Politically, the United States must do less. It must focus on the most important dangers to its security. The greatest danger to U.S. sovereignty is a hegemon on the Eurasian land mass. This danger is low now, but the United States must always be prepared to counter it should it reemerge. If such a challenge does reemerge, however, the United States ought not manage it like it did the Cold War, shouldering the bulk of the burden, because the U.S. relative power position is unlikely to be as favorable. The United States will need real allies, not the security dependencies it has now.

The Center hosted a Starr Forum "Whither U.S. Grand Strategy?" on October 9, Jacqueline Hazelton and Barry Posen were among the panelists; Louisa Reynolds, an independent journalist based in Guatemala City, Guatemala, has been selected as the 2014–15 IWMF Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow; 3 Questions: Calestous Juma on african development; Joel Brenner, former inspector general and senior counsel at the NSA, has joined CIS as a 2014–2015 Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow; JoAnn Carmin, an associate professor of environmental policy and planning at MIT, died on Tuesday after an extended illness; 3 Questions: Kenneth Oye on the regulation of genetic engineering.