The Long Game: China, Cirrus, and the Cost of Honest Journalism Fifteen years is a long time. It is certainly long enough for memories to fade, for old arguments to lose their edge, and for people to quietly revise history into something more comfortable than it actually was. Over the last several days, I have spent more time than I expected digging through ANN archives, old correspondence, legal documents, notes, and records from a period of our history that consumed an astonishing amount of time, money, energy, and attention. Some of the details had faded. Others came rushing back with remarkable clarity. More than once I found myself staring at a document and remembering exactly where I was when it arrived, what problem it represented, and how many hours of my life were about to disappear because of it. The catalyst for this trip through the past was the Pentagon’s decision, published June 8, 2026, to include Cirrus Design Corporation in its updated Section 1260H list of Chinese military companies operating in the United States.