Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World

This strategy of co-option, coercion, and concealment integrates a range of cultural, economic, technological, and military efforts. What makes this strategy potent and dangerous, not only to the United States and the free world but also to China’s citizens deemed a threat to the party’s ambitions, is the integrated nature of the party’s effort acr

That is why deterrence by denial—that is, convincing adversaries that they cannot accomplish their objectives through a cyber attack—is essential.

I explained to him that I intended to draw on history to help frame contemporary challenges to national security. An important first step in developing policy and strategy, I believed, was to understand how the past produced the present. I also believed that the history of how previous presidents, their cabinets, and the National Security Council s

To ensure that we did not repeat the Vietnam War mistake of confusing activity with progress, our staff would institute “framing sessions,” which I believed were necessary to foster understanding, before we developed options for the president. These sessions would result in succinct analyses of a particular challenge to national security; the “so w

Deterrence by denial requires a combination of offensive and defensive capabilities, improved resilience of systems, and a high degree of cooperation across government, businesses, and academia.

The lesson is that in war and in competitions short of war, America does not control the future course of events, and strategies must not only be sustained over time, but also adapt continuously to retain the initiative.

That is why breaking the cycle of violence, restoring hope, reforming education, and isolating vulnerable populations from jihadist ideology are essential to defeating those who foment hatred to justify violence against innocents. It is also why strategic empathy and, in particular, the effort to understand how emotion and ideology drive and constr

As the Athenian historian and general Thucydides concluded twenty-five hundred years ago, conflict is driven by fear and honor as well as interest.

U.S. companies report investment by China-related entities, technology transfer requests, and