Obama Administration

The Other War on Terror

Limiting drone strikes and closing Gitmo won't stop homegrown radicals.

BY JANE HARMAN | MAY 24, 2013

Shutter Island

Why does Obama think it will be easier to close Gitmo this time?

BY PHILLIP CARTER | MAY 24, 2013

The Indispensable Nation's Indispensable Weapon

Obama can't live without drones, Pakistan can't live with 'em. So the president bowed to the Islamic street.

BY JAMES TRAUB | MAY 24, 2013

Authorize This

Can Obama put the war on terror on a new legal footing?

BY ROSA BROOKS | MAY 23, 2013

The War Professor

Can Obama finally make the legal case for his war on terror?

BY ROSA BROOKS | MAY 23, 2013

Gitmo's Fallen Czar

Daniel Fried was the perfect man for the hardest job in Washington, but even he couldn’t close Guantanamo.

BY MICHELLE SHEPHARD | MAY 22, 2013

Ship Storm

There may be valid reasons to question the wisdom of reforming U.S. food aid. But saving the Merchant Marine isn't one of them.

BY JOHN NORRIS | MAY 21, 2013

Curing America's Fear of Commitment

Karzai is an ingrate, but the Afghans need us.

BY MARC CHRETIEN | MAY 20, 2013

Are We Becoming Argentina?

The Republican Party is taking America down a dangerous path.

BY DANIEL ALTMAN | MAY 20, 2013

No, They Can’t

Why American presidents always disappoint us.

BY AARON DAVID MILLER | MAY 20, 2013

Obama's Plumbers

This time, a secretive president has gone too far.

BY JAMES TRAUB | MAY 17, 2013

Death Wears Bunny Slippers

Why America's nuclear missileers are going soft.

BY JEFFREY LEWIS | MAY 16, 2013

Obama's Self-Inflicted Scandal

The only thing transparent about the White House is its perverse penchant for secrecy.

BY RICHARD A. EPSTEIN | MAY 15, 2013

You Know It's Bad…

When progress in the Middle East seems more in reach than a Washington that works.

BY DAVID ROTHKOPF | MAY 14, 2013

The Trust Deficit

How the U.S. 'pivot' to Asia looks from Beijing.

BY HE YAFEI | MAY 13, 2013

The 'Go Slow' Caucus

As pressure builds for a military option in Syria, can the White House afford to keep quiet?

BY GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON | MAY 10, 2013

Pakistan’s Rollercoaster Election

Is this a generationally significant change of power, or more of the same dysfunction?

BY MICHAEL KUGELMAN | MAY 10, 2013

Out With It

Americans deserve to hear the dirty secrets of the CIA’s war on terror. We’ll all be better off with the truth.

BY JAMES TRAUB | MAY 10, 2013

The Electric Kool-Aid Flashback Test

Should we arm the Syrian rebels? America's attempts to do so in the past hold a few answers.

BY ROSA BROOKS | MAY 9, 2013

Talking in Circles

Why Harold Koh's big speech on targeted killings is just more of the same, intentional Obama muddle.

BY MICAH ZENKO | MAY 9, 2013

The Case for Nuclear Unilateralism

New START may be flawed, but it also holds an opportunity for Obama to do something truly momentous.

BY YOUSAF BUTT | MAY 8, 2013

Outsourcing Lethality

When there's a foreign finger on the trigger, is Washington still accountable when innocents die?

BY MICAH ZENKO | MAY 7, 2013

Who Are We Again?

Have Republicans totally forgotten what the 'national interest' means?

BY DANIELLE PLETKA | MAY 7, 2013

Time for Kerry to Face Facts

As America's top diplomat heads to Moscow, here are some tough questions he needs to answer about the Obama administration's flawed nuclear treaty.

BY ROBERT JOSEPH, ERIC EDELMAN | MAY 6, 2013

The Special Relationship Under Austerity

Increasing NATO's bang in a time of fewer bucks.

BY PHILIP HAMMOND | MAY 3, 2013

Slouching Toward Damascus

In Syria's implosion, Secretary of State John Kerry already faces a defining task. How hard is he prepared to push against Obama's weary realism? 

BY JAMES TRAUB | MAY 3, 2013

Time to Talk

What Michael Singh gets wrong about "next steps" with Iran.

BY AMB. WILLIAM H. LUERS | MAY 3, 2013

Would Machiavelli Have Drawn a Red Line?

The case for subtle diplomacy.

BY ROSA BROOKS | MAY 2, 2013

Thick Red Line

No, we don't have enough evidence that Syria has used chemical weapons.

BY JEFFREY LEWIS | MAY 1, 2013

What Was Obama Thinking?

How the administration backed itself into a corner on Syria.

BY BARRY PAVEL | MAY 1, 2013