This is the last issue of International Security in which I will be listed as one of the journal's editors. I have decided that the time has come to retire. I will miss my colleagues and the satisfaction of editing the journal, but I look forward to reading articles that already have been reviewed, selected, and edited.
In September 1987, with much enthusiasm and little experience, I joined the International Security editorial team. I soon realized that I had found a job that enabled me to do what I loved. For more than three decades, I have had the honor of being an editor of this journal. For most of those years, I have been responsible for the journal's day-to-day operations and editorial direction.
Looking back on my time at International Security, I am gratified by the journal's standing in the field and the large number of articles that have stimulated debate and discussion, won awards, appeared on the reading lists of university courses, and continue to be read and cited widely. I attribute the success that the journal has enjoyed to the editorial philosophy that my colleagues and I have embraced: publish articles that are academically rigorous, policy relevant, and accessible to a wide audience.
I have had the privilege of working with an extraordinary group of fellow editors, including Mike Brown, Ash Carter, Owen Coté, and, in particular, Steve Miller, who has been the guiding light for this journal almost since its founding. I am fortunate to have worked with Teresa Pelton Johnson (who later became Teresa J. Lawson) from 1987 to 1997 and Diane McCree since 1997. Their exceptional editorial skills ensured that every article would improve dramatically between acceptance and publication. Many other staff members at International Security and its host institution, Harvard's Belfer Center, helped make International Security a better journal. My predecessor, Steve Van Evera, taught me almost everything I needed to know about editing the journal. I will forever be in his debt.
I appreciate the willingness to review manuscripts, valuable insights, and friendship of the associate editors and members of the Editorial Board. Special thanks go to the staff of the Journals Division at the MIT Press, publisher of International Security.
Finally, I thank the authors, reviewers, and, above all, the readers who make up the community that has enabled International Security to thrive.
I am confident that International Security will continue to flourish under the guidance of my successor, Morgan Kaplan, who is introduced in the editor-in-chief's note in this issue. I wish him the best.
—Sean M. Lynn-Jones