Truman National Security Project

One very early morning in Atlanta a few years ago, I stood in an airport security line with hundreds of fellow travelers in identical desert camouflage. We had arrived together from Kuwait, having left the front lines in Iraq or Afghanistan mere days before. Approaching the familiar stacks of plastic tubs, conveyer belts and metal detectors, we formed [...]

Newly sworn-in Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel survived a bitter confirmation process. For weeks, those opposed to his nomination fixated on comments he made more than a decade ago. Although Mr. Hagel’s road to the Obama cabinet was focused on the past, his tenure in office will focus on preparing the military for the threats of the future. Cybersecurity [...]

Just a few hours before the State of the Union address, President Obama signed an executive order authorizing new policies to protect U.S. critical infrastructure cybersecurity. Following several failed attempts by Congress to legislation in this area, the president addressed the important issue of “repeated intrusions into critical infrastructure.” During the past few years, we [...]

For decades America has been arguing that in order for America to do less, our allies will have to do more.  We have been cajoling our international partners to take more action in the world.  There are signs it is starting to work, though the efforts have a certain shakiness that can be expected when [...]

The pundits are reading the tea leaves and the critics sharpening their knives. What would Chuck Hagel be like, really, as Secretary of Defense? If you want to understand how the SecDef-apparent thinks, however, it’s hard to do better than to look at his own words. Read them carefully, and it becomes clear that the [...]