USA
Military
![Insurrectionists Among Us](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/a42eb4b9-c570-47f1-aca7-7e7a1adafa40/53819128261_a3c4eabfc4_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=894%2C0%2C3101%2C3101&w=290)
The January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was, for many, proof of our nation’s hopeless polarization and the danger of unchecked radicalization. But who were these people who stampeded through the halls of Congress, and what motivated them? How can we build understanding so that we can disrupt extremism before it takes hold?
![Six Hours to Save Democracy](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/f9a5a299-b406-461f-9560-4ece89e6df9e/53814692080_d97793c5e7_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=2256%2C0%2C4641%2C4640&w=290)
What if the threat to American democracy came from within our own military? “War Game,” a 2024 Sundance Official Selection documentary, imagined just such a scenario and convened a bipartisan group of policymakers to respond. What did they learn — and how real is the threat?
![‘To End All War’: Lessons of the Atomic Bomb](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/5a399302-abfa-4f84-8fe5-5cc95aea4ecf/52999608425_d95d0cb81f_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
What have we learned since the Manhattan Project, and how does the atomic bomb continue to challenge global warfare? Join Andrea Mitchell in conversation with documentary film director Chris Cassell and author Kai Bird in advance of the release of the NBC News Studios documentary, To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb.
![Iraq and Afghanistan: 15 Years and Counting](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8dd602d0-eb9d-497a-8062-03baadd27b9e/29237511908_5f507d3cdb_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=498%2C0%2C2004%2C2004&w=290)
The spring of 2013 marked the 15th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, and the war in Afghanistan has gone on long enough that children born after 9/11 are now old enough to enlist in the military. Is there any path out of conflict for Iraq and Afghanistan — for the United States, or for the citizens of the war-weary countries?
![With Honor: Can Veterans Help Bridge Our Political Divides?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/a0f45597-b6ca-47f9-ab7a-3a78d73a4bb4/43022841142_88f02e8587_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1120%2C0%2C4480%2C4480&w=290)
America is at a critical and potentially existential moment. Tribal polarization is at an all-time high. Yet veteran representation in Congress is at an all-time low. Veterans know how to work together and get things done in tough places. Can a surge of next-generation, principled veterans who have pledged to form a cross-partisan coalition win in November, break down divi...