Vandenberg Flash Focus

A few weeks ago, President Trump secured the release of all 20 remaining living hostages in Gaza and reached a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. This ceasefire is a tenuous one; Hamas has refused to release the bodies of deceased hostages and has violated agreed-upon boundaries, sparking limited clashes with Israeli forces. Nonetheless, the ceasefire has paved the way for renewed discussions on...

Right now, all eyes remain on the Caribbean, where President Trump’s buildup of military forces has raised significant questions about American intentions and objectives in Latin America. Is the United States simply conducting counternarcotics operations, or are we embarking on regime change or pressure in the region? Ryan Berg, Director of the Americas Program and Head of the Future of Venezuela...

The United States has plenty of work ahead of us if we want to win the global soft power battleground in the fight against China, Russia, and Iran. With good reason, the Trump administration has strongly criticized the implementation of American soft power under the previous administration. Its response has been to cut billions in foreign aid, but while breaking some eggs is ne...

The Vandenberg Coalition's Executive Director Carrie Filipetti sat down with Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) to talk about the national security challenges facing the United States. From how we can work with our allies to push back against the Chinese Communist Party to pursuing “peace through sanctions” to deal with Vladimir Putin, Senator Scott sounds the alarm on how our adversaries ar...

President Trump is slated to speak at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) next week. Though many say it is unlikely that UNGA will reap anything substantial and positive for the United States, the conference will serve as one of the first opportunities for President Trump to outline to the rest of the world his foreign policy vision and approach for the next four years. Amanda Rothschild, f...

After the Reagan administration, the issue of human rights has come to be captured and dominated by the left, with it now being seen as largely synonymous with progressive policy preferences rather than the fundamental rights that align with our founding principles. Some on the right are now highly skeptical of whether human rights as an issue can be salvaged. Yet this month marks the fifth annive...

While many are familiar with the national security case for forcing ByteDance to divest or banning TikTok altogether, its assault on America’s children is just as alarming. TikTok holds unprecedented control over the content consumed by our children, exposing them to dangerous or even illegal content, including anti-American propaganda, antisemitism, pornography, and drugs. TikTok is not just a na...

With the future of the global order hinging on the outcome of today’s great power competition, a group of multi-aligned states has emerged with a growing ability to influence the outcome of this competition. Effectively engaging these 'global swing states' will be essential if the United States is to succeed in preserving an international order that favors American interests an...

A small but loud faction of the New Right has attempted to hijack the conservative movement to normalize age-old hatreds, conspiracies about U.S. national security, and historical revisionism. Rather than addressing the legitimate concerns felt by many Americans who serve as their audience and lead to us to embrace the better angels of our nature, this faction seeks to shackle Americans to their c...

The United Nations has sparked significant debate within the foreign policy community. Though the founding ideals of the UN, as championed nearly 80 years ago by our namesake Senator Arthur Vandenberg, still merit strong support, the organization has increasingly been exploited by America’s adversaries to obstruct its mission and undermine U.S. interests. As former National Security Advisor and me...

Ukraine through Operation Spiderweb and Israel through Operation Rising Lion surreptitiously smuggled drones behind enemy lines and successfully neutralized critical Russian and Iranian assets. As we continue to watch the aftermath of these operations, Operations Rising Lion and Spiderweb raise urgent questions for the United States; namely, how vulnerable are we to technologically driven attacks...

President Trump’s eventful trip to the Middle East marked the first major international visit of his second term, featuring stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Framing the visit as a break from the legacy of the so-called “nation-builders” he has long derided, President Trump returned to Washington boasting flashy investment deals and hinting at policy shifts that have the...

80 years ago today, Nazi forces issued an unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers, marking the official end of World War II in Europe. Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day) serves as a great reminder of what happens when Americans, with our full might and allies along side us, stand up to tyrants seeking to revise the world order. How can we best commemorate those who gave everything to secure our...

As tensions rise in the Taiwan Strait following China’s latest round of large-scale military exercises, questions surrounding Taiwan’s defense readiness and deterrence in the region are once again front and center. Beijing claims these drills are a “severe warning” and   a message of "forceful containment against Taiwan independence,” but do they signal serious preparation for conflict, or ar...

Emboldened by its patron, Iran, Houthi drone and missile attacks have disrupted international shipping in the Red Sea since November 2023. In response, the Trump administration has launched a series of “decisive and powerful” airstrikes against the Houthis, with President Trump declaring that any future Houthi attack will be treated as an attack by Iran itself. Real Admiral Mark Montgomery, Senior...

In early February, The Vandenberg Coalition worked with award-winning polling company  J.L. Partners  to survey a representative sample of registered voters to measure TikTok’s usage amongst Americans and respondents’ familiarity with the app, TikTok’s ownership, and how Americans perceive TikTok’s impact on national security and American politics. The American public’s views are clear:...

In this special episode, we mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022 by revisiting the Vandenberg Coalition and the McCain Institute’s November 2024 report, “ A Conservative Strategy for Countering Russia .” The report features insights from top conservative thought leaders on how the United States should confront the Russian threat. The authors imp...

The policies of the Biden administration not only failed to extinguish the foreign policy fires consuming the Middle East; they actively accelerated them. Recognizing the urgent need for a revamped Middle East strategy, the Vandenberg Coalition convened a working group of experts to proposed policy solutions to more effectively advance U.S. interests and regional stability. One of group’s experts,...

Despite the high-minded and noble ideas upon which they were founded, multilateral institutions like the United Nations have been hijacked by actors adversarial to the United States, such as China, Russia, Iran, and terrorist organizations. No better example of this concerning trend exists than in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). As documented in a new UN Watch report, UNRWA lea...

In a stunning turn of events, a collection of rebel forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an entity designated by the United States and numerous countries as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad, marking the end of the 50-year brutal rule of the Assad family over Syria. The astonishing speed at which Assad’s regime fell leaves many questions to be answere...

For decades, the repressive Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has weaponized its position in the global economy to build geoeconomic leverage, fund its military modernization, fuel its global illicit activities, and wage economic warfare on the United States. Americans can no longer afford the costs of an unfettered CCP. What actions can the incoming administration and Congress take to counter the CCP...

Russia remains one of America’s most destructive adversaries, as displayed by its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and ongoing efforts to wage non-kinetic warfare against the world’s democracies. With President Trump set to take office in two months, the Vandenberg Coalition and the McCain Institute have assembled a report featuring proposals from national security leaders with prior governm...

Republican control of the White House and majorities in both branches have set the stage to implement President Trump’s foreign policy agenda. What can we expect from the confirmations process and national security committees, and which of President Trump’s foreign policy priorities are likely to garner bipartisan support? In this episode of Flash Focus, join Vandenberg Senior Director for Po...

Brian Cavanaugh, former Senior Director for Resilience Policy on the National Security Council (NSC), current Senior Vice President at American Global Strategies, and Vandenberg Coalition Advisory Board member joins Flash Focus. In the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Brian and Vandenberg Executive Director Carrie Filipetti discuss the protocol guiding hurricane emergency response effort...

Elliott Abrams, Chairman of the Vandenberg Coalition, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and former Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela, joins Vandenberg Executive Director Carrie Filipetti for the first of three special Flash Focus episodes marking the one-year anniversary of Hamas' brutal terrorist attack against Israel on October 7th. In this episode, Elliott reflects...