Bush Administration

Clip the Agency's Wings

Why Obama needs to take the drones away from the CIA.

BY MICAH ZENKO | APRIL 16, 2013

The Iraq Syndrome

A decade later, what lessons haven't we learned from the war in Iraq that we should?

MARCH 19, 2013

The Secret Surge Debate

Behind closed doors, a newly revealed transcript shows, the Bush administration was much more deeply divided about the way forward in Iraq than it let on in public.

BY MICHAEL R. GORDON | MARCH 18, 2013

No Books Were Cooked

Mistakes were made in the lead-up to war in Iraq ten years ago. But fabricating intelligence on weapons of mass destruction to serve policy wasn’t one of them.

BY CHARLES DUELFER | MARCH 18, 2013

To COIN or Not?

A decade later, what lessons haven't we learned from the war in Iraq that we should?

MARCH 18, 2013

A Personal History, An American History

How one Marine's diary helps us understand the Iraq war.

BY PETER MAASS | MARCH 14, 2013

God Bless Bob Woodward

In praise of investigative reporting.

BY MICAH ZENKO | MARCH 12, 2013

The Iraq War That Might Have Been

Ten years on, newly published secret documents shed new light on potential turning points the United States missed.

BY MICHAEL R. GORDON, BERNARD E. TRAINOR | MARCH 12, 2013

How Not to Repair a Broken Pot

The lesson of Iraq isn't that American intervention only makes things worse; it's that there's a smarter way to do it.

BY JAMES TRAUB | MARCH 8, 2013

Caveat Preemptor

How Obama has adopted the Bush doctrine.

BY JOHN ARQUILLA | MARCH 5, 2013

Lessons Learned (and Not)

Seven things we've learned after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

BY DAVID ROTHKOPF | MARCH 4, 2013

Dead-End Road

Rogue states have a pretty convincing track record of ignoring sanctions, so what makes Congress and the White House think they'll work on Iran?

BY TY MCCORMICK | FEBRUARY 28, 2013

Marco Rubio Is Not Ready for Prime Time

If the Florida senator wants to save the Republican Party, he's got to come up with a foreign policy for the real world.

BY AARON DAVID MILLER | FEBRUARY 19, 2013

What George W. Bush Did Right

The 43rd president of the United States did a great thing for humankind -- but most Americans have no idea.

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Laying Down the Law

Why Obama's targeted killing is better than Bush's torture.

BY DAVID COLE | FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Whoppers of the Union

Fact-checking a decade's worth of the president's big speech.

BY DANIEL W. DREZNER | FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Enhance This Interrogation

The Senate confirmation hearings need to get to the bottom of the truth about CIA chief nominee John Brennan.

BY ANDREA J. PRASOW | FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Investigate This

The U.N. will pry America's drones out of our cold, dead hands.

BY MICAH ZENKO | JANUARY 29, 2013

Exit, Minus Strategy

Barack Obama has clearly decided to cut his losses in Afghanistan. Will all hell break lose when he does?

BY JAMES TRAUB | JANUARY 11, 2013

Zero Farce Thirty

The man who nearly stopped 9/11 tells FP why Kathryn Bigelow's movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden gets it wrong.  

INTERVIEW BY TY MCCORMICK | DECEMBER 19, 2012

Secretaries of Safe

Obama’s likely national security picks are going to reinforce his innate caution -- for better and for worse.

BY JAMES TRAUB | DECEMBER 14, 2012

Twice As Rice

Who said it: Condoleezza or Susan?

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Four More Years … in Exile

Can Republicans find their way out of the foreign-policy wilderness?

BY JOHN NORRIS | NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Shaken, Not Stirred by CIA 'Values'

Why do the CIA director's peccadilloes rile us more than his policies?

BY DAVID ROTHKOPF | NOVEMBER 12, 2012

The Amphibian

How Barack Obama learned to cover his right flank -- and his left.

BY JAMES TRAUB | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Rewarding Impunity

Why is President Obama's attorney general handing out prizes for sweeping torture under the rug?

BY DAVID COLE | OCTOBER 18, 2012

Better Late than Never

How naive self-confidence led Barack Obama astray, before prudence brought him back.

BY JAMES TRAUB | OCTOBER 5, 2012

Making Friends with Friends

Mitt Romney, Charles Krauthammer, and conservative pundits are plain wrong: Barack Obama hasn't lost Europe. That was his predecessor's doing.

BY SEAN KAY | AUGUST 7, 2012

Gunpoint Stimulus

Defense contractors are trying to frighten Americans into believing that Pentagon budget cuts will destroy the economy. It's bogus.

BY LAWRENCE J. KORB, ALEX ROTHMAN, MAX HOFFMAN | JULY 2, 2012