Press | Foreign Affairs

Kaplan argues that the United States is most vulnerable in conflicts that fall between quick strikes and total war, where objectives remain unclear and escalation risks spiral. Using Iran as a case study, he warns that these drawn-out, ambiguous wars often trap policymakers in costly, open-ended commitments with no decisive outcome.

On March 4, 2026, the Clements Center for National Security, in partnership with the Strauss Center for International Security and Law and the Intelligence Studies Project, hosted a panel discussion at the LBJ School of Public Affairs titled “Striking the Ayatollah: War Powers, Political Order, and Consequences.” The event examined the legal, strategic, and political…

In a piece for Caracas Chronicles, Golding writes about the potential new future of the Venezuelan oil industry in light of reforms approved last week to open it to private capital and the historical precedent it rests on.

As the United States has shifted from combat operations to stabilization and reconstruction missions, it has struggled to translate battlefield success into lasting political outcomes. In Forgetting How to Win, Clements Center former Army PhD student Jeremy Kasper examines how the U.S. Army, State Department, and USAID have approached post-combat operations—and why institutional disconnects have…

As economic integration and shared supply chains bind the United States and Mexico closer than ever, a worsening cartel-driven security crisis threatens both nations. In Engelsberg Ideas, Clements Center alumnus Joseph Ledford traces the evolution of U.S.–Mexican interdependence—from trade and energy to counter-narcotics cooperation—and examines how Presidents Donald Trump and Claudia Sheinbaum are navigating a…

China is expanding its global security engagement, providing training to police, paramilitary, and security forces in countries around the world. APP’s Sheena Chestnut Greitens documents the scale of this work through her research, mapping nearly 900 Chinese security-training programs conducted across 138 countries.

On September 11, 2025, the Clements Center for National Security, the Strauss Center for International Security and Law, and the Intelligence Studies Project hosted a panel discussion entitled “9/11: What Happened, and What It Means Today.” Held in the William C. Powers Student Activity Center Ballroom, the event brought together some of UT’s most distinguished…

Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens recently publishes piece in Financial Times titled, “How ‘Safe China’ Sells Its Security Strategy to the World.” In the piece, Dr. Greitens analyzes how China is reshaping the global security order by promoting itself as the world’s safest country and leveraging its surveillance and internal security tools to advance this narrative….

Congratulations to former America in the World Consortium Postdoctoral Fellow, Lin Le, on the publication of China’s Conservative Turn: The Origins of Xi Jinping’s New Era.

The Clements-Strauss Asia Policy Program at the University of Texas at Austin invites applications for a one-day professional development workshop on “China and National Security,” to be held at UT’s Archer Center September 19. Early-career national security and foreign policy professionals who want to deepen their expertise on the most pressing national security challenges involving…

This year, the Clements Center introduced the first iteration of our South Korea May Term: America in the Pacific – American History, Strategy, and the Future of the Indo-Pacific Region. Conducted entirely in South Korea, the program offered twenty UT Austin undergraduate students the opportunity to visit significant landmarks in Korean history and culture, meet with…

This year marked our tenth annual London May Term: The U.S. and U.K: Past Present and Future of the Transatlantic Alliance. From 2015 to 2025, we have partnered with the renowned War Studies Department at King’s College London to bring twenty undergraduate students from UT-Austin to the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium to study the…

Congratulations to Clements Center Faculty Fellow Jay Sankaran on his latest article in The Nonproliferation Review, titled “The motivations and unintended consequences of US pursuit of missile defense.” In this piece, he explores why U.S. efforts to reassure Russia and China about missile defense have fallen short and argues that the accumulation of U.S. technological capabilities…

Former Clements Center Undergraduate Fellow Julian Alin recently published his capstone paper in the Spring 2025 issue of The Globe, George Washington University’s Undergraduate Research Journal in International Affairs. Read the article here.

UT-Austin McCombs School of Business publishes “Energy Production Drives U.S. Global Strength,” highlighting last month’s panel discussion, “Power & Influence: The Current Geopolitics of Energy & Security,” held during UT Austin’s Energy Week. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Former U.S. Senator; Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO; Founding Member, KBH Energy Center), George Seay (Founder and Chairman,…

On Wednesday, March 5, Dr. Joseph Ledford testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on advancing American interests in the Western Hemisphere. Among the attendees was Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a respected leader on national security issues who has spoken at several Clements Center events.

In his new commentary for CSIS, Calculating the Cost-Effectiveness of Russia’s Drone Strikes, Lieutenant Colonel Neil Hollenbeck argues “The United States should learn from the operational lessons emerging from the skies over Ukraine to adapt its own formations for future war.” Read it here.

Former Clements Center Postdoctoral Fellow, William Chou, co-authors piece for Hudson Institute on the recent summit between Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba and President Trump. Read it here.

Faculty Fellow and Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar Dr. Joshua Busby’s research with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs has given insight on a number of US foreign policy issues. Dr. Busby research included surveying over 450 foreign policy opinion leaders prior to the 2024 election, with questions targeting foreign policy issues including ongoing global conflicts, US…

Dr. Pomar and Yuri Rashkin joined by Benjamin Nathans, Alan Charles Kors Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss Nathans latest book, “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement.” Listen here.

On Friday, January 24, the Clements Center for National Security and the LBJ School of Public Affairs, in partnership with American in the World Consortium and Austin PBS, hosted a conference on the importance of active American engagement, titled “Engagement over Retreat: The Bipartisan History of American Leadership.”  Clements Center Executive Director, Admiral (Ret.) Joe Maguire, opened the event…

In a recent publication for Foreign Policy, Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens and Dr. Issac B. Kardon write that “Vietnam Wants U.S. Help at Sea and Chinese Help at Home”. The article explains why Washington shouldn’t overestimate its influence in Hanoi. The co-authors also argue that strategic competition between the United States and China does not mean…

In this special episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Rick Landgraf talks with Jane Vaynman and Tristan Volpe, co-authors of “Dual Use Deception: How Technology Shapes Cooperation in International Relations,” published in the journal International Organization. The study won IO’s 2023 Robert O. Keohane Award for best research article published by an untenured scholar.

On the latest Horns of a Dilemma podcast, Marshall Kosloff talks with Charles Edel about reactions to Trump’s election in Australia and New Zealand and the future of the Indo-Pacific region. 

In “Exorbitant Privilege Gained and Lost: Fiscal Implications” Xiaolan explores three centuries of U.K., U.S. and Dutch fiscal history.

Asia Policy Program Director Sheena Chestnut Greitens’ research on China’s global security outreach cited in October State Department ISAB report. 

Yoon may have damaged the U.S.-South Korea alliance & undermined his foreign policy’s “emphasis on democratic defense of shared values,” writes Sheena Chestnut Greitens.

Check out Clements Center alumnus Joseph Ledford’s piece for the Hoover Institution Press, highlighting the dangers of the United States neglecting Latin America and the Caribbean. From drug cartels to China and its anti-American allies, threats in the Americas have a direct impact on U.S. national security.

Jeremi and Zachary Suri have a discussion with Dr. Emily Whelan about Lebanon’s complex history and its current conflict. Dr. Emily Whalen is a non-resident senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Her first book, The Lebanese Wars, which examines the history of U.S. interventions in the Lebanese Civil War, is forthcoming from Columbia…

On Sept. 19, Dr. Olivia Cheung, Research Fellow at the China Institute at SOAS University of London, spoke about her book, “The Political Thought of Xi Jinping“, co-authored with Steve Tsang.

On Sept. 17, the Clements Center and LBJ School of Public Affairs hosted General (Ret.) Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie Jr. to speak about his book, “The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century.” This discussion, moderated by Clements Center Executive Director Joseph Maguire, covers Gen. McKenzie’s military career, with a particular focus on his…

TNSR Managing Editor Rick Landgraf talks with Charles Ziegler about his latest article, Filling the Void Left by Great-Power Retrenchment: Russia, Central Asia, and the U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan. Charles and Rick discuss how the Central Asian countries have reacted to the withdrawal, how Russia has tried to reassert itself in the region, and why China might…

TNSR Production Editor Kerry Anderson talks with historian Daniel Chardell about his article The Origins of the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait Reconsidered. Daniel and Kerry discuss Saddam Hussein’s understanding of the shifts in power that followed the Soviet Union’s collapse, how U.S. and Iraqi leaders perceived each other, Saddam’s concerns about Israel, and historians’ use of Iraqi…

Check out McCombs Professor Kishore Gawande’s recent publication, “Bringing Dead Capital to Life: Property Rights Security in China” which explores the impact of China granting nationwide protection to private property rights in 2007.  For further insights into Professor Gawande’s research, please visit here.

In this episode, TNSR Production Editor Kerry Anderson sits down with Joseph Stieb to discuss his article from TNSR: “Why Did the United States Invade Iraq? The Debate at 20 Years.”

Jim Goldgeier and Marshall Kosloff discuss the post-Cold War era, NATO expansion, great-power expectations, and the future of the U.S. role in Europe.