Press | Article

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…

The Texas National Security Review is evolving to address the “changing face of war” amid rapid shifts in global power, technology, and security. The Clement Center’s Joseph Maguire shares his expertise as a retired Navy vice admiral and former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, offering a perspective that bridges practical security experience with academic insight.

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.

This feature highlights the Clements Center’s “Beyond The Battlefield” forum, which examined how diplomacy, economic statecraft, intelligence, emerging technologies, and development aid can work together to sustain U.S. leadership without relying primarily on military force.

UT News recently spotlighted the University of Texas at Austin’s leadership in national security research and education — featuring a conversation between UT Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. William Inboden, a member of the Clements Center Board of Advisors, and Dr. Paul Edgar, Associate Director of the Clements Center for National Security.

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.

Former Clements War College Fellow Colonel Neil Hollenbeck writes in Military Review “Why the Army Needs Units Driving Drone Development and How to Do It.” “Instead of the modernization enterprise developing small-drone warfare capabilities with input from the operational Army, it should enable the operational Army to develop its own. The enterprise can do this…

Congratulations to former visiting professor Rosella Cappella Zielinski on publishing her book Wheat at War: Allied Economic Cooperation in the Great War. Order it here!

General Robert B. Neller, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), 37th Commandant of the Marine Corps and former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provides commentary piece for Defense One. In it, Neller argues that the U.S. military must prioritize adaptability, advanced training, and tech integration.

Asia Policy Program (APP) Director Sheena Chestnut Greitens recently did an interview with Seoul Shinmun about the future of Korean Studies in the U.S. and how APP at integrates technology, national security, and public policy to reflect Korea’s evolving global profile. “Most Korean Studies programs are humanities-focused and concentrated on the East/West coasts – but…

The Marine Corps has dedicated a new facility that will serve as the epicenter for next-generation wargaming and analysis: the General Robert B. Neller Center for Wargaming and Analysis. Named in honor of the 37th Commandant of the Marine Corps and Distinguished National Security Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security, the center will…

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,…

In his article for Military Review, the professional journal of the U.S. Army, Lt. Col. D. Max Ferguson explains the concept of a catalyst paper as a way to recalibrate Army writing norms. “Catalyst papers jump-start conversations, and they help others chew on ideas and learn from current efforts. They can help us transform,” says…

“The last several years of ponderous deliberation over a crewed sixth-generation fighter has left the U.S. Air Force to face the real possibility that it will see China field an operational crewed sixth-generation fighter before it fields its own” writes McNally.

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.

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

In “Emerging technologies and challenges to nuclear stability” Sankaran explores the impact of small satellites, hypersonic weapons, machine learning, cyber weapons, and quantum sensing on nuclear operations, strategic nuclear stability, and international security.

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.

Tommy Jamison reviews two recent books documenting the fractious cooperation between the United States, the Chinese Communist Party, and the Nationalists during the 1940s.

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.

In new article for Lawfare, Benjamin Allison, Clements Graduate Fellow and Ph.D. student in history at the University of Texas discusses the complexities of extremist ideology in his piece titled Extremist Ideology Is Hard to Pin Down.

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.

The Central Texas American Society of Public Administration (CENTEX ASPA) has awarded the James McGrew Award for a Policy Research Project led by Professor Paul Pope to a group of LBJ School students for their Policy Research Project that focused domestic terrorism in the United States. Read more

Former Clements Center Graduate Fellow and Lt. Col. D. Max Ferguson (Ph.D.) was recently quoted in Task & Purpose for successfully climbing all 46 of the highest peaks in the Adirondack Mountain Range in a single day as part of a WWII tribute with the Army’s 10th Mountain Division. Read the article here.

In a new piece for the Carnegie Endowment’s Emissary Blog, Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens offers commentary on South Korea’s new holiday: North Korean Defectors’ Day. 

In a new article for Atlantic Council, former Clements Predoctoral Fellow Zoltán Fehér outlines the implications of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Europe and its impact on EU-China relations. Read the full article here.

In this new article, graduate fellow Sam Rosenberg and Jacob Ware delve into the intelligence and deception strategies that shaped the Normandy invasion: “The D-Day deception operation stands as a powerful example of the essential blend of irregular warfare methods with conventional tactics.”

In “The Failures of Russian Aerospace Forces in the Russia-Ukraine War and the Future of Air Power,” Jaganath investigates the reasons behind the failures of the Russian Aerospace Forces to acquire air superiority over Ukraine in the early stages of the 2022 war. 

“The material repetitively calls for the absolute elimination of Israel and Israelis through violence, and that’s about as extreme as it gets…It is very intentional about identifying and supporting other extremists and terrorist groups: Lions’ Den, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the PLO,” the Palestine Liberation Organization.”

“While a hypothetical future cyber force would surely assume this responsibility, the current health of the military cyber workforce remains a clear and present issue for the services to manage,” writes Romanow.