Outside the Beltway

Today will be my first day at Marine Command and Staff College.

Western military action in the Syrian civil war now appears likely.

The VA created an incentive system that rewarded fast, half-assed claim processing that denied complicated requests.

Once, against Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg makes it clear she isn’t going anywhere.

Some thoughts on reform.

Virginia Tech English prof Steven Salaita implores us to “Stop saying ‘support the troops.'”

In both Egypt and Syria, it’s damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

Don’t expect the Federal Government to push for DUI reform.

A case out of New Mexico presents an interesting collision of First Amendment rights and anti-discrimination values.

As President Obama’s red line has been crossed more brazenly, he continues to sound reluctant to intervene in Syria while positioning forces to do just that.

Everyone knew the Fukushima disaster was bad. We likely underestimated how bad.

Walter Russell Mead explains why a well intentioned, carefully crafted and consistently pursued grand strategy failed.

Reports of the death of the Voting Rights Act have been greatly exaggerated.

Courts gave the NSA broad powers to intercept overseas communications of Americans . . . 30 years ago.

Joshua Foust and I discuss Chelsea Manning and other issues for BloggingHeadsTV.

Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn is the latest conservative to endorse the foolish idea of a Constitutional Convention.

Bradley Manning’s announcement that she wishes to begin living life as a woman poses some interesting legal questions.

A headline I never thought I’d see: “Yemen Asks U.S. For Drones To Fight Al Qaeda”

Convicted felon Bradley Manning has announced that she’d like to spend her confinement as Chelsea Manning.

The Army and Navy are finally doing something about brass bloat.

West Point graduates account for nearly one in fifty deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mark Kroos plays both parts of “Dueling Banjos” on a double necked guitar

The Syrian regime may have used chemical weapons again, this time in an even larger and more deadly attack.

Bradley Manning will be spending a long time at Leavenworth.

The Air Force can’t find enough people to volunteer to fly remote controlled planes.

Al Jazeera debuted its American broadcast Tuesday. Fewer Americans have access to Al Jazeera than they did Monday.

One of the iconic speeches in American history is copyrighted.

Author Elmore Leonard has died at the age of 87.

The NCAA has come to its senses regarding a Marine sergeant who wants to play college football.

The history of what to call the American Civil War.

There’s a hearing at Gitmo so secret that even the people having the hearing aren’t allowed to know what it’s about.

Andrew Bacevich argues, persuasively, that “absence of leverage does not preclude options” with respect to Egypt.

My latest for The National Interest, “Clapper’s Bodyguard of Lies,” has posted.