Outside the Beltway

The United States can’t do any good in Syria, but we can do a lot of bad.

Without Congressional authorization, any attack on Syria would be illegal, but don’t expect Congress to do anything about it.

Once again, President Trump’s foreign policy tweeting is causing problems.

President Trump’s call for National Guard troops isn’t going over well even with Republican Governors.

Leland Bohannon objects to same-sex marriage on religious grounds. What rights should he have to act on that belief?

President Trump wants to send the military to the Mexican border. This is both unnecessary and a bad idea.

Within hours after being fired as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, David Shulkin was fighting back.

Descriptions of Robby Jackson as “Trump’s personal physician” mischaracterize his qualifications for the job.

Fourteen months into his presidency, he has no idea how the federal budget works.

The President’s new attempt to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military is as legally defective as the original ban was.

The President issued an incredibly confusing order that contradicts the advice of his generals and is probably illegal.

Absent changes in policy, the nation’s most hallowed military cemetery will run out of space in two decades.

Service members deployed to Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tunisia, and Uganda qualify.

There won’t be any tanks, but it looks like President Trump will get his military parade.

In Defense One, Butch Bracknell and I explain “Why ‘Different Spanks for Different Ranks’ Are Often Justified.”

Will the NRA lobby to have these on America’s streets?

The Defense Department will reportedly recommend to President Trump that transgender members of the service currently serving in the military be allowed to continue serving.

Continuing a long-standard tradition, the Trump Administration claims it doesn’t need to get legal authorization to keep American troops in Syria.

The U.S. Army is once again embroiled in an internecine fight over hats.

Pork barrel politics is complicating Germany’s replacement of its 1970s fighter jet.

President Trump’s military parade would come with a not insignificant cost.

WaPo is overhyping things a bit.

Of course Donald Trump wants a military parade, it would be consistent with his delusions of grandeur.

One of the oddities of military culture is the constan

My latest for The National Interest takes a contrarian view on the new National Defense Strategy.

Chelsea Manning is running for Senate, but she may be violating military regulations by doing so.

John Kelly continues to throw away the good name he earned in decades of service as a Marine to serve the agenda of President Trump.

Three women who attended Annapolis together are running for seats in Congress.

A quarter century ago, soldiers were first using GPS to help them navigate the battlefield. Now, GPS is giving away their location.

While everyone is paying attention to the government shutdown, the Trump Administration is preparing for a never-ending, unwise, and unauthorized military commitment in Syria.

Three U.S. cities are suing the Federal Government over the failure to properly report military convictions to the national gun background check database.

Transgender Americans will be able to enlist in the military beginning January 1st thanks to a ruling from a Federal District Court Judge.

Big problems for the Air Force.

For the second time in as many months, a Federal Court is blocking the Administration’s ban on transgender troops in the military.

Is it time to reexamine Presidential authority to launch a nuclear strike?

A preemptive attack on North Korea would be illegal, immoral and, most importantly, insane.

On North Korea, there are two options, deterrence and war. And only one of those options makes sense.

Bowe Bergdahl received a dishonorable discharge and reduction in rank, but will not serve time in prison.

A Federal Judge in Washington, D.C. has blocked the Trump Administration from implementing its ban on transgender soldiers.

America has become involved in conflicts around the world, largely without the knowledge of the American people or the consent of their representatives, and it doesn’t appear that’s going to end anytime soon.

The White House believes that it is ‘inappropriate’ to question Generals. This argument is not only wrong, it’s downright dangerous.

White House Chief Of Staff John Kelly publicly defended the President’s call to a military widow yesterday, but he got several facts wrong in the process.

The capital of the purported caliphate declared by ISIS has apparently fallen, but that doesn’t mean the end of ISIS. In fact, it may make the group more dangerous.

President Trump sinks even lower.

The Bergdahl case comes to an end.

Donald Trump continues to be as astoundingly ignorant about the most powerful weapons the U.S. military possesses as he was as a candidate.

America’s longest war seems likely to soon turn into America’s never-ending war.

Once again, Congress is abdicating its Constitutional responsibilities.

Contrary to reports, Secretary of Defense Mattis is not defying the President on his order to bar transgender Americans from serving in the military.

Another Cabinet member rebukes the President for his comments about Charlottesville.