Security and Democracy Forum

In the summer of 2024, a Major in the Air Force received "career-enhancing" orders for a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) from a joint assignment in D.C. to a remote installation in the Midwest. For his spouse—a licensed pediatric nurse with a decade of seniority—the move was a professional derailment. Within ninety days, she had resigned her position, navigated a gap in pay, and hit a wall of state licensing delays that kept her out of the workforce for six months. When that Major hits his...

In 2026, the United States will mark the 250th anniversary of its founding, a milestone that invites both celebration and reflection. Amid the festivities, Congress should revisit one of the most neglected provisions of the Constitution: the War Clause. For too long, the authority to decide when and how the nation goes to war has drifted from Congress to the executive branch. This erosion of legislative war powers undermines democratic accountability and threatens the integrity of our...

The defense world is enamored with the future. From AI-enabled targeting and swarming drones to hypersonic missiles and autonomous tanks, tomorrow's wars are being imagined as sleek, digital, and surgical. These innovations are viable and worth pursuing. But they will not re-write the rules of war, and they are not a substitute for the basics. In fact, when militaries overlook the fundamentals, they tend to lose the war before the first algorithm boots up. Soldiers will still have to take and...