Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World

Presenting a single option designed either to tell a president what he or she wants to hear or to present the consensus position of the cabinet is doing him or her a disservice.

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

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

During the visit, Chairman Xi Jinping and his advisors used history to convey messages to President Trump, to the Chinese people, and to the world. The selective use of history—both the history they invoked and the history they averted—revealed the emotions and worldview that drive Chinese Communist Party goals.

He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past. —GEORGE ORWELL, 1984

Because tech companies prioritize holding users’ attention to expose them to more ads, the companies’ algorithms do not prioritize truth or accuracy, but instead help disseminate fake news and disinformation. The algorithms that determine the presentation of content in social media encourage further polarization and extreme views.

What the world needs is a comprehensive strategy based on the recognition that countries will not suppress their security and economic interests to join an international agreement. Proposals must have broad commercial and political appeal not only in prosperous nations, but also in developing economies.25 And those solutions must avoid focusing on

Autonomous and swarm attacks threaten to force our citizenry to live in fear reminiscent of that which Londoners experienced during the Blitz in World War II from V1 and V2 rockets, first-generation drones launched by Nazi Germany.