James Lindsay
- Senior Fellow, The Council on Foreign Relations
- Podcast Host, The President’s Inbox
New York, Washington, D.C.
Senior Fellow @CFR_org. Host of The President's Inbox (cfr.org/podcasts). Opinions are my own. RT ≠ endorsement.
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by James Lindsay
The United States Discovers Soviet Missiles in Cuba
The phone call came at an inconvenient time for McGeorge Bundy. The forty-three-year-old national security advisor was hosting a send-off dinner for the new U.S. ambassador to France, Charles “Chip” Bohlen. Bundy excused himself to take the call. On the other end of the line was Ray Cline, the CIA’s deputy director for intelligence.
Major Richard S. Heyser’s U-2 Mission Discovers Soviet Missiles in Cuba
The U-2 is a remarkable plane. It can fly at altitudes above 70,000 feet for hours at a time, surveilling all that lies below. Its debut in 1956, before the United States had launched a satellite let alone made them a mainstay for information gathering, gave the United States an immediate intelligence advantage over the Soviet Union. The plane is so useful that the U.S. Air Force still flies upgraded versions. Why mention the U-2?
Five Things to Know About the Midterms
Election Day is three weeks away. As of today, early voting has begun in fifteen states. To get you ready for the vote that could change party control of Congress, and with it, the direction of U.S. politics, here are five things to know: 1. We already know the winners of 90 percent of House races and 75 percent of Senate races.
Are the U.S. Midterms Vulnerable to Foreign Meddling?
In July, President Donald Trump delivered a primetime address warning the nation that U.S. election infrastructure was vulnerable to foreign attack. He specifically alleged that China had sought to influence the 2020 election. Trump did not provide any evidence that elections had been disrupted or that ballots had been miscounted. Instead, the Chinese actions he cited involved the legal acquisition of voter rolls.
Will There Be Meddling in the Midterms?
LINDSAY: In July, President Donald Trump delivered a primetime address to warn the nation that America’s election infrastructure was vulnerable to foreign attack, specifically alleged that China had sought to influence the 2020 presidential election. Trump did not provide any evidence that any election had been disrupted or that ballots had been miscounted. Instead, the Chinese actions he cited involved the legal purchase of voter rolls.
The U.S. Supreme Court Rules on Mail Ballots, Congressional Maps, and the SAVE Database
Tomorrow marks one month until Election Day. In recent weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided three sets of lawsuits with the potential to reshape the midterms. Two of its decisions helped clarify the upcoming vote. The first restored the status quo that had previously governed mail balloting and the second finalized the congressional district maps that will be used. The third decision, however, injected a fresh note of uncertainty into an election that has already had more than its fair share.
What Questions Should Leaders Ask Before Going to War?
Historians will be unkind to President Donald Trump’s decision to launch Operation Epic Fury, which has just entered its eighth month. His administration never fully vetted the war it was launching, never decided what it was seeking to accomplish, and never asked how Iran could try to neutralize the U.S. military’s overwhelming edge.
The Seven Questions Every Military Strategist Must Ask
TRANSCRIPT LINDSAY: Historians will be unkind to President Donald Trump’s decision to launch Operation Epic Fury, which has just entered its eighth month. His administration never fully vetted the war it was launching, determined its objectives, or considered how Iran might seek to neutralize the overwhelming U.S. military advantage.
How Gaza Happened
What the New Google Maps Images of Gaza Really Show Sometimes I give a long-form explanation for something on X that deserves a more concrete publication address, and I move them here to my New Discourses Substack, separate from New Discourses proper. One such occasion arose after a propaganda wave hit to capitalize upon the fact that Google Maps had updated its views of Gaza, which Israel has spent the three years since October 7, 2023, dealing with as the situation has demanded.
Bill Clinton Signs the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Thirty years ago today, President Bill Clinton signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The treaty bars signatory countries from exploding nuclear devices for military or civilian purposes. In signing the treaty with the same pen that John F. Kennedy used three decades earlier to sign the Limited Test Ban Treaty, Clinton called the CTBT “the longest-sought, hardest-fought prize in arms control history.” Clinton didn’t realize at the time how accurate and prophetic his statement was.
Xi Jinping Visits the White House
Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s plane lands this afternoon at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for a state visit, his first trip to Washington in a decade. It promises to be a whirlwind stop. In less than forty-eight hours, he will fly back to China. Xi’s visit marks the third time in the past eleven months that he and President Donald Trump have met in person.
Trump Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Xi
LINDSAY: If you are listening to this episode as it went live, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has just touched down at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for a state visit to Washington, DC, his first in a decade. It is, however, the third time in just 11 months that he and President Donald Trump have met in person, the first time being in Busan, South Korea, last October, where the two leaders agreed to de-escalate what had been a growing trade war between their two countries.
Andrei Gromyko Tells a Lie at the United Nations
The eighty-first session of the United Nations General Assembly convenes tomorrow. Heads of state and foreign ministers will be giving speeches galore over the next two weeks. Some will be good. Some will be awful. Almost all will be forgotten before the month’s end. With any luck, none will be as deceitful as the speech that Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko gave sixty-four years ago today when he told the world that Soviet military assistance to Cuba posed no threat to the United States.
George Washington’s Farewell Address
Today marks the 230th anniversary of one of the most consequential presidential statements in the history of U.S. foreign policy, “The Address of General Washington To The People of America on His Declining of the Presidency of the United States,” or as it is better known, “Washington’s Farewell Address.” It was published, not delivered in person, on September 19, 1796 in the Philadelphia newspaper, the American Daily Advertiser. (Why a Philadelphia paper?
The U.S.-Canada Trade War Could Mark a Breaking Point
WAHSINGTON — I read a poll earlier this month showing that 41% of Canadians see the US as “an enemy country.” The poll was conducted right after President Trump slapped 50% tariffs on $27.6 billion of Canadian exports to the US. …I have no illusions that U.S.-Canada relations were idyllic before Trump took office. …But the recent turn in US-Canada relations feels different.
The U.S.-Canada Trade War Could Mark a Breaking Point
Some numbers make you sit up straight. I did just that when I read a poll earlier this month showing that 41 percent of Canadians see the United States as “an enemy country.” The poll was conducted right after President Donald Trump slapped 50 percent tariffs on $27.6 billion of Canadian exports to the United States.
Elbows Up: How Canada Is Fighting Trump’s Tariffs
LINDSAY: Some numbers make you sit up straight. I did just that when I read a poll earlier this month showing that 41% of Canadians see the United States as an enemy country. That poll was conducted just after President Donald Trump slapped 50% tariffs on $27 billion of Canadian exports to the United States. The anger that so many Canadians feel toward the United States is understandable.
Nikita Khrushchev’s 1959 Visit to the United States
Xi Jinping is set to meet President Donald Trump at the White House in nine days. It will be the Chinese leader’s first trip to Washington, DC, in eleven years. DC residents can expect travel disruptions as motorcades cut through the city and the Secret Service closes streets around the White House. But barring something unusual, most Americans will barely notice the trip.
The Birth of the Star-Spangled Banner
Most singers struggle to perform it. No major American sporting event starts without it. It is played at the Olympic Games whenever an American participant wins a gold medal. I am speaking, of course, of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” the American national anthem. Francis Scott Key wrote it on September 14, 1814.
Charles Lindbergh’s Des Moines Speech
September 11 is a black day in American history. But six decades before planes flew into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, it stood out as a shameful day. On September 11, 1941, Col. Charles Lindbergh delivered one of the vilest foreign policy speeches ever given by a prominent American. Charles Lindbergh may be a trivia question today. In 1941, however, he was among America’s greatest heroes.
FDR’s “Shoot-on-Sight” Fireside Chat and the Ethics of Misleading the Public
When most Americans think of World War II, the story starts on December 7, 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. But the United States had been edging toward war with Germany for several months before Japanese Zeros screamed over the Hawaiian Islands, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt made clear with his “shoot-on-sight” Fireside Chat to the nation on September 11, 1941.
Ten Resources Debunking September 11 Conspiracy Theories
Tomorrow marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11. Even as the smoke was still rising in September 2001 from the ruins of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the wreckage of United Flight 93, conspiracy theories sprang up blaming the attacks on anyone but al-Qaeda. The specific claims varied. The attacks were an inside job. Carefully placed explosives rather than commercial passenger jets brought down the Twin Towers. The U.S. military fired missiles that struck the Pentagon.
The Lessons of September 11
What can we learn from how the United States reacted to the September 11 attacks? I have been pondering that question as the twenty-fifth anniversary of one of the darkest days in U.S. history approaches. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks. As many as 25,000 were injured, while thousands of first responders developed chronic and sometimes fatal illnesses. The horror of September 11 changed the direction of U.S. foreign policy and with it the course of world events.
What the U.S. Got Wrong in the War on Terrorism
LINDSAY: What can we learn from how the United States reacted to the September 11 attacks? I have been pondering that question as the 25th anniversary of one of the darkest days in U.S. history approaches. The horror of September 11 changed the direction of U.S. foreign policy, and with it the course of world events. The United States launched a global war on terrorism.
The Battle Over Mail-in Voting May Disrupt the 2026 Midterm Elections
Election Day is two months away. But four states—Minnesota (the 18th), Virginia (18th), Vermont (19th), and Illinois (24th)—begin voting this month. North Carolina will begin sending mail-in ballots to military members and overseas voters tomorrow. Things will pick up quickly after that. By October 14, another seventeen states will have begun early voting. By October 29, voters in all but three states—Alabama, New Hampshire, and Mississippi—will have the opportunity to cast their ballots.
The CIA Director’s Not-So-Secret Trip to Moscow
LINDSAY: Does CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s surprise visit to Moscow last week signal new dangers ahead for the United States? The last time a CIA director traveled unannounced to Russia was in November 2021. Bill Burns flew to Moscow to warn the Kremlin that the United States knew of its plan to attack Ukraine. Burns’ effort failed. Russia invaded Ukraine three months later.
Making Sense of John Ratcliffe’s Trip to Moscow
Does the recent visit by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency to Russia signal rising U.S.-Russia tensions? Many people in Washington have been asking that question after John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow last week. The CIA director met with his Russian counterparts and then departed, having been on the ground in Moscow for just eight hours.
The 1940 Destroyers-for-Bases Deal and the Expansion of Presidential Power
Newsletter James M. Lindsay Subscribe to receive email updates about my latest work. President Donald Trump’s second term in office has been notable for his efforts to expand the boundaries of presidential power in foreign affairs. Whatever one thinks of the merits of his actions, he is far from the first president to read laws creatively and to push the envelope on his foreign policy powers, daring Congress to stop him.
The National Debt Hit $40 Trillion, But It’s Not an Issue in the Midterms Original
How much debt is too much debt? That used to be a question at the forefront of congressional elections. It was only sixteen years ago that the so-called Tea Party took the country by storm pledging to tame the federal deficit. With the national debt then standing at $14 trillion, “sequestration” suddenly became Washington’s hottest buzz word as President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress temporarily slowed the growth of discretionary federal spending. That was then.
The 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact to Outlaw War
Twenty-one Americans have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Some of those winners are well-known historical figures: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama, to name the most obvious. Other winners were famous in their day but are only remembered now by their descendants and historians. Frank B. Kellogg, President Calvin Coolidge’s secretary of state, falls into the latter category.
Six Months Into the Iran War, the United States Has No Good Options Original
Six months into the U.S. war with Iran, the conflict’s end is nowhere in sight. President Donald Trump confidently predicted at the war’s start that it would last “four to five weeks.” At the end of March, he said it would take “maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer, to do the job.” Since then, he has repeatedly declared the United States victorious. The reality is different.
Six Months Into the Iran War, the United States Has No Good Options
Politics 3 hours ago Gas Price Hits $26 Per Gallon in Village of State Trump Won Three Times Newsweek - By Suzanne Blake • 3h Gasoline in Shungnak, a remote village in Alaska's Northwest Arctic Borough, recently hit $26.82 per gallon, according to the Alaska Beacon.
Six Months of War With Iran, With Steven Cook
TRANSCRIPT COOK: In general, we agree that the end of the American order in the region is upon us, and I think it’s a function of the fact that the president went to war based on a feeling. LINDSAY: As the war with Iran reaches the six-month mark with a shaky ceasefire continuing to hold, President Donald Trump has approved plans to unleash what he calls an economic D-Day on Iran.
The 1963 State Department Cable Authorizing the Overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem
Things usually slow down in Washington in August. Congress goes into recess and Washingtonians who can leave town usually do. But this recurring lull in government activity doesn’t mean that policymaking stops. Indeed, it can be precisely because much of official Washington is elsewhere that critical decisions get made. The cable that the U.S. State Department sent on the evening of August 24, 1963, is a classic example. The subject of the cable was Ngo Dinh Diem, the president of South Vietnam.
The 1814 British Sack of Washington
August can be a tough month in Washington, DC. Temperatures can top one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and the humidity can make it feel even hotter. On occasion, a hurricane rolls through with damaging winds and torrential rain. August 2011 even brought a 5.8-magnitude earthquake. But the city’s single worst August day probably came on August 24, 1814. That’s when British troops set much of it on fire. When the United States declared war on Britain in June 1812, Washington was more a town than a city.
The U.S. Munitions Crisis
Newsletter James M. Lindsay Subscribe to receive email updates about my latest work. Is the United States running out of weapons of war? Stories that Operation Epic Fury has depleted U.S. weapons stocks have dominated the headlines in recent weeks. Things have gotten so bad that the Pentagon has transferred weapons stored in Asia and Europe to replenish stockpiles in the Middle East.
Washington’s Missile Shortage, With Michael Horowitz
HOROWITZ: I think there’s real risk for the United States. You never want an adversary to wake up and say, hey, today’s the day. Today’s the day we think we can pull off this act of aggression because the United States doesn’t have enough to stop us. LINDSAY: The war in Iran has depleted the stocks of many critical, high-tech U.S. weapons. CBS NEWS: A new analysis finds the conflict is taking a toll on the Pentagon’s munitions stockpile.
The 1953 Overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq
The United States has now been at war with Iran for nearly five months. For many Americans, the origin of the bad blood between the two countries dates back to November 4, 1979, when Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took U.S. diplomats hostage.
The Bombing of Nagasaki
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. That first-ever use of an atomic weapon killed an estimated 140,000 people, most of whom were civilians. Three days later, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. Some 40,000 people, again mostly civilians, died instantly. Another 34,000 died agonizing deaths from radiation poisoning, flash burns, and other injuries in the weeks that followed.
The 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
“Act in haste, repent at leisure.” “Look before you leap.” “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Warnings against acting rashly are frequently offered. They are just as frequently ignored. The results can be tragic. A case in point is the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Congress passed it on August 7, 1964, providing the legal basis for the Vietnam War. Congress acted, however, without investigating whether the facts were as President Lyndon B. Johnson and his advisers had presented them.
The Bombing of Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. That first-ever use of an atomic weapon killed an estimated 140,000 people, most of whom were civilians. Three days later, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Some 40,000 people, again mostly civilians, died instantly. Another 34,000 died agonizing deaths from burns and radiation poisoning in the weeks that followed.
Voters Worry About Election Integrity
Election Day is three months away. For some time now, experts have been warning that the midterm elections may not be free and fair. Voters may be deterred from going to the polls, and votes may not be properly handled or counted. A new Gallup poll suggests that Americans have gotten the message. A large portion of the electorate worries that they will not see free-and-fair elections in November.
The 1916 Black Tom Explosion in Jersey City
History is filled with “what ifs?” We usually ask that question about world famous historical events. How would history have changed if Julius Caesar had avoided assassination? If Napoleon had decided not to invade Russia? Or if Adolf Hitler had been killed rather than merely wounded during World War I? But “what if?” can also be asked about events that have faded from historical memory. One example is the explosion at the Black Tom munitions depot in Jersey City, New Jersey, on July 30, 1916.
Maximum Pressure on Cuba, With Will Freeman
TRANSCRIPT FREEMAN: Cuba’s crisis is so much worse than any of those countries at the end of communism, right? The kind of severe hunger you’re seeing, the breakdown in electricity transmission, to the point that even if you start the fuel flowing again, you might not be able to turn on the lights. The spread of communicable disease on every dimension, or practically every dimension, Cuba is going to have to dig its way out of a deeper hole. LINDSAY: Cuba is in crisis.
The Myth of the AI Race, With Alvin Wang Graylin
GRAYLIN: I think this is one of the biggest misunderstandings about U.S. and China AI is that, you know, everybody thinks, you know, if we slow down, China won’t, and they’re going to win the race. And so we can’t let authoritarian AI win. So we’re going to have to run as fast as possible. And it’s complete BS. LINDSAY: Rapid advances in artificial intelligence are fueling visions of breathtaking economic growth and stunning scientific breakthroughs.
The Supreme Court, Mail-in Voting, Campaign Spending, and the 2026 Midterm Elections
Newsletter James M. Lindsay Subscribe to receive email updates about my latest work. The congressional midterms are now four months away. The Supreme Court this week handed down two decisions that could affect what happens on Election Day. One decision got the most attention. The other may have a greater impact. The decision that dominated the headlines came in Watson v. Republican National Committee.
Lessons From 250 Years of U.S. Foreign Policy, With Robert Kagan
TRANSCRIPT KAGAN: You’re constantly wrestling with this paradox that Americans, unlike other countries, don’t have to be particularly involved with the rest of the world, but all kinds of elements push Americans out. And the result is sort of a constant oscillation between periods of high intervention and global involvement, followed by periods of retrenchment and disillusionment. LINDSAY: The United States is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year.
The Pacificus-Helvidius Debate Between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison
Original intent. The term pops up frequently in debates over how to interpret the U.S. Constitution. At its core, the concept of original intent holds that constitutional interpretation should be guided (or bound) by what the framers envisioned when they wrote the document in 1787. But what happens to original intent when the framers disagree on how to interpret their handiwork? It’s not an academic question. Just look at the so-called Pacificus-Helvidius debate, which began 233 years ago today.
President Harry Truman’s 1950 Decision to Intervene in Korea
Seventy-six years ago today, President Harry Truman the U.S. military to intervene in the Korean War. Two days earlier, the North Korean People’s Army crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea. Within hours of Truman’s announcement, North Korea would capture the capital city of Seoul. Truman’s decision, and the resulting war, had geopolitical consequences that are still felt to this day. The decision was equally momentous for its impact on America’s constitutional practice.
John F. Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” Speech
Being president is a tough job. Your every mistake is relentlessly dissected and replayed. Even when you get it right, people sometimes insist you got it wrong. Consider John F. Kennedy. On June 26, 1963, he gave a rousing speech to several hundred thousand cheering West Berliners. Yet that speech is misremembered by many people more than a half century later for a mistake he did not make. JFK’s visit to West Berlin had immense symbolism. The city was the focal point of Cold War rivalry.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with James
Contact James, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack