School of War

Flying America’s Most Controversial Aircraft

Israel’s Fight in the North

Why Another Iran Strike Looks Inevitable

The Middle East faces a precarious future as Iran leverages its conventional military capabilities to threaten Saudi infrastructure and global energy markets, signaling a broader attempt to dominate the region. Maintaining a robust American presence remains essential to preventing a strategic vacuum that would allow th...

What Israel’s Election Is Really About, with Haviv Rettig Gur

Sweden’s Secret Army

Can Ukraine Win Without America?

The Making of Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping’s political worldview stems from the life of his father, Xi Zhongxun, a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official whose career was defined by extreme loyalty despite enduring repeated purges and imprisonment. Joseph Torigian, Senior Fellow for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, examines ho...

When, Not If: The Baltics Prepare for War

Rebuilding America’s War Machine

The American defense industrial base faces significant challenges stemming from decades of strategic apathy, reliance on just-in-time supply chains, and the outsourcing of critical manufacturing to strategic competitors. Michael Cadenazzi, Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy, highlights the urgent nee...

What Happened Inside Russia’s Plague Lab?

Michael Oren: October 7 and the Cost of Defending Israel

Israel’s strategic landscape has undergone profound, irreversible changes since October 7, 2023, shifting from a society defined by internal political division to one steeled by existential conflict. The war has elevated the ultra-Orthodox military draft from a fringe political issue to a national imperative, as religi...

What the Dutch Empire Reveals About America Today

How the Middle East Got So Screwed Up, with Simon Sebag Montefiore

The modern Middle East functions as a volatile cauldron shaped by the decline of empires, the rise of nation-states, and the enduring influence of revolutionary ideologies. Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore argues that the region’s historical diversity has been systematically eroded by 20th-century nationalism and the 1...

America’s Aging Shipyards Are a Crisis Waiting to Happen

The Middle East After America?

Why John Boyd Still Matters

John Boyd’s intellectual framework for competition and conflict fundamentally reshaped the United States Marine Corps’ warfighting philosophy. As a fighter pilot, Boyd developed the energy-maneuverability theory to gain tactical advantages through superior agility rather than raw power, eventually distilling these conc...

What War Teaches Us—If We Survive It

The current geopolitical situation in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz serves as the backdrop for a broader examination of military leadership, resilience, and the realities of combat. John Spencer, Chair of War Studies at the Madison Policy Forum, analyzes the effectiveness of U.S. economic and military strategies in the...

‘We Are Going to War’: H.R. McMaster Remembers 9/11

Ten-Minute Warning: The Hypersonic Threat

Hypersonic flight technology represents a critical frontier in modern defense, defined by speeds exceeding Mach 5 and the ability to maneuver within the atmosphere. Dr. Zach Krevor, CEO of Stratolaunch, explains that the primary engineering challenge lies in managing extreme thermal energy and material degradation, whi...

What to Expect When You’re Expecting Great Power Conflict