R Jeffrey SMITH

Fear and Hand-Wringing in Halifax

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…

The US nuclear arsenal is becoming more destructive and possibly more risky

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…

Sensors add to accuracy and power of U.S. nuclear weapons but may create new security perils

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…

Under Trump, the nuclear weapons industry has boomed

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…

Coronavirus may upend U.S. national security priorities

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

Top Pentagon official contests White House claims about Ukraine aid delay

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…

After Trump acquittal, Public Integrity continues pressing open records case

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

GAO report backs private Pentagon conclusions that Trump broke the law on Ukraine

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

Trump administration rejects Center for Public Integrity request for transparency

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

New documents reveal Pentagon anger over holdup in Ukraine aid

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

Trump Administration officials worried Ukraine aid halt violated spending law

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

Timeline: How Trump withheld Ukraine aid

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…

Trump administration resists Ukraine disclosures ordered by court

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

The Growing Threat of Hypersonic Missiles

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…

Speed Kills

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…

Hypersonic Missiles Are Unstoppable. And They’re Starting a New Global Arms Race.

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…

Plutonium is missing, but the government says nothing

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,…

The world may soon be awash in advanced, lethal drones

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

Los Alamos would lose some future bomb production under new Trump administration plan

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

The Afghan War Isn’t Being Won, Says New Pentagon Audit

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…