Forward Defense, housed within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, generates ideas and connects stakeholders in the defense ecosystem to promote an enduring military advantage for the United States, its allies, and partners. Our work identifies the defense strategies, capabilities, and resources the United States needs to deter and, if necessary, prevail in future
Whether or not Iran helped plan Hamas’s terrorist attack that killed at least 1,300 Israelis is needlessly distracting analysts and the media from the far more important conclusion that we already know: Iran is culpable for the attack. On Monday, Washington was set abuzz when the Wall Street Journal published a story claiming that Iran
Following the end of World War II, the entire international community declared “never again” and began searching for ways to implement this motto in practice. Most people soon agreed that the key to securing a sustainable peace was to make war unprofitable by deepening international cooperation and economic inter-dependency. This led directly to the creation
Sanity prevailed at the UN this week when Russia failed to win a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. However, this minor setback for the Kremlin cannot disguise the far deeper dysfunction within the UN that has been revealed by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ever since the invasion began in February 2022,
The indefensible violence and destruction that terrorist organizations commit can obscure an important reality: Whatever else they are, terrorist organizations are also organizations. They have to fundraise, justify their existence to supporters and donors, and provide results that move their stated mandate forward. For Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), attacks and operations that
Israel is a country tragically all too familiar with violence and warfare. But even in the bloody annals of the Jewish state, October 7, 2023, is and will likely remain a unique wound. The images of murdered civilians strewn in the streets of the towns surrounding the Gaza Strip intertwining with the cries of abducted
The terrorist attacks launched by Hamas inside Israeli territory have left more than 1,200 Israelis dead, the most Jewish people murdered in one day since the Holocaust. In response to these heinous terrorist attacks, Israel has launched a major military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. It could be a long campaign, lasting months or more, but
BEIRUT—As Israel prosecutes its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, eyes are nervously turning toward Lebanon, where a series of clashes along the border has raised fears of a second front breaking out, an outcome that could trigger a full regional war. Neither side appears to want an escalation, but the risks are high for a disastrous miscalculation. So far,
“A 9/11 and a Pearl Harbor wrapped into one.” That’s how an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson described the events of October 7, when Hamas unleashed a complex surprise attack on Israel, killing hundreds and taking more than one hundred hostages. Israel is responding with an assault on the Gaza Strip, as fears mount of
The unprecedented removal of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker has thrust US politics into uncharted territory, while also sparking alarm across the Atlantic in Ukraine. The October 3 vote was preceded by heated debate over the latest proposed aid package for Ukraine, with opponents of continued US support for the Ukrainian war effort playing a
