Sarah Yager

Jan 17, 2025 | foreignaffairs.com | James M. Lindsay |Steven Cook |Peter Schroeder |Sarah Yager

On January 21, 2017, the day after his inauguration, U.S. President Donald Trump visited Central Intelligence Agency Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It was one of his first official actions as president and an opportunity to reset relations with the intelligence community (IC). Just ten days prior, he had accused intelligence agencies of helping to leak a report that claimed that Russian operatives had his personal and financial information.

Jan 14, 2025 | foreignaffairs.com | Zongyuan Liu |Michael Horowitz |Sarah Yager |John Prendergast

If Donald Trump’s second term is anything like his first, the incoming U.S. president will not advance the cause of human rights. His foreign policy is more likely to harm democratic values around the world than it is to protect them. But as bleak as the next four years may become, the past four have hardly been a boon for human rights. President Joe Biden, who came into office promising that his administration would be different, ended up chipping away at these ideals himself.

Sep 27, 2024 | lawfaremedia.org | Daniel Byman |Yumna Rizvi |Sarah Yager

After Hamas-led Palestinian armed groups killed 1,139 people and took more than 250 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s UN ambassador called the attack “our 9/11.” The comparison he made is worth paying attention to. It wasn’t just the cruelty of the events or their magnitude. Israeli authorities invoked 9/11 to legitimize the dramatic show of force they intended in response, just as the United States responded over two decades ago with an invasion of Afghanistan and “shock and awe” in Iraq.

Sep 9, 2024 | latimes.com | Sarah Yager

In Kamala Harris’ first major interview as a presidential candidate, she was asked whether she would stop weapons from going to Israel because of the extreme harm they’ve caused Palestinian civilians. Harris didn’t answer the question directly but pivoted to the need for a hostage and peace deal between Hamas and Israel.

Feb 8, 2024 | foreignaffairs.com | Sarah Yager |James Lindsay |Brad W. Setser |Ebenezer Obadare

The military campaign that Israel launched in response to Hamas’s brutal October 7 attacks has killed more than 27,000 people in the Gaza Strip and injured more than 60,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. About 75 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced. Some 400,000 people are enduring famine because of the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza and the severe restrictions on humanitarian aid that have deprived civilians of what they need to survive.