GailForce: Aspen Security Forum—Final Thoughts
September 8, 2016 11 min. read

“I’ve been, in one capacity or another, in the intel business for 52 years and I don’t remember a time when we had been beset by more crises and challenges around the world” -James Clapper

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Gailforce: Aspen Security Forum Part II
August 12, 2016 9 min. read

During the Forum, Secretary Johnson focused on the evolving nature of the terrorism threat, what we need to do in response, and the need for resiliency.

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GailForce: Aspen Security Forum Part I
August 4, 2016 9 min. read

The Aspen Security Forum offers the opportunity to hear directly from the people developing and executing our security strategy.

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To Drone, Or Not To Drone—That Is The Question
July 15, 2016 11 min. read

Over the last 15 years, the fervent embrace of drone strikes have helped the U.S. create the most far-reaching counterterrorism apparatus in history.

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Torture as a False Moral Dilemma
January 9, 2015 14 min. read

Many people — ordinary citizens and high-ranking government officials alike — tacitly view the torture issue as a moral dilemma. They acknowledge that the practice is morally repugnant, but they also assume that it is a fast and effective method for securing vital information that cannot otherwise be obtained.

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China Blasts U.S. over Torture Report
December 12, 2014 3 min. read

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee released its findings of a 6,200 page report detailing a secret CIA program of detention and torture implemented under President George W. Bush.

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Why transferring the drone program to JSOC doesn’t solve all problems
March 14, 2014 5 min. read

On March 12, Congressman Adam B. Schiff’s op-ed “Let the Military Run Drone Warfare” ran in the New York Times, pushing an agenda that’s been on the lips of a number of wonks and politicians ever since Obama’s May 2013 “drone speech”: Transfer the U.S. drone program from the Central Intelligence Agency to Joint Special […]

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Ethiopia’s Broadband Network – A Chinese Trojan Horse?
September 6, 2013 5 min. read

Ethiopia’s signing last month of a $800 million broadband network with Chinese telecoms giant ZTE has some pundits again focusing on Chinese economic espionage in Africa.  The agreement calls for the establishment of a 4G broadband network in the capital Addis Ababa and a 3G network throughout the rest of the country.  The project should […]

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Pakistan’s Polio Problem
July 17, 2013 3 min. read

Among Pakistan’s many problems—rampant power cuts, extremist violence, anemic economic growth, widespread poverty—it can seem puzzling that a disease that has claimed only 58 new victims in the last few years has commanded so much attention. Polio, or poliomyelitis, has suffered a stunning defeat in the last 30 years, with a worldwide eradication rate of […]

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U.S. Senate Approves Guns to Syria: ‘Designated Terrorists’ Still on OFAC List
July 8, 2013 27 min. read

The fact that the end users, the Free Syrian Army, to whom the US government has decided to send ‘lethal aid,’ is closely affiliated with individuals and organizations still listed on the Department of Treasury’s ‘SDN’ List, people and groups the Office of Financial Assets Control (OFAC) has banned as importers or recipients of US goods (especially weapons), doesn’t seem to bother the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Perhaps the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is confused? Unaware that a transfer of weapons from the US, directly or through an intermediate buyer, to any organization or individual listed on OFAC’s list would constitute an illegal arms sale?

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FPA’s Must Reads (April 5-12)
April 12, 2013 3 min. read

Each week, the editorial team at ForeignPolicyBlogs.com publishes a list of must-read articles from around the web. This week: Tweeting diplomacy, Cuba, Jordan, the U.S. in Pakistan, and one article on Margaret Thatcher.

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