In the wake of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s dismissal, questions linger about the trajectory of the American-led war in Afghanistan. While administration officials insist that McChrystal’s counterinsurgency strategy—formulated with the help of his successor, Gen. David Petraeus—will remain in place under the latter’s leadership, the incident underscored for many the fragility of the Afghan operation as […]
Unlikely Routes: Stronger Militaries by Transforming Military Education
By Malik Ahmad Jalal and Agus Yudhoyono* – “I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be.” The words of U.S. philosopher-president Thomas Jefferson adorn the walls of Jefferson Memorial Library at West Point Military Academy. They reflect the ethos […]
Supreme Court Upholds Federal Law Banning “Material Support” to Foreign Terrorist Groups
On Monday, June 21, the Supreme Court announced its ruling in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project. In a 6 to 3 decision, the Court held that the material-support statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2339B, is constitutional as applied to the forms of support the plaintiffs sought to provide to foreign terrorist organizations. The case was brought […]
Strengthening Oversight of Missile Defense Spending
By Jordan Myers – Congress is taking the first step to increase oversight of the much-debated missile defense programs via new spending regulations in the proposed defense appropriations bill. The Senate Armed Forces Committee inserted language requiring the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to report baselines for individual projects. The proposed language would require the MDA […]
Recent Arrests Highlight al-Shabaab’s U.S. Recruitment Efforts
By Brian Itami, NSJ Senior Editor – Over the last week and a half, at least fourteen Americans were detained on terrorism charges in the United States and Yemen in two separate incidents. Law enforcement officials arrested Mohamed Alessa and Carlos Almonte on Saturday, June 5 at John F. Kennedy Airport as the two allegedly […]
A Tale of Two Bases: The Future of Okinawa and Sevastopol
By John Thorlin, NSJ Digest Editor – On June 2, 2010, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned. Though he poetically (or just strangely) claimed that a Japanese songbird he had seen during a recent trip to Korea had signaled to him that it was time to go, the real driving force behind the move was […]