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Politics, Power, and Preventive Action

Zenko covers the U.S. national security debate and offers insight on developments in international security and conflict prevention.

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Signing Off

by Micah Zenko August 31, 2017

Today is my last day at the Council on Foreign Relations after eight and one-half fun and fulfilling years. An archive of everything I authored or co-authored remains here. Subsequently, this is the final post of this blog after more than 400 posts. Read More

Featured

Military Operations

Red Team at Aspen
Late last month, I was honored to be a speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival about my book Red Team: How to Succeed By Thinking Like the Enemy. The Festival, which the Aspen Institute began in 2005, in…

Blog Post by Micah Zenko July 20, 2016 Politics, Power, and Preventive Action

Defense and Security

Questioning Obama’s Drone Deaths Data
Months after promising to release the number of civilians that have been killed in U.S. lethal counterterrorism operations outside of "areas of active hostilities," the Obama Administration today rel…

Blog Post by Micah Zenko July 1, 2016 Politics, Power, and Preventive Action

United States

How Not To Estimate and Communicate Risks
Estimating and translating the probability of an event for decision-makers is among the most difficult challenges in government and the private sector. The person making the estimate must be able to …

Blog Post by Micah Zenko June 29, 2016 Politics, Power, and Preventive Action

United States

Will Killing Mullah Mansour Work?
On Saturday, the Pentagon released a remarkable statement: “Today, the Department of Defense conducted an airstrike that targeted Taliban leader Mullah Mansur.” Soon after, a tweet from the Office of…

Blog Post by Micah Zenko May 23, 2016 Politics, Power, and Preventive Action

United States

Are Drones More Precise Than Manned Aircraft?
This blog post was coauthored with my research associate, Amelia M. Wolf. In our latest piece at ForeignPolicy.com, we evaluate the Obama administration’s long-standing claim that drone strikes are …

Blog Post by Micah Zenko April 25, 2016 Politics, Power, and Preventive Action

Russia
A New U.S. Strategy for Russia? A Conversation with Kimberly Marten
Podcast
While policymakers continued to struggle with investigating Russian interference in the U.S. election, I sat down with Professor Kimberly Marten to talk about how the Trump administration can effecti…
Podcast March 8, 2017 Politics, Power, and Preventive Action
Heads of State and Government
The (Not-So) Peaceful Transition of Power: Trump’s Drone Strikes Outpace Obama
[Note: This post was updated to reflect additional strikes in Yemen on March 2, March 3, and March 6.] As a candidate, President Donald Trump was deeply misleading about the sorts of military oper…
Blog Post by Micah Zenko March 2, 2017 Politics, Power, and Preventive Action
Territorial Disputes
Will Nagorno-Karabakh’s Frozen Conflict Heat Up?
Eshani Bhatt is an intern in the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations. Last weekend, a firefight erupted between Azerbaijani forces and Armenian-backed separatists near…
Blog Post by Guest Blogger for Micah Zenko March 1, 2017 Politics, Power, and Preventive Action
  • Politics and Government
    How to Use Red Teams and Be a Red Teamer: A Conversation with Mark Mateski
    Podcast
    I sat down again with Mark Mateski, an expert in red teaming and one of the most insightful people I learned from while writing my book, Red Team: How to Succeed By Thinking Like the Enemy. In 1997, …
    Podcast February 27, 2017 Politics, Power, and Preventive Action
  • Syria
    Rethinking the U.S. Approach in Northern Syria: A Conversation with Aaron Stein
    Podcast
    Yesterday I spoke with Aaron Stein, resident senior fellow in the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council and author of the new Center for Preventive Action paper, “Reconcilin…
    Podcast February 17, 2017 Politics, Power, and Preventive Action