All Security Voices

The UN must work to prevent the escalation of violence and preserve what progress has been made in the Central African Republic. With key support from the US, the Security Council should increase its efforts to deploy a better equipped, larger UN peacekeeping mission to CAR.

The coming peace talks in Geneva provide hope for setting lines for a cease-fire in Syria. To draw those lines, three separate homelands must be created, with input by outside powers. Some will say this is impossible. Not so.

To achieve a long-term deal with the P5+1, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani must also win the battle against his critics at home. His real challenge is to convince the poor that they stand to gain from a rapprochement with the West. If life gets more difficult for them, this will be a hard sell.

The US must take a stronger role in addressing three key challenges in Azerbaijan: energy development, with support for a new natural gas pipeline to Europe; democratic reforms, especially those that ensure free speech; and peace with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu warns that the nuclear deal with Iran increases Iran’s chances of building nuclear weapons. He’s exactly wrong: With this deal in place, it will be much harder for Iranian hardliners to make the case that Iran should tear up its agreements and build a bomb.

World powers have reached a historic six-month nuclear with Iran, but not everyone is cheering. Just as the 'anti-deal' crowd is wrong to burn diplomacy in the womb, so too is the 'pro-deal' crowd wrong to crow with gleeful triumphalism. The only sensible reaction: hopeful but healthy scrutiny.

King Mohammed VI is seeking US backing for Morocco’s claim to the disputed territory of Western Sahara where the Sahrawi people await a vote on independence. Suppressing this option for the Sahrawis could push younger generations to violence, further destabilizing North Africa.

With the help of US military advisers, African forces have made progress in the push to apprehend Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army, but challenges remain. The US, UN, and African Union must pressure the region's governments to allow access to LRA safe havens.

As the third round of talks on Iran's nuclear program begins in Geneva, the US must realize it was the election of Hassan Rouhani, not sanctions alone, that brought Iran to the negotiating table. Continuing sanctions will undermine the new government's efforts for a peace deal.

The Obama administration faces pressure from Congress for more sanctions against Iran. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani faces increasing pressure from hardliners who oppose negotiations with the US. But a diplomatic deal is still clearly preferable for all sides.

Privacy issues related to the coming integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into US skies are important and entirely addressable, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said recently. A dialogue between UAS operators and the public will enable the creation of regulations that both protect privacy and allow the full promise of UAS in improving and saving lives to come to fruition.

China's President Xi Jinping is neither a reformer nor a non-reformer. He is a pragmatist – a disciple of former Chinese Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping. Mr. Xi seeks to build the overall vitality of the Chinese nation, and to do this, he feels the Party must maintain absolute control.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) will help reshape American aviation – and help civilians do everything from improve crop yields to support wildlife conservation. A crucial step in fulfilling that promise will be the assignment of radio spectrum to enable more-robust control of UAS.

Things are getting worse for the United States, not because of our weak policies but because the times are changing, our capabilities and energies limited, and we haven’t recognized it yet. We can’t afford to keep on doing those things we shouldn’t have been doing in the first place.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have powerful potential to improve and save US lives and are already helping a range of Americans – from law enforcement to farmers. With FAA safety and privacy regulations in place, experts predict that small UAS will proliferate in the next few years.

The US should make two key reforms. First, the over-designation of material as classified makes it is harder to protect the few real secrets; this must be change. Second, the FISA court must become a gatekeeper for NSA access to communications data.

At the request of Afghan officials, Pakistan has reportedly released almost 40 Taliban combatants, supposedly to help spur peace negotiations. But experience shows this is wishful thinking. These prisoner releases give the Taliban something they want, while providing nothing in return.