Doubling down on a longtime policy of countering the opium trade in Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan forces began conducting airstrikes against opium production facilities and insurgent funding sources in November. After years of back-to-back record-breaking poppy yields, the move represented a policy shift targeting terror groups and their revenue streams. Opium has long been the […]
Defense
Understanding Donald Trump’s Grand Global Strategy
President Trump is visiting Europe for a NATO summit and a one-on-one chat with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many Trump detractors are concerned that the U.S. President is overly lenient with Russia, given Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. His detractors are also concerned that Trump is far […]
Legal Immigration Plagued by Bureaucracy, Red Tape
When 16-year-old Hefzi Lopez said goodbye to her parents, José and Cecilia Lopez, in 2008, she felt betrayed. She was a U.S. citizen by birth, but her parents had been unsuccessful in their efforts to become citizens as well. After nine years of legal battles in the immigration court system, background checks, three lawyers, and […]
Exploring Artificial Intelligence and Global Security
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will transform national and global security, according to Artificial Intelligence: What Every Policymaker Needs to Know, a new report from the Center for a New American Security. “AI is enabling the creation of special-purpose machines to replace human cognitive labor for specific tasks,” authors Paul Scharre and Michael Horowitz wrote. “AI has […]
Understanding N. Korea’s History is Crucial to Talks
On June 12, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea met in Singapore for a historic summit. During the meeting, the United States and North Korea established the diplomatic foundation for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The Singapore summit followed a year of intensified vitriol between the two […]