United States | From iPhones to aircraft carriers

American national-security maximalism can be self-defeating

If everything is a security threat, then nothing is

TO THE TECHNOCRATS who preside over America’s export rules, “national security” used to mean anything to do with weapons, particularly weapons of mass destruction. The technocrats’ job, and the purpose of the export rules to which they tended, was to prevent weapons and their components from reaching the hands of America’s enemies.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “From iPhones to aircraft carriers”

The aliens among us: How viruses shape the world

From the August 22nd 2020 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

Donald Trump speaks to the media.

Donald Trump may find it harder to dominate America’s conversation

A more fragmented media is tougher to manage

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba addresses the media after pleading not guilty to federal charges at the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse in Jackson.

An FBI sting operation catches Jackson’s mayor taking big bribes

What the sensational undoing of the black leader means for Mississippi’s failing capital


Downtown of Metropolis, Illinois, showing the Super Museum and a gift shop.

America’s rural-urban divide nurtures wannabe state-splitters

What’s behind a new wave of secessionism


Does Donald Trump have unlimited authority to impose tariffs?

Yes, but other factors could hold him back

As Jack Smith exits, Donald Trump’s allies hint at retribution

The president-elect hopes to hand the Justice Department to loyalists