Defense & Security Archive

The best that can be said about President Donald Trump’s handling of U.S. national security and foreign policy is that it has avoided outright catastrophe—at least so far. Trump did finish the job of helping local allies in Iraq and Syria destroy the self-styled Islamic State’s “caliphate.” But in every other part of the world, the United States is in a worse position than when he took office, less influential and less respected nearly everywhere. Most of America’s security partnerships have eroded; some are close to collapse. China and Russia are more assertive and less constrained than they were a […]

When North Korea’s young dictator, Kim Jong Un, came to power in 2012, many observers thought his days at the top would be numbered. Yet despite numerous predictions of an imminent coup or even regime collapse, Kim defied all odds by ruthlessly purging potential rivals and consolidating power. Now, he sits securely atop one of the most reclusive and repressive governments in the world. Few official details are available about Kim’s life, but a new book aims to peel back the layers of secrecy around him. In “The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un,” […]

Critics say that under President Donald Trump, human trafficking victim protections have weakened in the United States, and the U.S. has not pushed other countries to address the issue more forcefully. The State Department recently released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which it describes as “the U.S. Government’s principal diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments on human trafficking.” The report assigns every country to one of three tiers based on its government’s efforts to combat human trafficking, with Tier 1 being the best and Tier 3 being the worst. Under the Obama administration, the U.S. began grading itself in […]