In a Washington think tank removed from the noise of daily politics, Matt Duss is quietly advancing a foreign policy vision that challenges decades of American strategic orthodoxy. As executive vice president of the Center for International Policy, he argues that genuine security cannot be achieved at the expense of others — and that the United States' vast military presence may, in certain regions, produce the very instability it claims to prevent. His call for deeper cooperation with China and a consultative reassessment of global force posture reflects a broader progressive conviction that