National Defense University
Where the U.S. military trains its senior officers and civilian officials to think about war — a short distance from the Capitol and the White House.
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At Fort Lesley McNair, the National Defense University runs the National War College and the Eisenhower School for National Security under the direct authority of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Its NDU Press publishes Joint Force Quarterly and PRISM: The Journal of Complex Operations, and its research centers track topics from Chinese military affairs to weapons of mass destruction.
What to look for
- The National War College, one of several degree-granting colleges on the Fort Lesley McNair campus
- The Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, formerly the Industrial College of the Armed Forces
- NDU Press output — Joint Force Quarterly and PRISM journals — produced by the university's own academic publishing house
Sits at Fort Lesley McNair, near the White House and U.S. Congress; the campus library is open to university students and faculty.
National Defense University is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Washington, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Washington pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Washington
- White HouseBritish forces torched it in 1814. It has been the U.S. president's home and office ever since.
- The PentagonDesigned and built in 16 months during World War II — 17.5 miles of corridors, a five-acre central courtyard, and a 9/11 memorial at the exact point of impact.
- United States CapitolEvery street address in Washington DC radiates outward from this building — it is literally the zero point of the city.
- Washington MonumentThe faint color seam partway up the shaft marks where construction stopped for 23 years.
- Smithsonian InstitutionBritish scientist James Smithson left a bequest that became 157 million objects, 21 museums, and a zoo — almost all free to walk into.
- Arlington National CemeteryThe ground holding 400,000 graves was seized from Robert E. Lee's own family over an unpaid tax bill in 1864.