Defense

On Topic

New actors in conflict, advancements in technology and new modes of warfare are changing our understanding of national security and defense capabilities in the evolving context of the 21st century. Brookings scholars examine the future of U.S. defense needs and priorities, the challenges of military transformation and new defense strategies.

Debris lies piled up near a railroad destroyed by Typhoon Rusa in Samcheok, about 200 km (124 miles) east of Seoul (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-hoon).

Opinion | Brookings Northeast Asia Commentary

Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Management: Keeping a Proper Balance

May 2013, Jibum Chung

Jibum Chung analyzes some of the tensions that often lead governments to emphasize civil defense against relatively rare and small-scale events over civil protection against more common and more destructive natural and man-made disasters. He offers suggestions for strengthening the decision-making process and maintaining an appropriate balance between civil defense and civil protection.

Recent Activity

Refine by: U.S. Military Affairs | U.S. Defense Budget | The Federal Budget and Sequestration | U.S. Defense Strategy

Interview | The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research

At a Dollar a Shot, Lasers Bring Down Missiles and Costs

April 14, 2013, Peter W. Singer
In the News

The airspace [for the FAA's six drone test sites], under the current schedule, opens up [in] 2015...and so we will see one of the most fundamental shifts in who and how you can use the airspace above us.
February 26, 2013, Peter W. Singer, National Public Radio
In the News

These [ground-based missile] interceptors in Alaska and California are believed to have some capability against a rudimentary intercontinental ballistic missile warhead of the kind that you would expect North Korea to have initially. But how good they would actually be, we don’t know. But there is some capability to protect America already deployed.
February 14, 2013, Steven Pifer, Voice of America
In the News

Obviously when you have an unmanned aircraft, there is no risk of a pilot being shot down and killed or captured in hostile territory, so these unmanned aircraft make it possible to conduct operations in places where you wouldn't want to put a human pilot at risk.
December 4, 2012, John Villasenor, Globe and Mail
Interview | To the Point (KCRW)

Drones Provide an Eye in the Sky, but Who's Watching Them?

July 10, 2012, Peter W. Singer
In the News

For years we’ve been hearing this real Cassandra talk, from guys like Leon Panetta, about how the next Pearl Harbor could be online. It always seemed a little bit out of whack with what we saw in the real world. …This discovery [of the link between Stuxnet and Flame computer worms] gives a much fuller picture of what this much larger campaign of espionage and sabotage entailed. We knew about Stuxnet and we knew about Duqu [another cyber weapon]... And now we’ve got this third, major effort to do all kinds of espionage, and evidence strongly suggests that they’re all linked.
June 11, 2012, Noah Shachtman, The Telegraph
In the News

We now know why they [top administration officials] were making those predictions [of a cyber attack]. They were talking about themselves—not what some outside opponent could do to us, but what we were doing to others...The U.S. has basically endorsed the use of these things publicly, and that does change the game.
June 10, 2012, Noah Shachtman, The Hill
Interview | Deutsch Welle

I Don’t Think We Have Been Defeated in Afghanistan

May 29, 2012, Bruce Riedel
Interview | CBS News

Impact of Drones on Privacy Rights

April 9, 2012, Peter W. Singer
Interview | POLITICO Morning Defense

Obama's Defense Spending Plan and the Industrial Base

March 5, 2012, Peter W. Singer