The Arab Case for Israel: History, Mythology, and Pathways to Peace

The Arab Case for Israel: History, Mythology, and Pathways to Peace

The Palestinian statehood narrative rests on a foundation that FDD’s Hussain Abdul-Hussain argues was constructed, not inherited. In The Arab Case for Israel, he traces Palestinian national identity to 1964 and inter-Arab rivalry, not ancient roots, and contends that the “lost state” narrative is a vision for a Middle East without Israel, not a recoverable past. U.S. pressure on Iran’s nuclear program, Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah, and the demonstrated dividends of the Abraham Accords have cracked open a moment of genuine regional realignment. Hussain’s argument isn’t academic — it’s a call for Arab leaders to seize that window and embrace normalization publicly, before it closes. Join FDD for a policy conversation on what Arab-Israeli peace actually requires, and whether the region is ready to get there. FDD research fellow and author Hussain Abdul-Hussain will be joined by Morgan Ortagus, former U.S. deputy Presidential Envoy to the Middle East, in a discussion moderated by David Schenker, Taube senior fellow and director of the Rubin Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute. For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/06/11/the-arab-case-for-israel-history-mythology-and-pathways-to-peace/ [https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/06/11/the-arab-case-for-israel-history-mythology-and-pathways-to-peace/]

Findings of the Commission on Cyber Force Generation

A new joint commission from FDD and CSIS has released findings and an implementation plan for standing up a dedicated U.S. Cyber Force, concluding that the existing service-based model for cyber force generation cannot meet the demands of an increasingly aggressive threat environment. The commission found that recruiting, training, and retention challenges across four separate services have left the Cyber Mission Force short on senior technical talent, while Chinese military and intelligence services are estimated to field roughly ten times as many offensive cyber operators. Featuring RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, FDD Senior Fellow and Senior Director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation; LTG (Ret.) Edward Cardon, former commander of Army Cyber Command; Joshua Stiefel, former House Armed Services Committee professional staff member; and Lauryn Williams, deputy director of CSIS's Strategic Technologies Program. The call was moderated by FDD Senior Director of Communications Joe Dougherty. For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/06/01/findings-of-the-commission-on-cyber-force-generation/ [https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/06/01/findings-of-the-commission-on-cyber-force-generation/]

The Electrotech Stack at Risk: China, AI, and America's Energy Supply Chains

The United States is in the early stages of a generational energy buildout driven by soaring AI demand and accelerating digitization of the grid itself. But even as hundreds of billions of dollars flow into batteries, power electronics, and the embedded software that will give America’s electrical infrastructure its digital nervous system, the United States remains dependent on China for the tools to build it. Beijing dominates much of this “electrotech stack,” and that dependence is not only creating supply vulnerabilities – it’s threatening to undermine the very security advantages a modernized grid is meant to deliver. The most pressing danger, however, may not be Chinese hardware but rather American policy paralysis: overcorrection that delays the technologies this buildout demands, or indecision that continues ceding strategic ground to Beijing. A new paper by FDD and Carnegie Mellon’s Institute for Strategy and Technology (CMIST), Electrotech Moneyball: An Industrial Strategy for Ranking Risk and Opportunity in Energy & AI Supply Chains [https://www.cmu.edu/cmist/tech-and-policy/electrotech-moneyball/index.html], responds to this moment with a clear framework for achieving the greatest strategic return. To discuss “Electrotech Moneyball,” FDD and CMIST will host an on-the-record discussion moderated by Harry Krejsa, director of studies at CMIST, featuring Phoebe Benich, non-resident fellow at CMIST; RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI); Jackie Siebens, vice president of public affairs at Helion Energy and non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council; and Dr. Emma Stewart, non-resident fellow at CMIST and lead for Idaho National Laboratory’s Center for Securing Digital Energy Technology. For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/05/28/the-electrotech-stack-at-risk-china-ai-and-americas-energy-supply-chains/ [https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/05/28/the-electrotech-stack-at-risk-china-ai-and-americas-energy-supply-chains/]

The Risks Ahead for Ukraine

As NATO Foreign Ministers convene and ceasefire negotiations remain unresolved, the state of Ukraine's military — its resilience, its vulnerabilities, and its strategic horizon — demands sober assessment from those who have seen it firsthand. RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery just completed two weeks in Ukraine, meeting with senior intelligence and armed forces leaders in Kyiv and Kharkiv, conducting pro-bono training with Ukrainian military units, and participating in an influence operations conference. His observations arrive at a moment when U.S. policy decisions are actively reshaping the conditions under which Ukraine fights.

Previewing the Trump-Xi Summit

As President Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, the summit arrives not as a diplomatic breakthrough but as a carefully managed pause in an accelerating strategic competition. FDD Senior Fellow Craig Singleton framed the meeting as a continuation of last fall's tactical trade truce — "stalemate with a stage" — in which both sides are protecting the trade and tariff lane while continuing to apply pressure everywhere else. Expected deliverables remain narrow by design: agricultural purchases, Boeing orders, and a Board of Trade mechanism to separate lower-risk commerce from sensitive technology sectors. Elaine Dezenski, senior director of FDD's Center on Economic and Financial Power, identified China's dollar dependency as its structural Achilles heel and flagged the fentanyl front as largely unresolved, with roughly 97% of Chinese precursor chemical manufacturers now accepting cryptocurrency, shifting money flows beyond the reach of regulated financial institutions. On Iran, she noted Beijing's dual-track posture: publicly ordering Chinese firms to defy U.S. sanctions on Iranian refineries while quietly directing its largest banks to suspend new loans to those same entities. RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of FDD's Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, identified Taiwan as the summit's highest-risk variable, warning that any restraint on foreign military sales would be deeply damaging given a U.S. arms delivery backlog already exceeding $20 billion. He cautioned equally against any shift in declaratory policy toward opposing rather than merely not supporting Taiwan independence, which Beijing would immediately weaponize in a lawfare campaign against Taipei. Craig Singleton is a senior fellow and senior director of FDD's China Program. Elaine Dezenski is senior director and head of FDD's Center on Economic and Financial Power. RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery is a senior fellow and senior director of FDD's Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation. The call was moderated by Joe Dougherty, FDD's senior director of Communications. For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/05/07/previewing-the-trump-xi-summit/ [https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/05/07/previewing-the-trump-xi-summit/]