Iran did not need a navy to close the Strait of Hormuz and disrupt global trade – only missiles on shore, drones in the air, and mines beneath the waves. For centuries, only naval power could determine who used the world's narrow straits, but now even navy-less actors can disrupt global trade. To keep the sea lanes open, America and its allies must deter attempts to close a chokepoint and build the reserves and bypass routes that blunt the damage when narrow waterways do close.
Books
How can we make better decisions—especially when the stakes are highest? In Judgment Calls, historian Zachary Shore tackles this timeless puzzle with intellectual daring and uncommon range.
November 1, 2026
Articles
This Monday marks thirty-six years since the beginning of the end of the Cold War. In the excerpt below from Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World, I recall watching the Iron Curtain part while serving in the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment, a unit charged with border surveillance and control along the East-West German border and the West Germany-Czechoslovakia border.
November 10, 2026
Articles
Strategika Issue 108 is now available online. Strategika is an online journal that analyzes ongoing issues of national security in light of conflicts of the past—the efforts of the Military History Working Group of historians, analysts, and military personnel focusing on military history and contemporary conflict.
November 10, 2026
