National Security

US Chokepoint Control vs. China’s Chokepoint Bypass Strategy

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Exploring the tension in the first great power rivalry since the end of the Cold War

In May, the US Dept of the Navy released its “Fiscal Year 2027 Shipbuilding Plan, outlining the Administration’s long-term strategy to expand fleet capacity, strengthen the maritime industrial base, and deliver a more capable, ready, and lethal naval force.” The goal is to expand the fleet from 291 to 450 vessels by 2031 through a $65.8 billion investment in shipbuilding.

Fifth Columns Are Operating in America, Part II

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This is Part II of an article that is analyzing five proto-fifth-column cluster categories in the U.S. that conform to the broader definition. Part I examined foreign influence and intelligence operations, mass immigration and sanctuary policy advocates, and Islamist networks tied to the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR. This part looks at far-left militant and propaganda networks and other fifth column candidates, as well as examines where the interests among the categories align and concludes the series with monitoring recommendations for the future.

Fifth Columns Are Operating in America, Part I

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Foreign influence, ideological networks, and institutional capture

Merriam-Webster defines a “fifth column” in its original, literal sense: “a group of secret sympathizers or supporters of an enemy that engage in espionage or sabotage within defense lines or national borders.” That is a high bar (i.e., hidden agents under foreign direction with actions timed to a military objective), and almost nothing discussed in American politics today clears it.

DIME Part II: When People Begin Voting With Their Feet

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Part II: Economic collapse doesn’t begin when everyone runs for the exits. It begins when the people who can leave quietly decide they should. Scientists take foreign grants. Engineers follow better jobs. Entrepreneurs move companies. Families move their money and children. The poor may be stuck, while the very people capable of rebuilding the country disappear. History’s warning may be remarkably simple: watch when people begin voting with their feet.

Trump has ‘EVERY OPTION’ on the table against Iran, national security expert says

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Heritage Foundation Vice President of National Security Victoria Coates analyzes the impact of protests breaking out across France, reports of potential strikes on Iran and ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine on ‘Mornings with FOX Business.’

5th Generation War, 1462: Vlad the Impaler Understood the Human Domain

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History remembers Vlad the Impaler as a blood-soaked medieval psychopath. But what happens if we assume Vlad was a rational actor? Suddenly the stakes, the terror, and the infamous Forest of the Impaled start looking less like random savagery and more like calculated deterrence. Vlad couldn’t outspend or outfight the Ottoman Empire, so he weaponized the one battlefield where a small power could compete with a giant: the human mind. Five hundred years before “fifth-generation warfare” became fashionable, Dracula was already playing game theory—with sharpened stakes.

5th Generation War, Part 1: Don’t Capture the Capitol—Just Convince Half of the People it’s Corrupt and Illegitimate

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You don’t have to invade a nation to defeat it. You may only have to convince its citizens that their elections are rigged, their courts are corrupt, their institutions are illegitimate, and their neighbors are the enemy. As early as 2012, the U.S. military was wrestling with the Human Dimension and emerging ideas about the Human Domain—the recognition that wars ultimately turn on human behavior and human will. Add smartphones, algorithms, information warfare, color-revolution dynamics, and fifth-generation warfare, and the battlefield starts looking considerably different. The Capitol can still be standing, the flag can still be flying, and elections can still happen right on schedule. But if nobody believes any of it anymore, an enemy may never have to conquer us. We may eventually do the job ourselves.

NATO Welcomes Greenland Deal: Denmark Will Give U.S. “Permanent Security Control”

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Trump has expressed his desire to acquire Greenland, population 56,000, since as long ago as 2019. Officials from the United States, Greenland and Denmark negotiated for months behind the scenes, searching for solutions to address some of Trump’s security concerns about the mineral-rich island.