Cold War History
The Origins of the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait Reconsidered
For over 30 years, policymakers and scholars have taken for granted that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait simply to seize its oil. That narrative misleadingly suggests that the Iraqi invasion happened to coincide with, but was unrelated to, the dawn of the…
What’s Old Is New Again: Cold War Lessons for Countering Disinformation
Hostile foreign states are using weaponized information to attack the United States. Russia and China are disseminating disinformation about domestic U.S. race relations and COVID-19 to undermine and discredit the U.S. government. These information warfare…
A U.S. Media Strategy for the 2020s: Lessons from the Cold War
The incoming Biden administration has an opportunity to strengthen U.S. national security by revitalizing U.S. international broadcasting, both in terms of organizational structure and overall strategy. In order to do so, it should look to the Cold War history…
Rubles, Dollars, and Power: U.S. Intelligence on the Soviet Economy and Long-Term Competition
This response essay explores some of the key areas of agreement and disagreement between two recent articles on Cold War-era assessments of the Soviet economy.
Ronald Reagan and the Cold War: What Mattered Most
Scholars, like contemporary observers, continue to argue heatedly over the quality of President Ronald Reagan’s strategy, diplomacy, and leadership. This paper focuses on a fascinating paradox of his presidency: By seeking to talk to Soviet leaders and end…
Assessing Soviet Economic Performance During the Cold War: A Failure of Intelligence?
For years, scholars have argued that economists and the CIA failed to see that the Soviet Union's economy was headed toward collapse. But are they right?