September 23, 2025
Rising Lion Shows the U.S. Needs More Allies Like Israel
This article was originally published in The Cipher Brief.
Israel’s Operation Rising Lion will go down as among the most impressive military campaigns in history. Military academies, military planners, and the Intelligence Community will study it for decades. More urgent, however, is that policymakers understand the importance of U.S. support in enabling Israel to advance our shared interests.
In less than a fortnight, Israel brought to its knees a major regional adversary, geographically nearly 75 times its size and 1,000 miles away. As we learned on a recent trip to Israel with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, Israel—with crucial U.S. support—crippled Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities, dismantled its air defenses, and decapitated its command and control. At the Pentagon’s request, Israeli pilots cleared the way for U.S. B-2 bombers.
Since first exposing Iran’s nuclear weapons program in 1994, Israel knew that it might need to take military action. Yet, June’s attack was only seven months in the making.
Since first exposing Iran’s nuclear weapons program in 1994, Israel knew that it might need to take military action. Yet, June’s attack was only seven months in the making. At the end of 2024, a narrower plan based on precision strikes against a few nuclear facilities was shelved and a far broader campaign was developed from scratch—targeting not only the entirety of Iran’s nuclear supply chain, but its ballistic missiles, top generals, and leading nuclear scientists as well.
What made that sweeping operation feasible was an extraordinary string of Israeli successes since the brutal Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Israel defeated Hamas, decimated Hezbollah, defended itself against hundreds of Iranian-launched ballistic missiles and thousands of drones, eliminated Syrian anti-air batteries, and knocked out Iran’s advanced Russian S-300 air defenses, opening an unimpeded corridor to Iran.
Read the full article in The Cipher Brief.
More from CNAS
-
Commentary
Technology & National Security / National Security Law
CNAS Insights | The Case for Long-Term CISA 2015 ReauthorizationLast fall, one of the United States’ most important cyber defense laws expired. For six weeks, the private sector no longer had legal protections to share critical cyber threa...
By Carrie Cordero & Morgan Peirce
-
Legal Background: Distinguishing Between Law Enforcement Powers
Commentary
Matthew Kroscher is a second-year law student at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School and was a spring 2026 CNAS legal intern....
By Matthew Kroscher
-
An Achievable Balance
Commentary
Terrence M. Cunningham is the deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the IACP. Gene Voegtlin is the director of policy, research, and public affairs at the I...
By Terrence M. Cunningham & Gene Voegtlin
-
Modernize States’ Legislative Efforts on Unsanctioned Militias While Protecting Constitutional Rights
Commentary
Matt Gimovsky is senior corporate counsel at Kroll and an Army JAG with active-duty experience in administrative law and with the trial defense service....
By Matt Gimovsky
