When he was director of central intelligence, Leon Panetta earned a reputation as an energetic advocate for his agency. When he replaced Robert Gates at the Pentagon, it was reasonable to hope that Panetta would continue to play the role of a senior statesman.

Chinese strategists are thinking how to win a nuclear war. What is the U.S. doing?

The Obama administration knows full well what the state of the military is. However, because it would rather shift the country’s spending priorities to domestic programs long favored by Democrats, it has willingly accepted, indeed gone beyond, what the 2011 Budget Control Act required in cuts to national security programs.

President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's new defense strategy is a “declinist” strategy for an administration all too willing to accept the waning of American hard power and influence in the world.

What were the original hopes and expectations of Russia’s 1991 revolution? A group of leading experts will discuss these and other questions in the context of Russia’s domestic politics, economic policies, role in the global economy and, above all, its relations with the United States.

Grave challenges face each of America’s armed services: the Navy’s size is shrinking while its operational demands increase; the Army and the Marine Corps are on the chopping block for further troop reductions; and the Air Force is aging rapidly. (INCLUDES VIDEO)

The author offers a tightly observed chronicle of America's relationship with the world since the end of the Cold War.