Nuclear Logic
Christian Science Monitor - March 2005
I continue to worry -- a lot! -- that our nuclear arsenal managers and our National Command Authority (the President and the Secretary of Defense) have not adapted our nuclear doctrine to the practicalities -- and the mysteries -- of the modern nuclear scene. This op-ed walks through a way to think about the "use" of nuclear weapons and urges that we change course. Soon.

Public Intelligence
Christian Science Monitor - December 2004
As the 9/11 Commission concluded its brilliant work, precipitating a rush to overhaul the US intelligence apparatus, this piece argues that, the reforms should put of the public at the top of the list of intelligence clients. "Intelligence reform is not a spectator sport."

Military's Bad-Guy Dragnet
Christian Science Monitor - May 2004
US military's bad-guy dragnet is a terrible way to win a war. Written as the world learned through leaked photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, this piece goes back to the accountability problem, arguing once again that a full and unrestrained embrace of accountability is essential if American military forces are to have any hope of succeeding in our "hearts and minds" campaign in Iraq. We now know, of course, that the military generals and their politician bosses are taking the opposite tack: pseudo-accountability via carefully constrained "investigations" that stay clear of command responsibilities.

Resetting the National Consensus on Security Strategy - Spring 2004
Resetting the national consensus on security strategy. Published by the Chicago-based National Strategy Forum, this piece revisits the myths which have framed traditional US security strategy and proposes new ground rules for citizens thinking about how to shape American security policy.

Peacebuilding Lessons
Christian Science Monitor - December 2003
This essay reports on some pioneering work in an American community. The "CoLabs" are the latest stage in the evolving application of war gaming techniques to peacebuilding and community development tasks. Importantly, the CoLabs and PeaceLabs turn out to be far more than a "process" -- they offer the citizens and leaders in local communities, countries, and regions a powerful new venue for primary democracy.

Exemplary Power
Christian Science Monitor - August 2003
Americans brandish more pure physical power than any empire in history. But are we using it effectively? I argue here that our power of example is far more potent than our firepower.

Talking with Nukes
Christian Science Monitor - April 2003
Nuclear weapons are cropping up in more and more countries. This essay urges some fundamental rethinking about nuclear "signals" -- the activities and statements various players in the nuclear game send each other. Sadly, we seem not to understand how radically the new atomic language (and thinking) among many nuclear actors differs from the Cold War's "bilingual" transactions between two super power blocs.

The People's Intelligence
Christian Science Monitor - February 2003
he cry for better intelligence has emerged as a staple of official reactions to any surprise. Written in the midst of a national focus on the failure of our intelligence systems to detect the impending 9/11 attacks, this piece argues that in the new circumstances in which we find ourselves, "secret" intelligence must now also serve the people on the front lines -- the public. (A personal note: at about this time, Ms. Clara Germoni became the Monitor's op-ed page editor. Like her predecessor, she has been a marvelous colleague-editor, always offering excellent advice about focus and topic.)

If You Want Peace, Work For Peace
Christian Science Monitor - December 2002
The end-of-year holiday season brings flurries of greeting cards touting peace. This piece offers one of my core convictions: that peace is work -- our main work -- not a result.

Building Defenses of Peace
Christian Science Monitor - October 2002
Written in the midst of what we now know was the Bush administration's callous manipulation of the UN enroute an already-decided invasion of Iraq, this piece suggests that we, the international community, need to revisit some basic questions about the design and functions of the UN architecture.

The American Boiler
Christian Science Monitor - September 2002
Quoting Churchill, this column was penned a year after the 9/11 attacks. The close of the piece seems still valid: "Bin Laden was counting on us to be self-centered and self-defeating when under sustained attack. The world is still counting on us to react as Churchill predicted, with generosity and teamwork. Let's prove bin Laden wrong and Churchill right."

Bin Laden's Innovations
Christian Science Monitor - August 2002
Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda leaders continue to elude and bedevil us. Bin Laden's movement and the strategic thinking of the Islamists continues to evolve. I fear that, as discussed here, our legions of super-secret hit squads are taking us in the wrong direction.

Demand More of America's Leaders
Christian Science Monitor - July 2002
As the arts of sloganeering and political manipulation become the first competencies of public officials, I worry about a general decline in the quality of public leadership. One might make the connection to the nation's -- indeed, the world's -- discovery in the wake of the 2005 hurricane Katrina disaster about just how little concrete competence there was to be found among our top officials, civilian or military, elected or appointed.

Save a Slot for Columbia
Christian Science Monitor - June 2002
In a world churning with activity, we tend to stare at only one or two headline-quality problems at a time. This op-ed suggested that we take a minute from other crises to watch one of the planet's primal struggles. The jury is still out as Colombians struggle to resolve this contest between narcoterrorism and civility.

No to Anti-Arab Bigotry
Christian Science Monitor - May 2, 2002
No to anti-Arab bigotry, The US must see Mideast Arabs as part of the solution -- May Writing this piece, my concern was that the American-led war on terror was taking a wrong turn into the fuzzy belief that Arab and Islam were synonyms for terrorist. My own experience is of an immensely calm and civil spririt on Arab streets and among Arab families; I think we do them a disservice and our own cause great harm by our casual bigotry about Arabs and Islam.

Listen for Peace
Christian Science Monitor - April 2002
My own title for this piece is "Visible Listening." Advocating strategic listening as our most powerful public diplomacy tool, this was written six months into the "war" on terrorism. It was clear then that America's moral standing in the world was plummeting and that White House efforts to sell America were failing. Sadly, this dreadful situation has only gotten worse. A huge and hidden "black" propaganda operation, mounted under the rubric of combating terrorism is polluting open media sources and (illegally) flooding fake "facts" back into America. More than ever I believe America's best foot forward is its ear.

Where's Military Creativity?
Christian Science Monitor - February 2002
Written to help citizen-taxpayers critique the Pentagon's budget request, this op-ed challenges the professional expertise of the modern officer corps. I think this criticism is even more valid after watching the mistakes our military leadership have made in Iraq.

Our New Kind of War Needs Teamwork
Christian Science Monitor - November 2001
We've now forgotten how radically the US attack on Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan differed from traditional military operations. This essay, written in the early days of that brief, semi-successful war, explores two questions that were afoot at the time: just when is the use of force legitimate? And how does one connect military action to civil and diplomatic measures in this new-fangled fighting against terrorist regimes?

In a New War, Innovation is Needed
Christian Science Monitor - October 2001
Written for citizens watching the precursor skirmishes of the invasion of Afghanistan, the first move in what has become known at GWOT -- the Global War on Terrorism - this piece suggests a general approach to thinking about what our great democracy might expect to encounter in the struggle with extremism. We now know, of course, that the entire GWOT strategy - including the idea that it is a 'war' - was on its way to going hard aground in Iraq.

Creating Security in an Uncivil World
Christian Science Monitor - September 2001
The Monitor asked me to write this on the afternoon of the 9/11 attacks. (Carla and I could see the Pentagon burning from our kitchen window in downtown Washington.) Asking citizen's questions about how we proceed, the piece ends with an observation I fear we have too often neglected in the years since the World Trade Towers fell: "...we need above all to trust our democracy and thereby ourselves. Our own common sense and our own human values vastly outweigh any of these assaults."

Remodeling Defense: Think Prevention
Christian Science Monitor - July 2001
This was written just as the new George W. Bush team was settling into office. Back at Defense, Secretary Don Rumsfeld was starting to rearrange America's military furniture. Sad to say, Rumsfeld's overhaul has been unable to break the military's preference for buying new technology over rethinking their conflict prevention mission.

Passing the Buck in Sub Drama
Christian Science Monitor - March 2001
My first op-ed for the wonderful Monitor, this explores another case of failed military accountability. (A personal note: thanks to the kind recruitment by Monitor staff writer Brad Knickerbocker. Then op-ed editor Linda Feldmann invited more and over the next couple of years helped me refine the art of op-ed haiku, an art I'm still trying to master. Thanks to the Monitor's world-wide readership, these pieces have all been reprinted in various places; several have led to follow on radio and TV interviews.)

Keep the Big Guns
US Naval Institute Proceedings - January 2000
Restoring battleships -- and battleship ethics -- to the Navy. Published as a "Comment and Discussion" item in US Naval Institute Proceedings.

Foundations of Accountability - December 1999
Written at the invitation of Navy Times, this op-ed was not, I believe, ever published. Its points remain valid.

Moving Upstream - December 1999
Principles for shifting from emergency response to conflict prevention. Written on behalf of my UNESCO colleagues and myself, this op-ed was used in an internal UNESCO publication. Its points remain on point.

Constructing Long Term Peace in Kosovo - September 1999
Emerging out of a PeaceGame held in Amman, Jordan, this op-ed was written for in-house use at UNESCO. The ideas remain valid--and not just for Kosovo. Note, too, that the advice for Kosovo was never taken: Kosovo today is a wreck - a corrupt and nearly dysfunctional country "managed" by a thoroughly dysfunctional UN bureaucracy with the collusion of a number of money-making NGOs.

Central Asian Students Tackel "Afghanization" - 1998
Included in a report published in Kyrgyz, Russian and English by Kyrgyz State National University, this op-ed reports on a successful "PeaceGame" held in Central Asia. As of 2005 this series continues to bring students from all over Central Asia together.

Disappearing Saddam - 1997
Not understanding at that time that op-ed page editors needed contributions limited to 750 words or so, I failed to find a publisher for this one. But as the wreckage in Iraq unfolds, I still believe this was good advice.

The Botched Iowa Probe
The Washington Post, November 24, 1991
Published in the prestigious Sunday Outlook section of The Washington Post, this op-ed explores the failures of accountability in the aftermath of the tragic 1989 explosion in Turret Two of Battleship Iowa. Accountability throughout our society remains one of my primary concerns.