Outside the Beltway

Pentagon officials are speaking out about the militarization of police.

The soldier who became a national figure for testifying against President Trump has had enough.

The Army’s in a bind, because it’s way behind, and willing to make a deal.

The former NSC staffer who testified against Trump is at a career crossroads.

The line between “hero” and “victim” is blurry and rendered meaningless when the former is over-used

My latest for Defense One has published.

My latest at War on the Rocks.

The President has reportedly invoked the Insurrection Act.

Are those who die in our wars more deserving than those who die in our stores?

A hero of the Afghan War has succumbed to cancer, aged 41.

The founder of Small Wars Journal passed Saturday.

No. Just no.

Thomas Modly, the acting Secretary of the Navy, has embarrassed himself and must go.

A public health crisis turns into a public relations crisis.

A proportional response.

Another milestone has been reached.

It’s not clear what has been achieved.

A book out today makes an odd case.

Tweets aren’t policy, unless they are.

Nobody even agrees on what baselines to use.

Claims by the President and Defense Department about the Iranian response to the Soleimani raid were untrue.

President Trump’s threat to attack Iranian cultural sites would most likely constitute a war crime if he actually carried it out.

An American drone strike has taken out the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a move likely to significantly increase tensions across the Middle East.

A new report details the extent to which the eighteen-year Afghanistan War has been marked by mistakes, and lies by the government to cover-up the fact that we went to war without a clear understanding of what we were doing.

Donald Trump’s pardons of soldiers convicted of war crimes sends the wrong message to the military, to our allies, and to the world.

The Secretary of the Navy was abruptly dismissed late yesterday in a dispute over the a case involving a SEAL accused of war crimes.

Against the advice of his top military advisers, President Trump has cleared three American soldiers of war crimes, sending a horrible signal to the world and to the troops in the field.

Suicide has become a bigger threat to members of the military and veterans than combat. That needs to change.

Revisiting a recent post.

The newest branch of the US Armed Forces has made a long-overdue policy change that others should copy.

Defying the Commander-in-Chief’s order will almost certainly ruin a good man’s career.

American negotiators are claiming a ceasefire in northern Syria. The Turks, Syrians, and Russians are the winners, the Kurds are the losers, and we look like schmucks.

Turkish forces advance, American forces retreat, the Kurds seek new allies, and Syria and Russia come out the winners.

President Trump is basically saying he does not care if ISIS prisoners return to Europe to commit terror attacks.

Trump makes a particularly dumb comment about our alliance with Syrian Kurds.

Just days after President Trump agreed to remove American forces from the scene, Turkish forces are entering northern Syria and Kurdish forces say they ar ready for war.

The Air Force’s use of Trump hotels predates his presidency—but is still highly problematic.

The Trump Administration from projects to build on-base schools and daycare facilities to spend on his border wall.

President Trump continues to have an odd obsession with nuclear weapons.

Mark Esper has been confirmed and sworn in as the next Secretary of Defense, ending a period of nearly 100 days during which the Pentagon was headed by a succession of Acting Secretaries.

An Army appellate court has rejected an appeal filed by Bowe Bergdahl that argued that the President’s attacks on him while a candidate unfairly influenced his court martial.

The House of Representatives passed a defense spending bill that seeks to limit Presidential authority when it comes to striking Iran and aideing the Saudi war on Yemen.

In a move sure to ruffle feathers, the President is bypassing all of the Navy’s four-star admirals for the next service chief.

Adm. William Moran had been set to become Chief of Naval Operations in three weeks.

Can the commander-in-chief’s tweets be unlawful command influence?

The Kaine-Udall amendment has met its predictable end.

Another poll is out showing that Americans overwhelmingly oppose the President’s decision to ban transgender troops from serving in the military.

The Pentagon has been headed by Acting Secretaries for an unprecedented period. Does it really matter?

Just days after being named the next Acting Secretary of Defense, the President is appointing Mark Esper to be full Secretary of Defense.