Outside the Beltway

Andrew Bacevich bemoans the social impact of the all-volunteer force.

Is America’s focus on defense weakening the country?

My latest for The National Interest, “Ignoring the Hagel Hearing Farce,” has posted.

The “I” in DIA apparently does not stand for Intelligence.

Greg Jaffe has an outstanding feature titled “In one Army family, women in combat evokes two different perspectives.”

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta ordered a lifting of the ban on women in ground combat.

The first seven men to be awarded the Medal of Honor for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan received it posthumously. Clinton Romesha will be the fourth in a row that’s lived to meet the president.

More people have been to space than have flown in a B-2 stealth bomber.

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander during Operation Desert Storm, has died at the age of 78.

John Cornyn tells Jennifer Rubin that he’ll oppose the confirmation of his former colleague, Chuck Hagel, for Secretary of Defense.

Bob Dole isn’t in the best of health but he nonetheless treked to the Capitol to pay his final respects to an old friend.

From the Department of What The Hell Were They Thinking, I present Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh’s new ceremonial uniform:

While no official announcements have been made, President Obama’s second term national security team appears to be taking shape.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is bemused that the generals who worked for him lived more lavish lifestyles than he did.

Couples of the same sex can marry at the West Point chapel, they’re treated much differently under the Defense of Marriage Act.

The title of most impressive Heisman winner of all time goes to Pete Dawkins, who won the award in 1958.

The Air Force has a leadership crisis.

My first piece for the New York Daily News, “A Drone Strike on Democracy,” has posted.

Congress is trying to re-write a law that the Supreme Court found unconstitutional in June. Have they succeeded?

NATO has agreed to deploy Patriot missiles along the Turkey-Syria border to protect Turkish airspace and territory, while making clear no escalation is intended.

Outgoing Senator Jim Webb is making another attempt at passing the Stolen Valor Act, deemed unconstitutional last year by the US Supreme Court.

One of West Point’s first female graduates has married her long-time girlfriend at the Cadet Chapel.

US military drones are crashing at civilian airports around the world.

People continue to spread conspiracy theories explaining the “real reason” that David Petraeus’s extra-marital affair became public.

The scandal now surrounding David Petraeus should lead people to reassess his past record.

As is often the case with sex scandals, pretty much everything ever written about General David Petraeus takes on an ironic double meaning in hindsight.

The scandal that led to P4’s downfall has many layers, none of them flattering to the most famous American general of his generation.

Trending on Twitter this morning: “R.I.P. Paul Davis. The Navy Seal who killed Osama Bin Laden died in battle today. Retweet to honor him.”

Do we really need to guard the Tomb of the Unknowns in the midst of a hurricane?

If you thought the War On Terror might be over, think again.

One of the few areas of disagreement was how big our military should be.

First in a series of posts looking at the substance of the final presidential debate, ostensibly about foreign policy.

President Obama seems to have given away the store when it comes to the defense sequestration cuts.

The Pentagon considers those killed by Nidal Hassan at Fort Hood three years ago victims of workplace violence, not terrorism.

The Center for Responsive Politics touts “Overwhelming Support for Obama” among military donors. The numbers show something more interesting: those associated with the military don’t give money to political campaigns.

Don’t blame the Defense Department for following a bad law.

Mitt Romney is once again making completely false claims about the status of the United States Navy.

The Afghanistan War is officially eleven years old today.

Slowly but surely, we’re giving up on Afghanistan.