Move Slow and Fix Things
The House and Senate were always supposed to check the president’s power in foreign affairs. But when partisan loyalties and an onslaught of domestic issues make legislation nearly…
Editor in Chief
Laicie Heeley
Editor in Chief
Laicie Heeley (@laicie) is the founding CEO of Inkstick Media, where she serves as Editor in Chief of the foreign policy magazine Inkstick and Executive Producer and Host of the PRX- and Inkstick-produced podcast, Things That Go Boom. Heeley’s reporting has appeared on public radio stations across America and the BBC, where she’s explored global security issues including domestic terrorism, disinformation, nuclear weapons, and climate change. Prior to launching Inkstick, Heeley was a Fellow with the Stimson Center’s Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program and Policy Director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Her publications include work on sanctions, diplomacy, and nuclear arms control and nonproliferation, along with the first full accounting of US counterterrorism spending after 9/11.
Life Like an Accordion
The worst of the fighting has left the capital for now, but the city remains tense. Giant steel anti-tank barriers called “hedgehogs” stand in rows scattered every 500 meters like…
This Really Happened
Covert action has supported our nation’s security goals for decades — from fighting the Cold War to killing Osama Bin Laden. But it’s also part of a long American history of justifying…
To Appropriations and Beyond!
When Congress created Space Force back in 2019, it looked to some like a wild idea from President Trump had just gone and become the sixth branch of the armed forces. But the US military has…
More Defense Money, More Problems
One month into the war in Ukraine, the US finds itself on better international footing than it has in some time. Russia’s military is performing poorly, so much so that US intelligence…
Of Militias and Mercedes-Benzes
It’s hard to overstate how much arms trade and aid factor into US foreign policy. Missiles, aircraft, guns, and more — we sell and give them to others as a way to exert global power…
You Get a Sanction, and You, and You
At their core, sanctions are a way for countries to say, “We don’t like what you’re doing, and we’re going to make your life harder for it.” When they’re at their best,…
'Praying to Black Jesus' in Kyiv
Long lines at ATMs and gas stations. The constant blare of air raid sirens. Military jets scrambling across the sky. Eurasia expert (and for the first time, war reporter) Terrell Jermaine…
Nuclear Dangers in Europe, Again
A friend from college called me the other day. We chat from time to time about family and life, but yesterday he sounded serious: “I don’t really follow the news, and things sound…
Border-aucracy
Congress hasn’t passed a significant immigration bill in decades, but the demands on the immigration system today are very different than they were in the ’90s. So, what’s a president…