Max Boot

New York

Columnist covering national security

Education: University of California at Berkeley, BA in history; Yale University, MA in history

Max Boot is a historian, best-selling author and foreign-policy analyst who has been called one of the “world’s leading authorities on armed conflict” by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a columnist for The Washington Post. Max Boot's new biography of Ronald Reagan, "Reagan: His Life and Legend," will be released in September 2024 by Norton/Liveright. His previous biography, The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam (Norton/Liverig
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Latest from Max Boot

Having exhausted the other options, the House did the right thing on Ukraine

Having exhausted all the other options, the House finally did the right thing.

April 20, 2024
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks to reporters on April 20, the day the House approved a $95 billion package of foreign aid bills. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters)

Biden’s ‘bear hug’ with Israel pays off with a minimal strike on Iran

Working alongside Britain, France and Jordan to help Israel defend itself, the Biden administration limited damage from Iran’s attack and prevented a wider war.

April 19, 2024
An antimissile system operates after Iran launched drones and missiles toward Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on Sunday. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)

Trump’s ‘plan’ for Ukraine is even more preposterous than Nixon’s for Vietnam

Why would Vladimir Putin make any concessions now, if the thinks the former president, who reveres him, could very well return to the White House?

April 15, 2024
President Donald Trump talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Group of 20 Summit in Hamburg, in July 2017. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Now it’s up to Israel: De-escalate or retaliate against Iran?

Tehran’s barrage of drones and missiles was a face-saving maneuver, successfully repulsed. But the possibility of matters spinning out of control still looms.

April 14, 2024
An Israeli antimissile system operates after Iran launched drones and missiles toward Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on April 14.

In the shadow war with Iran, Biden just scored an unheralded victory

The U.S. military forcefully responded after its outposts in Iran and Syria were attacked. Now, the mullahs in Tehran have backed off.

April 8, 2024
President Biden delivers remarks in Washington on Wednesday. (Bonnie Cash/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

Only a leader like Sadat can end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israelis are saddled with Netanyahu and Palestinians with Abbas. Both are unpopular and clinging to power. But that can’t last forever.

April 1, 2024
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, clasps hands with President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after signing an Israel-Egypt peace treaty in 1979.

Putin fixates on imaginary foes while terrorists attack Moscow

The Biden administration was right to warn Russia of a potential attack. The U.S. distinguishes between civilians and combatants, even if our enemies don’t.

March 23, 2024
Mandatory Credit: Photo by VASILY PRUDNIKOV/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (14398721b) Fire rises above the burning Crocus City Hall concert venue following a terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, March 22.

Musk is a MAGA megaphone and a federal contractor. That’s a problem.

His noxious views and reported drug-taking ought to prompt a rethinking of U.S. defense and intelligence reliance on his services.

March 18, 2024
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft launches from South Texas on April 20, 2023. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

Trump isn’t just pro-Russia. He’s also anti-Ukraine.

The former president’s affinity for Vladimir Putin is well-known. Less familiar is Trump’s long record of antagonism toward Ukraine.

March 11, 2024
Donald Trump at a Super Tuesday election night party at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday. (Jabin Botsford /The Washington Post)

Ukraine will lose only if MAGA Republicans cut off U.S. aid

Indications are that Russia can’t keep waging war like this for more than another year. Ukraine just needs to hold out until then. And it can, with U.S. help.

March 4, 2024
Former president Donald Trump delivers remarks at the America First Policy Institute in Washington on July 26, 2022. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)