I have always been fascinated by the "Middle Road" philosophy, somewhat inspired by Aristotle's "Ethics", and in more modern times, by Popper's approach to social processes. In the specific context of national security strategy and intelligence, I am constantly thinking about the balance between conservatism and innovation. Between remembering the past, yet understanding that history never truly repeats itself. Never preparing for the previous war, yet acknowledging that not everything...

Many articles have been written in recent years about the protracted nature of wars, and the illusion of short and decisive wars. Many of them, such as this one, or this one, and even this one, were written from an American perspective. They discussed lessons from the war in Ukraine, and offered recommendations for a future conflict with China. The current conflict between the US and Iran, which has been taking place for 6 months, also illustrates the protracted nature of wars. Decisive and...

Yes. I know. As an intelligence practitioner, I always tried to avoid the "tyranny of current intelligence". And when I became an intelligence scholar, I read numerous books and articles admiring "estimative intelligence" or "strategic intelligence" and looking down on current intelligence. "Current" sounded like "simple", "tactical", or "flat". Something more similar to new reporting to true and deep intelligence analysis. But as always, I try to adopt the Middle Road philosophy of...