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The Torture Debate, Redux
Former Vice President Cheney has been insisting again that the coercive interrogation techniques used against terrorism detainees after 9/11 prevented attacks on the United States.... His assertions merit more careful examination, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.
Apr 1, 2009
commentary

Quality, Transparency, and the US Government
If the government is demanding transparency of physicians and hospitals, the very least the physicians and hospitals should do is demand transparency of the government, writes Robert Brook.
Apr 1, 2009
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Ultimate Exit Strategy
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described the upcoming high-level conference on Afghanistan at The Hague as a "big-tent meeting, with all the parties who have a stake and an interest in Afghanistan." With the situation in that country growing more precarious by the day, those attending this meeting must also think big, write Karl F. Inderfurth and James Dobbins.
Mar 26, 2009
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France's Creeping Reintegration
At the upcoming NATO summit in Strasbourg-Kehl, French President Sarkozy is expected to formally announce France's return to NATO's integrated military command, from which President de Gaulle withdrew France in 1966. The full reintegration of France into NATO, if confirmed, will remove an important irritant in U.S.-French relations and open up new possibilities for strengthening U.S.-European cooperation more broadly, writes Stephen Larrabee.
Mar 24, 2009
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Iran's New Contender
Iran's presidential race just got more interesting, with former Prime Minister Mousavi throwing his hat in the ring and former President Khatami withdrawing his. This development poses the most significant challenge yet to current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - and a potential opportunity to alter the relationship between Iran and the West, writes Alireza Nader.
Mar 24, 2009
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U.S.-NATO Immersion Course
At a major conference in Munich last month, Vice President Joseph Biden underscored the U.S. determination to rebuild strong and productive relations with its European allies. No issue matters more than Afghanistan, writes Robert Hunter.
Mar 10, 2009
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Is Iraq Safe Yet?
The Obama administration's decision to withdraw the bulk of United Sates troops from Iraq over the next 19 months has sparked fears that Iraq will once again plunge into the wide-scale and debilitating violence that it endured from 2004 to 2007. Those fears are, for the most part, overblown, writes Lowell Schwartz.
Mar 5, 2009
commentary

Afghanistan: The Regional Solution
The Obama Administration's decision to commit another 17,000 troops to Afghanistan is unlikely to have an important effect unless it is part of a broader shift in U.S. and coalition strategy, write F. Stephen Larrabee and Julian Lindley-French.
Mar 4, 2009
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Wanted Dead or Alive? When We Don't Get Our Man
On his first day in office, President Barack Obama issued a dramatic series of executive orders intended to symbolize a change of direction in America's "war" on terrorism. Despite the headlines these orders generated, a more significant policy shift may have been the one signaled the week before his inauguration, writes Benjamin Runkle.
Mar 3, 2009
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To Talk with Iran, Stop Not Talking
If the dominant imperative is to stop Iran from getting the bomb, every month counts. Perhaps the simplest -- and certainly the quickest -- way to launch a dialogue with Iran, and the one least likely to play unhelpfully into the upcoming Iranian election, would be to simply stop not talking to Tehran, writes James Dobbins.
Mar 3, 2009
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Power to the People: Rebooting Conventional Diplomacy
The story of how President Obama engineered a grass-roots campaign, mobilizing formerly disengaged U.S. citizens with new media and new technologies, has reached almost mythological proportions. Less well known is the story of similar grass-roots efforts emerging in local communities around the world, write Cherl Benard and Edward O'Connell.
Feb 27, 2009
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In Afghanistan, It's Deadly at the Top
Rather than perpetuating a love-hate-kill relationship with their leaders, Afghans need to develop respect for the laws and institutions of their new democracy, writes Cheryl Benard.
Feb 23, 2009
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A Trans-Atlantic Moment
The election of Barack Obama provides an important opportunity to revitalize the trans-Atlantic security partnership. This partnership has served both sides well in the past. But after eight years of deep ideological differences during the Bush administration, it is badly frayed and in need of new leadership and new vision, write F. Stephen Larrabee and Julian Lindley-French.
Feb 22, 2009
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Obama's Foreign Policy Team and U.S.-Korean Relations
The concrete contours of President Obama's foreign policy team have finally begun to emerge. What is intriguing is how many assignments are being given to those who have worked on the Korean peninsula, writes Chaibong Hahm.
Feb 16, 2009
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Going the Distance
Afghanistan has a reputation as a graveyard of empires, based as much on lore as on reality.... Yes, the situation is serious, but it's far from doomed. We can still turn things around if we strive for a better understanding of the Afghan insurgency and work to exploit its many weaknesses, writes Seth G. Jones.
Feb 15, 2009

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While the Kursk offensive is a first step, Ukraine will need to offer more if it wants to maintain the momentum that it now enjoys. Perhaps most importantly, it needs to find a new strategic storyline. Ukrainian leaders need to convince both their constituencies at home and backers abroad that they have a plan to win the war.

Raphael S. Cohen

Director, Strategy and Doctrine Program, RAND Project AIR FORCE, and Director of the Pardee RAND Graduate School National Security Program
Source: Foreign Policy
As someone who studies race and inequality, I really want answers and solutions for people who have been essentially deprived of the full rights of American citizenship. That's really what drives my work at RAND.

Jessica Welburn Paige

Behavioral/Social Scientist
Source: RAND Review