Outside the Beltway

Most of us have suddenly gone from High to Low risk communities.

Two unclassified after-action reports shine a new—if one-sided—light on the evacuation.

Some 98 percent of active service members are now vaccinated. The rest will be discharged.

The Pentagon brass have defeated a supermajority coalition in Congress.

Violence, masculinity, and American politics.

The next boot has dropped.

The convicted criminal has taken his shenanigans to court.

The wonders of hindsight.

What we know of the American servicemembers killed.

Thirteen Marines and dozens of Afghan civilians are dead in a much-anticipated attack.

It appears to be only a matter of time before the SECDEF orders active-duty troops to get the shots.

A serving officer was arrested for his part in events of 6 January

The longtime public servant has died, aged 100.

Perhaps the most normal thing President Trump has done.

The purge of non-loyalists continues.

The Toddler-in-Chief strikes again.

My latest for Defense One.

Black football players at Iowa complain they were treated differently—and also the same.

The similarities are obvious. The differences are more important.

My latest at War on the Rocks.

Can there be truth when there are consequences?

The founder of Small Wars Journal passed Saturday.

Most federal workers are still packing themselves into offices.

The greatest crisis the nation has faced in my lifetime.

Donald Trump is once again trying to deflect reality.

Tweets aren’t policy, unless they are.

Nobody even agrees on what baselines to use.

A legendary newsman has passed.

The newest branch of the US Armed Forces has made a long-overdue policy change that others should copy.

John Kelly, President Trump’s former Chief of Staff, is speaking out nearly a year after leaving office

Adm. William Moran had been set to become Chief of Naval Operations in three weeks.

The Democratic-controlled House has settled on the worst possible option.

While the scope of Federal power has expanded beyond the ken of the Framers, this is not an example.

The last of the World War II code talkers from the Mohawk tribe has passed away at the age of 94

President Trump is reportedly planning to pardon several American servicemen convicted of war crimes, an action that would be an insult to everyone who has ever worn an American uniform.

The way the Navy and Congress have handled this has been abysmal.

Northern Virginia is slowly undoing an anachronism.

The raw number of vessels is not the best metric of naval power.

A months-long standoff is stopping hurricane relief.

Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts is the latest Democrat to enter an already crowded field.

Maybe there was a better way to get his point across?

There are even higher obligations than taking care of Marines.

Despite some obstacles, America’s armed forces drink other professions under the table.

President Trump will get his Space force, but it won’t exactly be what he wanted when he first proposed that idea.

A Coast Guard officer and aspiring domestic terrorist was arrested late yesterday for plotting to kill Democratic politicians and members of the media.

Walter Jones, a former supporter of the Iraq War who became one of the most prominent anti-war voices in Congress, has passed away at the age of 76. He will be missed.

President Trump’s impending decision to declare a national emergency to get funding for his border wall will quickly face serious legal challenges. It may be more vulnerable than the White House suspects.

President Trump is claiming that he could use authority to declare a “national emergency” to build his wall even if Congress doesn’t authorize it.

In what clearly appears to be a rebuke of the President, Defense Secretary James Mattis is retiring as Secretary of Defense.