Press

The Clements Center’s undergraduate and graduate programs wrapped up the spring semester with a mix of practitioner meetings, fieldwork, workshops, and graduations across three program areas. Undergraduate Fellows This spring, the Undergraduate Fellows cohort met with senior policymakers and professionals—including Rana Inboden, Ambassador Dennis Ross, and former Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison—to discuss current events and…

The Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project (ISP) at The University of Texas at Austin invites undergraduate and graduate students to submit original research for the 12th annual Bobby R. Inman Award, one of the most prestigious student honors in the field of intelligence studies. The winner will receive a cash prize of $5,000, with two semifinalists…

Robert Kaplan argues that the U.S. Navy’s relative decline threatens the sea lanes that underpin global trade and the rules-based world order America spent a century building. Without significant naval expansion, he warns, the consequences will extend far beyond military affairs.

In a recent Military Review article, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Ryan Van Wie argues that a decade of rotating armored brigade combat teams (ABCTs) through Europe has come at a cost that outweighs many of the policy’s claimed benefits.

In Foreign Affairs, Daniel Chardell and Samuel Helfont warn that the current U.S.-Iran truce mirrors the post-Gulf War containment of Iraq, leaving a weakened but intact regime that will inevitably provoke repeated confrontations.

What does a war in the Gulf have to do with the Taiwan Strait? More than you might think. In a new analysis, Clements Center postdoctoral fellow Dr. Doron Feldman explores how Taiwan is drawing strategic lessons from Israel, and why aligning with Washington and Jerusalem may be Taipei’s best insurance against Beijing.

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…

The U.S. military campaign against Iran, launched February 28, may feel unprecedented but its playbook is more than 40 years old. This piece traces how Operation Epic Fury draws on strategies pioneered by every president from Reagan to the Bushes, from airstrikes on Libya to the opening hours of the Iraq War.

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.

J. Paul Pope from UT’s LBJ School reviews a new collection of intelligence cases that delivers some uncomfortable truths. Out of 16 recent cases, 12 failed outright or only partially succeeded. In his review, Pope highlights the volume’s teachable lessons about the critical nexus between intelligence and policy decision-making.