Military Operations | Council on Foreign Relations

Ukraine

Ukraine’s ATACMS: What Will the U.S. Missiles Mean for the War?

President Joe Biden has given the green light for Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missile systems to strike deep inside Russian territory. What could it mean for the course of the war?

Expert Brief by Max Boot November 18, 2024
Iran

What Are Iran’s Nuclear and Missile Capabilities?

Iran’s nuclear program and missile arsenal have garnered increased international scrutiny amid its flaring conflict with Israel.

Article by Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow October 25, 2024
Israel

Missile Defense: How Vulnerable Is Israel to Iran’s Attacks?

Israel and its allies have successfully defended against Iran’s missile attacks thus far, but it has required an extraordinary level of cooperation, and the challenge is likely to only get harder if the conflict escalates.

Expert Brief by Jonathan Panter October 16, 2024

Experts in this Topic

Richard K. Betts

Adjunct Senior Fellow for National Security Studies

Stephen Biddle

Adjunct Senior Fellow for Defense Policy

Nathan M. Colvin

Military Fellow, U.S. Army

Michael C. Horowitz

Senior Fellow for Technology and Innovation

Thomas P. O’Donnell

Military Fellow, U.S. Navy

Jonathan Panter

Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow

Ukraine

How Much U.S. Aid Is Going to Ukraine?

Nine charts illustrate the extraordinary level of support the United States has provided Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders.

Article by Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow September 27, 2024
United States

A Conversation With General CQ Brown, Jr.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General CQ Brown, Jr. reflects on his first year as chairman and discusses his vision for the joint forces over the coming years. The David A. Morse Lecture was inaugurated in 1994 and supports an annual meeting with a distinguished speaker. It honors the memory of David A. Morse, an active Council on Foreign Relations member for nearly thirty years.

Virtual Event by CQ Brown, Jr. and Michael Froman September 23, 2024 David A. Morse Lecture
United Kingdom

The UK Foreign Secretary Makes His First Speech

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has just given his first set speech, but it wasn't about foreign policy. He is miscast in his current role.

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams September 19, 2024 Pressure Points

Military Operations

"The Houthis Have Defeated the U.S. Navy," or, What is a Navy For?

The mission of the U.S. Navy has for centuries been to keep the sea lines of communication open, but the United States is abandoning that task in the Middle East today.

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams August 31, 2024 Pressure Points
United States

A Conversation With Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) Christopher G. Cavoli

General Cavoli discusses the Euro-Atlantic Partnership, security challenges in the region, Russia's war in Ukraine, and his takeaways from the NATO Summit in Washington.

Event with Christopher G. Cavoli and Ivo H. Daalder August 15, 2024
United States

Silicon Valley and the Future of Warfare, With Christopher Kirchhoff and Raj M. Shah

Christopher Kirchhoff, former special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Raj M. Shah, managing partner of Shield Capital, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the efforts by the U.S. Department of Defense to incorporate cutting-edge technology into its operations.

Podcast with James M. Lindsay , Christopher Kirchhoff and Raj M. Shah August 6, 2024 The President’s Inbox
Denmark

Danish Prime Minister Rallies Urgently Needed Support for Ukraine

Mette Frederiksen of Denmark discusses strengthening U.S.-European ties, stopping Russian hybrid warfare, and shoring up democracy via safer digital technology.

Blog Post by Linda Robinson July 17, 2024 Women Around the World
Japan

How Japan Is Viewing the North Korea-Russia Alliance

Russia’s expanding security ties with North Korea raise weighty foreign policy questions for Japan and complicate the geopolitical dynamics in the Indo-Pacific.

Expert Brief by Sheila A. Smith June 27, 2024 Asia Program
Indo-Pacific

Studying Landpower in the Indo-Pacific

The China Landpower Studies Center at the U.S. Army War College produces research and analysis of China's strategic landpower for U.S. policymakers and military leaders.

Blog Post by Richard Butler June 27, 2024 Asia Unbound
Military Operations

Sea Power: The U.S. Navy and Foreign Policy

The U.S. Navy’s dominance of the world’s oceans has made it an indispensable foreign policy tool and a guarantor of global trade, but a mix of challenges is raising difficult questions about its future.

Backgrounder by Jonathan Masters June 12, 2024
Russia

Leslie H. Gelb Memorial Event: Common Sense and Strategy in Foreign Policy

David E. Sanger discusses U.S. rivalry with the other two great nuclear powers—Xi Jinping’s China and Vladimir Putin’s Russia—the choices that lie ahead, and what is at stake for the United States and the world. This special event is being held to honor the memory of Leslie H. Gelb, CFR’s president from 1993 to 2003 and a dedicated member for forty-six years. Gelb modernized the institution to reflect the changing realities of the post-Cold War era, and was a passionate advocate of common sense and strategy in U.S. foreign policy.

Virtual Event by David E. Sanger and Michael Froman June 5, 2024
Burkina Faso

When Civilians Become Targets

Recurrent deadly encounters between soldiers and civilians across West Africa offer an instructive glimpse into the state of civil-military relations in the region.

Blog Post by Ebenezer Obadare May 22, 2024 Africa in Transition