Education reform seems an unlikely issue for the Council on Foreign Relations to tackle. But its recent report, “U.S. Education Reform and National Security,” makes a persuasive case for a link between the health of our education system and national security.

The report was generated by a committee co-chaired by Condoleezza Rice and former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. It argues that we need to dramatically improve our schools to foster a thriving, innovative economy, to compete globally, and to ensure that our national defense and intelligence apparatuses are staffed properly.