Outside the Beltway

Thanks to a combination of good intelligence and fast action, it looks like the U.S. and UK avoided a serious attack on airliners last week.

Jonah Goldberg has written a bad column. In this case, an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune headlined “Why is Assange still alive?”

Ivo Daalder, the US Ambassador to NATO, says that we are “seeing the corner and can peek around it in Afghanistan” and that a province-by-province handover of security responsibilities to the host government will “start in the first half of 2011.” But the final handover is not expected until “the end of 2014” and NATO forces will remain in an advisory capacity indefinitely. “The process will take years,” he emphasized.

One of the last arguments against allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military — that active duty military would be unable to serve alongside them — appears to have no empirical support.

To earn a Medal of Honor commit a multi-part act of near comic-book-style heroism and, more often than not, die. Pentagon committees then convene to determine whether your valor merits an award traditionally given for acts so brave that no one would have even thought to complain if the soldier had neglected to do them.

Another undercover sting nets a would-be terrorist.

The Pentagon is looking at a system that would flag suspicious access to data, similar to the alerts by credit cards companies designed to prevent fraudulent charges.

Police in Turkey have arrested 12 people suspected of links to Islamist militant network al-Qaeda in Istanbul and Van province.

World Politics Review has published a special issue on “NATO’s Identity Crisis” ahead of next month’s Lisbon summit and the unveiling of a new Strategic Concept. I contributed the lead essay, “NATO in an Age of Austerity.”

Tumblr called “Pictures of Muslims Wearing Things” shows that there’s no such thing as “Muslim garb.”

Michigan Iraq War veteran gets NOT FUN vanity plate.

In what is being described as the largest leak of secret documents in U.S. history, Wikileaks has made public more than 400,000 documents related to the seven year long Iraq War.

The Pentagon has reinstated Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell under procedures that will make the discharge process more difficult. Which is good because it doesn’t look like DADT will be repealed any time soon.

Virginia’s answer to Joe Biden has put his foot in his mouth once again. It won’t prevent him from getting an 11th term.

Apparently Juan Williams is really, really, really important.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is once again the law of the land.

Sarah Palin and the Tea Party aren’t as clueless as their detractors think.

Recklessness.

Tom Brokaw notices something peculiar about the campaign debates: Nobody’s talking about Iraq or Afghanistan.

Who’s to blame for the rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, President Obama or those who have actually been encouraging bias against Muslims?

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates acknowledged in a newly released letter that the Wikileaks Afghan War document dump wasn’t as damaging as the Pentagon initially claimed. So what was the uproar all about?

A US soldier who captured a deadly 2009 rampage at Fort Hood with his cell phone camera testified Friday that he was ordered to erase the video by his commanders.

Only days after a Federal Court Judge issued an injunction preventing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy from being enforced, Obama Administration has asked for a stay and announced that it will be appealing the case.

A Federal Judge in California has struck another blow to the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Now, the ball is in President Obama’s court.

It’s been a decade since al Qaeda attacked the USS Cole, killing 17 American sailors. The perpetrators are still at large.

General Jim Jones is stepping down as National Security Advisor.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars has endorsed Ron Klein, who never served a day in uniform, over retired LTC Allen West, a decorated veteran of several foreign wars. Is this an outrage?

The State Department’s terrorism threat warning for Europe is probably meaningless. If it isn’t, it’ll be perceived that way.

In news that will no doubt please the estimable Glenn Reynolds, DARPA has taken a big step toward the long-awaited flying car: Flying Humvees

Yesterday’s NATO Beyond Afghanistan conference was a depressing day for fans of the most successful military alliance in history.

The Obama White House is asserting that the President has the authority to issue assassination orders against American citizens, and that no Court has the authority to review his decision. If that doesn’t worry you, it should.

If the Obama Administration gets it’s way, your secure Internet communications won’t really be all that secure.

While Congress continues to refused to act, another Federal Judge has struck a blow against the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

Tracking “freedom” and American defense spending provides some interesting insights.

What’s so wrong with saying that America will survive even if al Qaeda manages to hit us again ?

According to a new book from Bob Woorward, American policy in Afghanistan is the result of a decision making process that can only be described as chaotic at best.

The effort to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell suffered a setback in the Senate today that likely delays any further moves on the issue until after the midterm elections.

A US military platoon was apparently able to target innocent Afghans for murder. Without senior commanders suspecting a thing.