Outside the Beltway

Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us.

A Federal Appeals Court In Washington has ruled that the military tribunal convictions of one group of Guantanamo Bay detainees was unconstitutional.

The American people don’t believe that liberty should be sacrificed in the name of security, but their leaders largely don’t care.

In a case that took seven months to decide, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Presidency’s broad authority in foreign affairs, and inserted itself just a little bit in the thorny politics of the Middle East.

An Air Force general is bragging about a targeting technique being used against ISIS.

The Senate passed a bill that renews, and modifies, the Patriot Act

Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.

Many provisions of the Patriot Act lapsed at midnight, but apparently the world hasn’t ended.

The Senate returns tomorrow to try to pass an extension of the PATRIOT Act before it expires, but it may not be able to do so.

Another step forward toward ending a U.S. policy regarding Cuba that was outdated twenty years ago.

A woman discharged from the Marine Corps for violating multiple direct orders is fighting to the highest military court.

Rand Paul is out with one of his more forceful attacks on Republican hawks to date.

Several of the top representatives of soccer’s governing body have been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in New York.

Some unusually blunt, but true, language from the U.S. Secretary Of Defense.

The first batch of email from Hillary Clinton regarding the 2012 attack in Benghazi have been released, and they don’t reveal anything we didn’t already know.

The Senate went home last night without passing a bill to renew the PATRIOT Act, which expires at the end of the month.

Who knew terrorists had an H.R. Department?

Rand Paul held the Senate floor for nearly twelve hours yesterday to talk about the PATRIOT Act, but it’s unclear if he accomplished anything.

Hillary Clinton has admitted she made a mistake in supporting the Iraq War in 2002, but there are plenty of other questions she needs to answer when it comes to foreign interventions.

Marco Rubio is the latest Republican Presidential candidate to have a problem giving a coherent answer to a few simple questions about the Iraq War.

President Obama is taking steps to reduce police militarization, but there’s much more that needs to be done.

Lindsey Graham says that, if elected president, he would summarily kill anyone thinking about joining ISIS.

Final justice, but far from the end of the road.

Fresh off an election victory, British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to propose a series of new measures to crackdown on extremism that raise serious civil liberties concerns.

The relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia has seen better days.

The House has passed a bill that would place real restrictions on the National Security Agency’s data mining program. Now, it moves to the Senate.

Iraq seems to becoming a political headache for yet another member of the Bush family.

Ray Mabus is trying to make serving in the Navy and Marine Corps more attractive to women.

Seymour Hersh is out with a conspiracy theory about the death of Osama bin Laden that just doesn’t make sense.

Not surprisingly, the House Committee re-investigating the Benghazi attack seems more concerned with scoring political points than fact-finding.

Like most Republicans, Jeb Bush either fails or refuses to recognize what an utter, unjustifiable disaster his brother’s decision to invade Iraq actually was.

Director of National Intelligence now tells Congress that he testified falsely about NSA spying because he forgot the program existed.

The tributes to the troops you see during N.F.L. games were most likely bought and paid for with your tax dollars.

A Judge in New Jersey has ruled that the twin children of a New Jersey woman were in fact fathered by two different men.

Jeb Bush told a group of supporters that his brother is his top Middle East policy adviser. This strikes me as being a bad idea.

Largely in reaction to revelations about N,S.A. surveillance, Germany has cut back on its intelligence cooperation with the United States.

A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that the N.S.A.’s data mining program is illegal, but its ruling may not have a very big impact.

Two men were killed last night before they could carry out what appears to be a planned attack on an anti-Islam event in Texas.

Rand Paul bucks Republican orthodoxy on Iraq, Libya, and negotiations with Iran.

U.S forces in Afghanistan have been involved in missions that go far beyond the counterterror mission the Obama Administration said they would be limited to.

Congress can’t really do anything to stop a nuclear deal with Iran, and John Boehner knows it.

Pot, meet kettle.

Marco Rubio is often described as one of the GOP’s leaders on foreign policy, but a close look reveals a decided lack of substance.

The former CIA Director received no jail time and a nuisance-level fine in exchange for a guilty plea to espionage charges.

An attack on al Qaeda outposts in January resulted in the death of two hostages, but also resulted in the death of two high value al Qaeda targets.

Chinese analysts are telling their American counterparts that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is far more sophisticated than previously believed.