Dear Reader,
Since its founding in 1857, The Atlantic has excelled in covering matters of war, peace, and national defense. Nathaniel Hawthorne served as the magazine’s Civil War correspondent (Abraham Lincoln himself said that a favorable article in The Atlantic could save him “half a dozen battles”). The strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan advanced the idea of America as a global naval power in the pages of The Atlantic. We published the letters of General George S. Patton; the Cold War analysis of William “Wild Bill” Donovan, the founder of the CIA; and Frances FitzGerald’s historic reporting on Vietnam.
Today, as the post–World War II international order constructed and maintained by the United States is under unprecedented pressure (from within and without), issues of national defense and America’s role in the world are among the most urgent we face. Which is why The Atlantic is committed to rapidly and dramatically expanding the scope and scale of our coverage. Imagine an intersection at which American national security, defense spending, the rise of China, technological innovation, regional conflict, and the future of liberal democracy all meet; this is where you will find The Atlantic and our stellar team of reporters.
The expansion of our national-security coverage is built on superb talent: Journalists joining our team include such brilliant reporters as Vivian Salama and Nancy Youssef, who, until recently, covered the Pentagon and national security for The Wall Street Journal; and Shane Harris, Missy Ryan, and Isaac Stanley-Becker, who covered defense and intelligence for The Washington Post. They will be working alongside Mark Bowden, the author of Black Hawk Down, and Tom Nichols, who taught at the Naval War College until joining us as a staff writer in 2022, among other great reporters. Our team is growing each month, and you should expect to find in The Atlantic the very best coverage of national security anywhere in journalism.
In our forthcoming print issue, devoted to the 80th anniversary of the Trinity test and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you will find Tom’s examination of why the power to launch nuclear weapons came to rest with a single American—and the dangerous consequences for national security; Ross Andersen on how nuclear ambitions in east Asia are accelerating as American power recedes; retired Special Forces officer Mike Nelson on the myth that soldiers need to choose between lethality and professionalism; Andrew Aoyama’s essay about the Japanese American activist Joseph Kurihara, who was interned during WWII, after fighting for the U.S. during WWI; and Noah Hawley on Kurt Vonnegut and the bomb.
You can find all of these stories on our National Security page, and sign up to receive email alerts so you never miss a story. Thank you for reading, and for your support of our journalism in dangerous times.
Jeffrey Goldberg
Editor in chief
