
Diplomatic Spillover Costs Make Leaving the INF Treaty Too Dangerous
Photo Credit: CNN By: Kathryn Long, Columnist On Friday, December 14th, the Russian Mission to the United Nations announced that it had submitted a resolution to the body’s General Assembly in support of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.[i] This follows the October announcement by President Trump that the United States would be exiting the … Continue reading Diplomatic Spillover Costs Make Leaving the INF Treaty Too Dangerous
What Quantum Technology Is and Why It Matters
Photo Credit: parliament.uk By: Roxanne Heston, Columnist “Quantum technology” offers nuanced opportunities and challenges to the United States in domains like cybersecurity, scientific research, and reconnaissance.[i] Although the technology is difficult to understand, it is worthwhile for policymakers to grasp its fundamentals and implications. Fortunately, unlike the quantum property of particles themselves, the technology’s potential … Continue reading What Quantum Technology Is and Why It Matters
REPORT: Interview with Professor Elizabeth Saunders
Professor Elizabeth N. Saunders. Photo Credit: The Wilson Center By: Martina Hukel, Reporter Thank you for being willing to sit down with me. How is your first semester at Georgetown going? It’s going well! I was a professor for ten years at George Washington University and this is my first semester at Georgetown. It’s been … Continue reading REPORT: Interview with Professor Elizabeth Saunders
Metastasizing Instability: The Venezuelan Crisis and its Effects throughout Latin America
Colombian police officers stand in front of people lining up to try to cross into Colombia from Venezuela through Simon Bolivar International Bridge in Cucuta, Colombia, on January 24, 2018. Photo Credit: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters By: Ben Carsman, Columnist Over the past four years, Venezuela has been plunged into a severe political and economic crisis. … Continue reading Metastasizing Instability: The Venezuelan Crisis and its Effects throughout Latin America
The Egyptian Government and U.S. Government Should Attempt Integration, Not Extermination, Against the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Photo Credit: Associated Press By: Jordan Abu-Sirriya, Columnist In October and November of 2018, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi unleashed another crackdown on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and its followers. As usual, this entailed “a mass arrest campaign, rounding up at least 40 political activists, lawyers and human rights workers.”[i] … Continue reading The Egyptian Government and U.S. Government Should Attempt Integration, Not Extermination, Against the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood