Outside the Beltway

The GOP’s most promising alternative to Mitt Romney in 2012 may run again in 2016, but it doesn’t seem like he’d go very far.

The Boston Marathon bomber must be tried in a court of law.

The events in Boston on Monday were tragic, but there was one shining success.

A bipartisan commission of elder statesmen confirms what we’ve known for years.

A new report confirms that the United States did engage in torture in the wake of the September 11th attacks.

We treat violence by lone individuals differently than organized violence. Race, religion, and national origin have nothing to do with that.

Because sometimes poorly contructed observations can set a fellow to writing.

My latest for The National Interest, “Hagel’s Three Questions,” ponders our national security decisionmaking.

Emily DePrang looks back at “‘Baghdad Bob’ and His Ridiculous, True Predictions.”

90 percent of Americans support background checks for gun purchases. They are unlikely to be enacted into law.

Conveying military experience to civilian human resources departments is hard.

The Army has war gamed a conflict to secure a failed North Korea. It would not be a cakewalk.

One in eight Americans support drone strikes against Americans on American soil.

The Iraq War did significant damage to the legacy of the Republican Party.

Second thoughts about the Iraq War

A tendency to expand objectives mid-fight has seen America fail in its last four major wars.

Rand Paul’s filibuster has made him a darling among conservatives but it may not last.

Rand Paul’s questions about the nation’s drone war were only the beginning.

Mr. Paul Goes To Washington.

My latest for The National Interest, “Was Afghanistan Worth It?” takes issue with the Marine commandant’s assessment of that question.

Walter Russell Mead presents his sitrep of the War on Terror.

Do we ask too much of our leaders?

Bradley Manning has pleaded guilty to 10 charges stemming from turning classified documents over to WikiLeaks.

Pretending like the Bush administration never happened is a problem for the GOP.

Chuck Hagel will be confirmed, but the campaign against him tells us much about the current state of Republican foreign policy

Andrew Bacevich bemoans the social impact of the all-volunteer force.

Is America’s focus on defense weakening the country?

Greg Jaffe has an outstanding feature titled “In one Army family, women in combat evokes two different perspectives.”

The notion that guns prevent tyranny is based on fantasy and movies, not reality.

The first seven men to be awarded the Medal of Honor for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan received it posthumously. Clinton Romesha will be the fourth in a row that’s lived to meet the president.

Basically, it’s inconsistent with the strategy.

The idea of completely pulling out of Afghanistan after 2014 is very compelling.

Killing their leaders doesn’t seem to be impacting the ability of jihadi groups to recruit and motivate more terrorists.