In this feature, Brookings senior fellow and terrorism expert Daniel Byman and deputy foreign policy editor Dana Stuster curate a weekly essay on foreign and military affairs of interest to national security legal practitioners and scholars. Although not specifically dealing with legal matters, the feature offers context and perspective to many of the debates that go on at the site regularly. Lawfare has always conceived of national security law broadly, because to practice it well, one needs to draw on a diversity of expertise in technical fields like communications technologies, robotics and economics. With The Foreign Policy Essay, Dan and Dana provide us with a window into the worlds of strategy, military operations, geopolitics, and whatever else grabs their interest on any given week.
Latest in Foreign Policy Essay
The new secretary of defense's attempt to open negotiations with the Somalia-based al-Qaeda affiliate raises the question: Does the United States have conditions for negotiating with terrorist groups?
What does the succession of Kuwait's new emir signal for the Gulf state's foreign policy?
Displacement from climate change is an increasingly critical issue, but requires improved study and new policy responses.
Surveying the wide array of groups and ideologies that have emerged over the last few years.
A more transactional policy has brought advantages, but will have limits in the longer term.
Taking stock of the United Nations' first 75 years.
The Emirati intervention in Yemen ramped up, then drew down. What were they hoping to accomplish?
A survey experiment shows that white Americans are more likely to support torture if they're reminded of the changing demographics of the country.
The managed escalation in response to the targeting of Qassem Soleimani avoided an all-out war—just as it was intended to do.
As the role of special operations forces shift with U.S. grand strategy, it's time to reevaluate how they fit into the civilian oversight of the U.S. military.