Outside the Beltway

A thinly-sourced but utterly believable tale of evil.

White House aides asked the Navy to keep the USS John McCain “out of sight” while the President visited a Navy base in Japan earlier this week.

The DPRK sent a message to the United States over the weekend, but it’s unlikely the President was listening.

Late last week it appeared as if a 90-year-old veteran of the Korean War would be buried without anyone to say goodbye. Then the word got out, and thousands of people responded.

This year’s graduating class at West Point includes a record number of African-American women.

President Trump is in Japan, and while there is is dismissing the seriousness of new North Korean missile tests that threaten Japan.

Yet another violation of norms by the 45th President.

A Federal Judge has put at least a partial hold on President’s Trump’s effort to use a “national emergency” to fund his border wall.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been indicted on seventeen counts under the Espionage Act arising out of his role in the Chelsea Manning affair.

John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” has been released from prison but the war in which he was captured goes merrily along.

President Trump is reportedly planning to pardon several American servicemen convicted of war crimes, an action that would be an insult to everyone who has ever worn an American uniform.

The way the Navy and Congress have handled this has been abysmal.

Some 2020 Democratic hopefuls are turning to a surprising source for counsel.

Taiwan has become the first nation in Asia to legally recognize same-sex marriage.

A new poll indicates that at least some Democrats continue to hold Biden’s 2002 vote in favor of the Iraq War.

One of the last of the Navajo Code Talkers, who provided the U.S. military with an unbreakable code in the fight against Japan in World War Two, has died at the age of 97.

Attorney General William Barr has opened a new investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation, a move that seems suspiciously political.

The White House claims to want to talk to Iran but the President’s actions make clear that negotiation is the furthest thing from his mind.

Disturbing news in the Eddie Gallagher case.

94-year-old Bill Dawson has a story to tell and is the only one left alive to tell it.

President Trump’s foreign policy has largely been a failure, and there are specific reasons why.

Chelsea Manning, who was being held in jail for refusing to comply with a Grand Jury subpoena, was released yesterday but it’s likely to only be a temporary freedom.

As he had threatened, President Trump has imposed new tariffs on Chinese goods, making a bad situation even worse.

The President’s eldest son has been subpoenaed to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding Trump campaign contacts with Russia.

Patrick Shanahan, who has been serving as Acting Defense Secretary since James Mattis left in December, is being selected to replace Mattis in that position.

While he campaigned on a message of restraint, Donald Trump has largely adopted the interventionist foreign policies of his predecessors.

The Trump Administration is taking an unnecessarily militaristic approach toward Iran, and that poses real dangers for the country and for the Middle East.

The President revived an old debate but added some new twists.

The raw number of vessels is not the best metric of naval power.

This could be a very big deal – unless it isn’t.

As the Friday deadline for trade talks with China approaches, President Trump is threatening even more tariffs.

With the apparent failure of the coup attempt in Venezuela, what happens next?

President Trump’s obsequious effort to please Russian President Vladimir Putin continues.

Sexual misconduct in the military continues to frustrate observers.

Republicans have aborted President Trump’s lofty plan for a $2 trillion infrastructure deal just days after it was conceived.

The former Kentucky coal executive, Republican fundraiser, and Ambassador to Canada would replace Nikki Haley in what used to be a position dominated by more experienced diplomats.

All three children of the next head of the Army are following in his footsteps.

A months-long standoff is stopping hurricane relief.

Former Vice-President Joe Biden is calling for an end to American support for the Saudi war on Yemen.

The U.S. military will no longer release reports regarding the success, or failure, of the current strategy in Afghanistan.

Matt Bernius and I collaborated on an essay for Defense One.

The ongoing apparent attempted coup in Venezuela is already leading to talk of American intervention in the event of a crackdown. That would be unwise and unjustified.

His passing is a sad reminder of another era of the Republican Party.

Counter-Intelligence officials are warning that Russia is preparing another election interference campaign for the 2020 election.

A law professor asks some interesting questions, but ultimately not the right ones.

The Trump Administration’s policies toward Iran aren’t going to work, but that’s because they aren’t supposed to work.

Sunday’s attacks in Sri Lanka make it clear that the claim that ISIS has been defeated are nowhere close to being true.

The United States agreed to pay North Korea $2 million for “medical treatment” for Otto Warmbier. Did the Trump Administration actually pay the bill? They aren’t saying.

In military justice Bizarroland, Rep Duncan Hunter intentionally commits “reverse UCI.”