A Letter from the Editors

It is often said that democracies lack the capacity for strategic processes, we have a tendency to think reactively as problems arise, whereas authoritarians have the luxury to think in terms of generations and even centuries. Such a claim is belied by the long list of American strategists who outwitted their authoritarian counterparts: Alexander Hamilton and John Quincy Adams in the early Republic and titans like George Marshall, Paul Nitze, Brent Scowcroft, and many others in our later years. The authors in this edition of The Hamiltonian provide further testimony to the strength, forbearance, and capacity of democracies to yield first-rate strategic thinkers.

Like older American strategists, the students in these pages combine an abiding respect for the moral exceptionalism of the American project with a pragmatic recognition of what must be done should we remain the indispensable nation in a more dangerous, intertwined, and chaotic world. The rise of great power adversaries calls for military preparedness, to be sure. But as our students show, military modernization is only one piece of strategy. Continued success requires that policymakers make use of diplomatic, economic, technological, and social levers.

To this end, Nathan Lee opens this edition by addressing the need for updating the law of armed conflict (LOAC) to account for cyberwarfare. Whereas traditional LOAC rests on a hard distinction between civilian and military personnel, much of our critical infrastructure susceptible to cyberattacks is used by both the military and civilians. Lee urges the United States to preemptively update LOAC, thereby protecting dual-use infrastructure from future sabotage. Integral to the construction of such infrastructure are the supply chains flowing into the country. Natalia Lopez argues for an updated strategy for securing the supply chains that are vital to our national security. Her approach would weed out our reliance on adversarial countries for resources, incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline processes, and ultimately ensure the resilience of our defense industrial base in times of war.

Beyond just supply chains, Hamilton understood better than most that economic measures factor heavily in any strategy. In this spirit, Luke D’Ambrosio analyzes the Trump administration’s “Hamiltonian” use of economic statecraft. The administration’s use of tariffs for the sake of re-industrialization, he argues, harkens back to Hamilton’s economic thought. Yet re-industrialization does not mean autarky, and trade is undoubtedly still necessary for the United States. One country of particular importance in this regard is Taiwan. Ethan Chiu explains how expanded trade and removal of barriers between the United States and Taiwan can shore up alliances in the Western Pacific and forestall Chinese predations. One instrument with which China can enact its schemes is its critical mineral dominance, which Emma Hamilton argues should be challenged by securing stable supply chains from mineral-rich Latin America. Transporting critical minerals and other goods vital to the modern economy is done primarily over the seaways of our oceans. Drawing our attention to one of these corridors, Anastasija Mladenovksa explains the increasing importance of the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic. As ice thaws and waterways open, the United States should invest in infrastructure to make it more economically viable and work with allies to ensure good governance of the trade route. Another maritime area in need of U.S. infrastructure investment is the Eastern Mediterranean, where Peter Constant assesses that the United States can mitigate Chinese economic influence by providing development and infrastructure loans from private-public partnerships backed by EXIM financing.

Related to the economic dimension, sound strategy requires assessing and leveraging allied capabilities. Clement Tsao urges greater attention be paid to West Africa where Moscow and Beijing are both exploiting weak governments to their advantage. By working with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United States can promote stability and democracy in a region traditionally aligned with the West. Turning to the other side of the globe, Samantha DeCosta analyzes how the Trump administration can pressure South Korea to increase defense spending in a manner that does not jeopardize but rather enhances the U.S.-ROK security alliance by invoking shared liberal values. China’s disregard for such values was on full display during its crackdown in Hong Kong, as Graham Owens writes. He argues that the loss of the city’s free press has exacerbated the downturn in U.S.-China relations and argues that the United States should emphasize China’s illiberalism in great power competition.

In the final section, the authors address more explicitly martial themes. Kevin Zhang pulls back from the debates over great powers to reflect on the lessons learned from counterterrorism operations against Hezbollah during the 2006 war with Israel. He echoes a classic insight: advanced technology is only so useful if not paired with strong leadership and tailored application. With advanced technology and its successful application comes great responsibility. In the shadow of the awesome power these capabilities offer, McKenzie Arata explains why adherence to the law of war is more needed now than in generations past. To close out the journal, Alexander Richter reflects on the technology with the most frightful power: atomic weapons. As we enter a second nuclear age, he argues that the reductions in deployments that occurred during the unipolar moment are no longer appropriate as we wrestle with adversaries that are actively modernizing and bolstering their nuclear arsenals. The United States must therefore enhance extended deterrence, persuade allies in Europe and Asia that they are safe under our umbrella, deploy new delivery systems, and create better integrated defense systems.

Each author, while focusing on a specific policy question, contextualizes the question in a broader strategic setting. Taken together, the pieces in this edition of The Hamiltonian point to a beginning for how the United States can retain its moral leadership and confront those actors who would see the American project fail. Though young, each author writes with a level of expertise disproportionate to his or her age. That each enlists his or her intellect in the service of American security and prosperity should inspire confidence in the future of the republic.