Technology and automation are changing how we work, disrupting everything from factory jobs to traditional spycraft. But such ruptures are nothing new. If you take a look at the past century, Rhys Dubin wrote in 2018, “it quickly becomes clear that … rapid technological change and disruption has long been the rule.”

This edition of Flash Points features essays exploring the nature and history of the modern workplace, from the Pentagon’s office culture to the interns running Washington’s foreign-policy apparatus to the jobs that may be transformed by artificial intelligence in the years to come.—Chloe Hadavas

There’s No Such Thing as a Stable Career

Job insecurity has always been a fact of life. Just ask chimney sweeps, lectors, and telephone operators, Rhys Dubin writes.

Technology and automation are changing how we work, disrupting everything from factory jobs to traditional spycraft. But such ruptures are nothing new. If you take a look at the past century, Rhys Dubin wrote in 2018, “it quickly becomes clear that … rapid technological change and disruption has long been the rule.”

This edition of Flash Points features essays exploring the nature and history of the modern workplace, from the Pentagon’s office culture to the interns running Washington’s foreign-policy apparatus to the jobs that may be transformed by artificial intelligence in the years to come.—Chloe Hadavas

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There’s No Such Thing as a Stable Career

Job insecurity has always been a fact of life. Just ask chimney sweeps, lectors, and telephone operators, Rhys Dubin writes.

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The Pentagon’s Office Culture Is Stuck in 1968

The U.S. national security bureaucracy needs a severe upgrade, Zachery Tyson Brown and Kathleen J. McInnis write.

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Washington Runs on Interns

So why are most of them not paid enough—and some not paid at all? FP’s Robbie Gramer and Anna Weber report on Washington’s open secret.

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Learning to Work With Robots

Artificial intelligence will change everything. Workers must adapt—or else, Molly Kinder writes.

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The Spycraft Revolution

Changes in technology, politics, and business are all transforming espionage. Intelligence agencies must adapt—or risk irrelevance, Edward Lucas writes.