Outside the Beltway

Captain Dee Mewbourne, who previously commanded the EISENHOWER, will skipper the ENTERPRISE.

With just over a week to go before the 112th Congress convenes, battle lines are already being drawn in battle over the defense budget.

With DADT Repeal now on its way to being fully implemented, the right is now claiming that it poses a threat to the religious liberties of military chaplains. As with their other arguments, this one is totally without merit.

Now that gays will be allowed to serve openly in the military, the command will have some new issues to address.

The repeal of DADT may open the doors for ROTC to return to many elite institutions, if cost doesn’t get in the way.

What’s up with McCain and DADT?

Marine Commandant James Amos is going all-out to keep gay Marines in the closet, saying allowing them to serve openly could get men killed.

The archaic practice of calling one’s seniors by titles rather than their first name is actually quite useful.

WikiLeaks’ reveals that DynCorp, a government contractor, provided drugs and child sex slaves to Afghan police–and the State Department helped cover it up.

The hunters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and West Virginia alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

The commander-in-chief, secretary of defense, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff all support removing the ban on gays in the military without further delay. A long-awaited Pentagon study showed no reason not to do so. But three of four Service chiefs disagree.

Michael Yon provides a digital copy of PFC Bradley Manning’s Charge Sheet, dated 29 May. It makes for interesting reading.

Despite the Defense Department releasing its study showing that the effects of allowing gays to serve openly would be minimal, Senator John McCain isn’t convinced.

The Pentagon could have taken down WikiLeaks but decided not to. Out of kindness, I suppose.

Is there really anyone who can credibly argue at this point that the policy regarding homosexuals openly serving in the armed services is anything other than basic discrimination?

The Pentagon has spoken. Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would not cause any real harm to the military, they have said. Now, the ball is in the court of the United States Senate.

Thomas Ricks laments that the combination of the all-volunteer military and lower top marginal rates mean that the wealthy have “checked out of America and moved into physical and mental gated communities.” To solve this problem, he proposed bringing back the draft.

Conservative Republicans who are typically deferential to the military are ignoring the advice of the military leadership on the new START Treaty.

The long awaited new strategic concept, launching what has been termed “NATO 3.0,” has been published under the banner “Active Engagement, Modern Defense.”

Democrats are now confident that they have the votes in the Senate to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but do they have enough time?

Is the TSA groping passengers to force them into using intrusive scanners for which they’ve committed $173 million?

New details are out about the upcoming Defense Department report on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

The odds that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will be repealed anytime in the near future are fairly close to zero thanks to the results of last Tuesday’s elections.