Clements Center in the News: Spring 2026

This spring, the Clements Center appeared in national and international media through the work of its fellows, alumni, and affiliates, covering the Iran War, U.S. naval power, Venezuela, European force posture, and the future of intelligence.

Clements Center News

In January, the Center mourned the passing of Joel Robuck, a longtime member of the Advisory Board whose support for students, commitment to the Center’s mission, and belief that Longhorns were uniquely suited to lead in national security left a lasting mark on the community he helped build.

In May, the West Point Association of Graduates named Gen. (Ret.) Vince Brooks, a Clements Center Distinguished National Security Fellow and frequent participant in Center events including this spring’s Striking the Ayatollah panel, as one of the 2026 recipients of the Distinguished Graduate Award. The award recognizes graduates whose character and distinguished service reflect West Point’s motto of Duty, Honor, Country.

Affiliates in the Media

Iran and the Middle East. Distinguished Senior Lecturer Robert Kaplan published “The Curse of Middle-Sized Wars” in Foreign Affairs, arguing the United States is most vulnerable in conflicts that fall between quick strikes and total war and that Iran illustrates how these drawn-out engagements trap policymakers in open-ended commitments. Postdoctoral fellows Daniel Chardell and Samuel Helfont followed in Foreign Affairs with “How a Cease-Fire Can Lead to Disaster,” warning that the current U.S.-Iran truce mirrors the post-Gulf War containment of Iraq. Postdoctoral Fellow Doron Feldman wrote “Between the Hormuz and Taiwan Straits” in the Jerusalem Post, examining what Taiwan can learn from Israel’s alignment with Washington. And alumni Matthew Frakes and Benjamin Allison published “Targeting the Faces of Evil: The U.S. Confronts a Rogue State” in The Hill, tracing how Operation Epic Fury draws on four decades of U.S. strategy toward rogue states.

Europe and U.S. force posture. Graduate Fellow Lt. Col. Ryan Van Wie published “Forward Presence at What Cost? Rethinking U.S. Rotational Presence in Europe” in Military Review, arguing that a decade of rotating armored brigade combat teams through Europe has degraded readiness while delivering less deterrent value than commonly claimed, and making the case for a single permanently based unit. Robert Kaplan returned in May with a guest essay in the New York Times on the decline of American naval power, arguing that the Navy’s relative weakening threatens the sea lanes underpinning global trade and the rules-based international order.

The Americas. Graduate Fellow Marcus Golding published “The Spirit of the Concessionary Model and the Future of Venezuelan Oil” in Caracas Chronicles, examining Venezuela’s newly approved energy reforms through the lens of the country’s twentieth-century oil history. And alumnus Lt. Col. Max Ferguson opened the year with a firsthand account for the Association of the United States Army on the 10th Mountain Division’s southern border mission and how the deployment became an opportunity for real-world training.

Intelligence. J. Paul Pope of UT’s LBJ School reviewed a new collection of intelligence warning case studies for the International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. Of the sixteen cases examined, twelve failed outright or only partially succeeded; Pope’s review draws out lessons about the critical relationship between intelligence analysis and policy decision-making.