Outside the Beltway

There’s more than enough opinion journalism.

Some reflections

Most agree that it was good theater. But it’s not clear what they’ve proven.

The longtime public servant has died, aged 100.

Historical precedents fall apart when we’re in a truly unprecedented time.

The Republican Party is not really a thing.

History has been made in more than one way.

What we have here is failure to communicate.

Biden’s America is a place and idea in which the trappings of empire or glory are ephemera in comparison with perennial human relationships—families; friendships; communities; schools; neighbors; partners.

The aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riots runs into the First Amendment,

Some of the Capitol rioters were much more dangerous than others.

The live coverage of Wednesday’s assault on American democracy underplayed its seriousness.

There’s a word for people who use outrageous violence to terrorize.

As expected, the Congress has overridden his veto of the NDAA.

The Academy is prioritizing football glory over honor.

Granted, there are more than two. But from a political science/political history POV, these two stick out in my mind.

An exploding RV did substantial property damage but caused only minor injuries to bystanders.

73 cadets violated the honor code while taking an exam remotely.

Space Force took a year to decide what to call their uniformed members.

Our enemies are getting more brazen and sophisticated in their cyber warfare.

My latest for Defense One.

An American hero is gone.

Not another general.

My latest for Defense One.

Yet another retired general in the post would be a bad idea.

Women in national security circles love this woman.

Maybe it’s not going to be Michèle Flournoy after all.

She’d be America’s first woman intelligence chief.

The man behind the 1998 embassy attacks is dead.

” . . . to a second Trump Administration.” Get it?

The purge of non-loyalists continues.

A lame duck President has fired his Secretary of Defense and replaced him in probably violation of the law.

The Army is finally getting its World War II uniforms, one base at a time.

Because of course they are.

They are standing by as ordered.

Holding the president accountable is hard.

The venerable military newspaper lives to print another day.

The Toddler-in-Chief strikes again.

My latest for Defense One.

Yet more flouting of the rule of law by the Trump administration.

My latest for War on the Rocks.

Yet another call for military intervention in domestic politics.

My latest for Defense One.

The Russians are at it again, with the cooperation of the Trump administration and its enablers.

The National Security Advisor to Presidents Ford and GHW Bush has died.

The reporting demonstrates the uncomfortable truth.

Shame on him for defending authoritarian actions.

The similarities are obvious. The differences are more important.

A thought experiment on what we have seen in Portland.

Pentagon officials are speaking out about the militarization of police.