At a federal technology summit earlier this year, a senior Pentagon official described a moment his office was proud of. Facing a congressional reporting deadline, and with a workforce hollowed […]
North America · Defense · Cybersecurity
Lawmakers have expressed concerns for years that the move would give China access to sensitive technology.
West & Central Asia · North America · Defense · Global politics
The potential move comes after the Pentagon sought to pull troops from the country earlier this year.
Europe · North America · Defense · Global politics
Washington’s decision to support some UN functions while letting others wither is pulling the organization apart at the seams.
North America · Global politics
Imbalances are a feature of the global financial system, not a bug Expert comment jon.wallace 17 September 2026 The current focus on ‘global imbalances’ is too easily used by policymakers as a smokescreen for their own domestic failings. Global imbalances are back on the international finance agenda this year, prompting a flagship G7 report and creating discord at the G20 finance minsters’ summit. Seemingly this focus on global imbalances is justified. China’s trade in goods surplus now alarms Europe’s leaders as much as it worries America’s. The US’s net liability to the world – the degree to which its overseas borrowing exceeds its overseas investments – reached an astonishing 70 per cent of US GDP in 2025. The last time global imbalances were this prominent was just ahead of 2008’s Global Financial Crisis. What a shame, then, that this focus is so misguided. Imbalances are a feature of the global financial system, not a bug. They arise from saving and investment decisions, allowing diversification and dispersing risk in the process. In truth, ‘global imbalances’ are not primarily a global phenomenon. They are simply the product of all the world’s domestic imbalances added up. And because foreign investment is more mobile than domestic investment, it is more likely to punish bad domestic policymaking by moving elsewhere. The result is to impose discipline – constraints – on political choices. There is a generous interpretation of the motives for the current focus on global imbalances. It is possible that simultaneous domestic reforms across the global economy would make f
East Asia · North America · Global politics
Carter Price, a mathematician at RAND and co-director of the RAND Von Furstenberg Family Budget Model Initiative, discusses ways to rebalance the tax code so that it doesn't incentivize employers to replace humans with AI.
North America
Image credit: Senior Airman Renee Blundon, US Air Force
North America · Defense
Welcome back to Five Questions for a General, a production of the Modern War Institute at West Point. This series features specially selected cadet hosts who are given an incredible professional development […]
North America · Defense
Military leaders warn the risks of falling behind adversaries in artificial intelligence research outweigh the potential risks of the technology.
North America · Defense · Cybersecurity
Since World War II, the US Army has built its combined arms approach around the complementary employment of armor, infantry, artillery, and engineers. That foundation remains sound. Yet contemporary conflicts […]
North America · Defense
The Bureau of Industry and Security needs to adjust its focus and practices to maintain its position as the U.S. government’s primary champion of international technological competition.
East Asia · North America · Global politics
The Congressional Budget Office said the prolonged military campaign will hit $2 billion to $3 billion a month.
West & Central Asia · North America · Defense · Oil & energy · Global politics
The race for US midterms reveals a rapidly changing Democratic party. Europeans must understand and engage its three camps well before the party could take power
West & Central Asia · North America · Global politics
Pentagon officials are pushing spokesperson Sean Parnell for the position and launching attacks against other candidates.
North America · Defense
Max Lederer, whom the Pentagon fired along with two other journalists last month, said their lawsuit challenging the firings is continuing.
West & Central Asia · North America · Defense
Is AI really getting out of control? Expert comment jon.wallace 14 September 2026 Anthropic’s warning should be taken seriously – but not as cover for entrenching US labs or escalating rivalry with Beijing. This weekend current and former employees of US AI laboratories and their leaders issued dire warnings of a near-term apocalypse at the hands of AI. Out-of-control AI development could mean ‘ we could all die in the immediate future ’ said one former lab employee. This was followed by a proposal from Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI company Anthropic, to slow down AI development to ensure the technology is safe. The proposal met with approval from the leaders of other labs, including Sam Altman and Elon Musk. No observer of AI would argue against a greater focus on safety in AI development and deployment. But the renewed attention on AI’s long-term risks must not become too hyperopic, at the cost of tackling the present-day impacts of the technology. It must not be a blunt instrument used to crush competition to current US AI leaders. And it will not be possible to address without some kind of US–China agreement. Why the new warnings? The path to catastrophe described by Amodei and others runs through a technique referred to as recursive self-improvement (RSI) – an approach to training AI models that is beginning to roll out, if still in its early stages. The risk is that RSI, which involves AI training AI, could lead to AI development of such speed that at some point a tipping point will be reached, where the AIs are capable enough to improve themselves without and beyond hu
North America · Cybersecurity
In recent years, women made up almost half of all new gun owners, a striking shift from the historical norm, when women accounted for about a quarter of them. And the uptick is widespread across geographic and demographic subgroups.
North America
The books, podcasts, and films that explain the world it made.
West & Central Asia · North America · Defense
Tens of thousands of American families use state-funded education savings accounts for their children's education. How exactly do these accounts work? Who benefits from them? And how do they affect education funding more broadly?
North America
U.S. trading partners in Asia are closely watching the dispute for signs of how it may affect their own interests.
East Asia · North America · Global politics
