Outside the Beltway

The president is the commander-in-chief of the US armed forces. He’s not commander-in-chief of the United States.

Hillary Clinton addressed the week-long email controversy, but her explanations only raised new questions.

Senate Republicans have done more harm to the goal of stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons than they have done good.

Amateurish? Condescending? Yes. Treasonous? No.

The gang calling itself the Islamic State has destroyed another historical site.

Iraqi army and Iranian army in joint offensive to retake Tikrit.

The most widely honored General from the Iraq and Afghanistan War has plead guilty to sharing classified information with his mistress.

Polling indicates that the American public opposes the GOP position on DHS funding, but that’s unlikely to change many minds on Capitol Hill.

The Atlantic has a fascinating cover story by Graeme Wood titled “What ISIS Really Wants.”

ISIS apparently now has a foothold in Libya, and is making inroads in Yemen.

Yet another attack on religious freedom in Europe.

Daniel Larison is far less ambivalent about our war on ISIL than me.

Explaining my ambivalence around the latest escalation in our intervention.

The last of my four pieces analyzing the revised National Security Strategy has posted at RealClearDefense.

Most in the international relations community are not amused by the president’s National Security Strategy.

President Obama will ask Congress to authorize a war he started six months ago.

My latest for War on The Rocks, “IS OBAMA REAL(IST) CONFUSED?”

Another commentary on the National Security Strategy, this one at The Hill.

The first installment of my analysis of the National Security Strategy.

Pressure is building on the Administration to send military aid to Ukraine, but it would be a very bad idea.

Has the legislative branch abdicated its responsibility in US foreign policy?

Reports indicate that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is likely to be charged with desertion for leaving his post in 2009, but he’s unlikely to serve time in prison.

Pope Francis continues his world tour and has issued a paradox from his private jet.

Even with a House and Senate majority, the GOP is unlikely to get what it wants in its current immigration battle with the President.

Their editor and nine colleagues dead, their offices destroyed, the newspaper is not missing a beat.

Some are criticizing the President for not going to Paris for yesterday’s rally.

The terrorism wave that began with the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices has not ended with the killing of the perpetrators. A follow-on attack has occurred in Germany and there are reports of “sleeper cells” being activated in France.

David Petraeus provided highly classified secrets to his mistress. Will he be charged?

The men responsible for the Charlie Hebdo massacre are dead, but the problems for France, and the rest of Europe, may just be at the beginning.

The terror attack in Paris seems likely to undercut GOP efforts to use the DHS budget to attack the President’s immigration policies.

At least 11 are dead and 10 wounded in an attack on free expression.

Reversing a previous decision, Sony will allow The Interview to be screened in a small number of theaters.

The Army’s investigation of the disappearance five years ago of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been referred to a top General, who will decide if a court martial should be convened.

The ground troops that United States has not sent into Iraq to fight ISIL are reportedly in Iraq fighting ISIL.

There’s not a whole lot the United States can do to respond effectively and proportionally to North Korea’s hacking attack against Sony.

President Obama believes the North Korean attack on Sony was “an act of cyber vandalism” rather than “an act of war.”

President Obama criticized Sony for backing down, and said that the U.S. would respond to North Korea’s cyber attack “at a place and time we choose,”

In the wake of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on C.I.A. torture, some have suggested that eight years of Jack Bauer helped make torture more acceptable to the American public.

The U.S. Government has formally charged North Korea with responsibility for the hacking attack on Sony. How to respond to that attack is a more complicated question.

Rand Paul is one of the few Republicans who seems to be evaluating the new policy toward Cuba through something other than an outdated Cold War perspective.

The costs of more than a decade of war are far higher than many ever thought, and we’re still paying the price for the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush Administration while they were being fought.

With major theater chains having pulled out, Sony bowed to the inevitable, but now there appears to be proof that a foreign power is behind the Sony hacking attacks and threats of violence.

The fate of Cuba policy in Congress is far from certain, but what is certain is that following through on President Obama’s historic and necessary changes will face resistance.

The resumption of diplomatic relations between U.S. and Cuba, and expansion of some commercial trade ties, is historic but it’s only the first step toward the goal of ending an outdated embargo.