R Jeffrey SMITH

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia—Hundreds of senior lawmakers, diplomats, and experts gathered in the Canadian city of Halifax over the weekend for the first big in-person security conference since the pandemic began, where they showcased an atmosphere of broad…

A little-noticed, new fuze that better controls a nuclear blast’s timing will enable the United States to more easily destroy protected targets in other countries. Introduction A sophisticated electronic sensor buried in hardened metal shells at the…

A sophisticated electronic sensor buried in hardened metal shells at the tip of a growing number of America’s ballistic missiles reflects a significant achievement in weapons engineering that experts say could help pave the way for reductions in the…

Expansion could be scaled back as President-elect Biden and Congress prioritize pandemic and recession problems. Introduction While the country has been coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, economic decline, and the election, President Donald Trump’s…

A new national poll suggests infectious disease is now a more worrisome threat than terrorism.

Introduction When confronted by House lawmakers angered about President Donald Trump’s halt in aid to Ukraine last summer, Trump administration officials repeatedly said the hiatus was meant to allow them to conduct a policy review about the aid…

The court fight over #UkraineDocs isn’t over, even if the president’s Senate trial is

The holdup of aid to Ukraine falls ‘squarely’ into the definition of an illegal act, congressional auditors say, addressing a matter at the heart of a Center for Public Integrity lawsuit

Department of Justice still wants to keep Ukraine documents from the public

Previously redacted emails sought by the Center for Public Integrity show a defense official accused presidential aides of misrepresenting the facts about a legal deadline

But key details of what they said to one another are again blacked out in documents released to the Center for Public Integrity under court order

The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates betrayals of public trust. Sign up to receive our stories. The Trump administration’s 55-day halt this summer of hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance and…

After lawsuit, the Center for Public Integrity received heavily redacted documents, will ask judge to order full transparency

Dan Winters for The New York Times You’re reading this week’s At War newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Friday. Email us at atwar@nytimes.com. Several decades ago, when I first saw “Ran,” a 1985 film by the Japanese…

How hypersonic missiles — which travel at more than 15 times the speed of sound — are touching off a new global arms race that threatens to change the nature of warfare. Introduction On March 6, 2018, the grand ballroom at the Sphinx Club in…

Dan Winters for The New York Times This article is a collaboration between The Times Magazine and the Center for Public Integrity, where R. Jeffrey Smith is the managing editor for national security. On March 6, 2018, the grand ballroom at the Sphinx…

Losses of civilian nuclear material are usually disclosed but when the government loses nuclear bomb ingredients it stays mum Introduction July 20, 2018: This story has been updated. This story was published in partnership with the Daily Beast,…

A report for the Joint Chiefs of Staff warns that rapidly proliferating large military drones will give enemies vastly more data and firepower

In a decision involving billions of dollars, two sites, not one, would make plutonium cores for nuclear weapons, with most of the work being done in South Carolina instead of New Mexico

Just one day after a double suicide bombing in Kabul killed at least 31 people and wounded scores more, a U.S. military watchdog released a report with a set of dismal statistics on the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. The report conflicts with the…