In August 2016, the Aspen Strategy Group examined how to reform America’s national security decision-making process. The papers in this volume provide practical solutions to repair the key functions of Washington’s executive departments, agencies, and advisory bodies responsible for shaping U.S. foreign policy and national security.

I WISH I’D KNOWN THAT IN COLLEGEYour time as an undergrad has the potential to be incredibly fun, rewarding, and life changing in ways you may not yet even imagine–that is, if you play your cards right and take full advantage of what your university has to offer. Sadly, very few students ever learn the secret handshake of how to make the most of their college years. Until now.For undergrads (and parents) hoping their tuition will pay off, G...

America is in trouble. We face four major challenges on which our future depends, and we are failing to meet them—and if we delay any longer, soon it will be too late for us to pass along the American dream to future generations.In That Used to Be Us, Thomas L. Friedman, one of our most influential columnists, and Michael Mandelbaum, one of our leading foreign policy thinkers, offer both a wake-up call and a call to collective action. They analyze the four challenges we fac...

The provocative bestseller explaining the decline of power in the twenty-first century -- in government, business, and beyond.br> Power is shifting -- from large, stable armies to loose bands of insurgents, from corporate leviathans to nimble start-ups, and from presidential palaces to public squares. But power is also changing, becoming harder to use and easier to lose. In The End of Power, award-winning columnist and former Foreign Policy editor MoiséNaÃ...

At this defining moment in our history, Americans are hungry for change. After years of failed policies and failed politics from Washington, this is our chance to reclaim the American dream. Barack Obama has proven to be a new kind of leader–one who can bring people together, be honest about the challenges we face, and move this nation forward. Change We Can Believe In outlines his vision for America.In these pages you will find bold and specific ideas about how to fix our...

From the former secretary of defense and author of the acclaimed #1 best-selling memoir Duty, a characteristically direct, informed, and urgent assessment of why big institutions are failing us and how smart, committed leadership can effect real improvement regardless of scale.Across the realms of civic and private enterprise alike, bureaucracies vitally impact our security, freedoms, and everyday life. With so much at stake, competence, efficiency, and fiscal prudence are...

It can feel like we're swimming in a sea of corruption. It's unclear who exactly is in charge and what role they play. The same influential people seem to reappear time after time in different professional guises, pressing their own agendas in one venue after another. According to award-winning public policy scholar and anthropologist Janine Wedel, these are the powerful "shadow elite," the main players in a vexing new system of power and influence.In this groundbreaking book, Wede...

There is no longer such a thing as an American economy, say Robert Reich at the beginning of this brilliant book. What does it mean to be a nation when money, goods, and services know no borders? What skills will be the most valuable in the coming century? And how can our country best ensure that all its citizen have a share in the new global economy? Robert B. Reich, the widely respected and bestselling author of The Next American Frontier and The Resurgent Liberal,

The American people are frustrated with their government-dismayed by a series of high-profile failures (Iraq, Katrina, the financial meltdown) that seems to just keep getting longer. Yet our nation has a proud history of great achievements: victory in World War II, our national highway system, welfare reform, the moon landing.We need more successes like these to reclaim government's legacy of competence. In If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, William Eggers and John O'Leary explain ho...

Bestselling author Newt Gingrich exposes the anti-American forces that have grown so large and so aggressive in their quest for power in this national bestseller.The struggle between the defenders of America as an exceptional nation and the forces of anti-Americanism is reaching a fever pitch. These forces have grown so large, so well-financed, so entrenched and aggressive that they must be studied closely and understood completely if America is to survive this imm...

Since the end of the Cold War, America's national security establishment has been searching for a new operating theory to explain how this seemingly "chaotic" world actually works. Gone is the clash of blocs, but replaced by what?Thomas Barnett has the answers. A senior military analyst with the U.S. Naval War College, he has given a constant stream of briefings over the past few years, and particularly since 9/11, to the highest of high-level civilian and military...

Globalization and the shifting tectonic plates of the international system have led to an increasingly competitive world. If Canada hopes to gain advantage from the dramatic developments underway it will have to aggressively adapt its foreign and domestic policies and priorities under the clear direction of the federal government or accept being left behind.In Brave New Canada, Derek Burney and Fen Hampson identify the key trends that are reshaping the world's geopolitics ...