Outside the Beltway

As he nears the end of his first 100 days in office, President Trump continues to suffer from bad poll numbers.

A majority of Americans support last week’s airstrikes in Syria but are skeptical of any expansion beyond that.

Despite American air strikes, ISIS is expanding its power amid the chaos in Libya.

Just about two months into office, Donald Trump’s job approval number are worse than any newly elected President since World War II.

Hawaii is the first state to challenge the Trump Administration’s revised Muslim travel ban.

My latest is out at RealClearDefense.

A military judge has rejected a motion to dismiss the case against Bowe Bergdahl based on comments made by Donald Trump when he was a candidate for President.

Budget hawks in the GOP face a showdown with Donald Trump’s spending ambitions this year that will likely decide whether we’ll ever get spending under control.

Could Donald Trump’s comments about Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl on the campaign trail lead to the case against Bergdahl being dismissed? A military judge will have to decide.

With two votes last night, President Trump’s Cabinet is coming together.

In a closer than normal vote for the position, Rex Tillerson has been confirmed as Secretary of State.

The 117 CIA officers who have died in our service should not be used to score cheap political points.

A potentially controversial commutation from President Obama today.

Delegating the morning briefing to advisors isn’t actually that unusual.

I’m in the New York Times’ “Room for Debate” with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Duke’s Peter Feaver.

While it seems a strange choice at first blush, it’s a good one.

Even if you’re not sure who you should vote for, it’s obvious who you shouldn’t vote for.

The sense of national ‘unity’ that existed in the wake of the September 11th attacks didn’t last for very long.

President Obama will leave office as the first two term President who presided over eight years of war. It didn’t start with him and it won’t end with him.

American forces will continue to stay in Afghanistan well after Barack Obama leaves office thanks to a new policy announced today.

My latest for The National Interest has posted.

Bowe Bergdahl’s Court Martial has been delayed until 2017, which raises the possibility that comments by Donald Trump could result in Bergdahl getting off scot-free.

My latest for RealClearDefense, “The Forgotten Veterans of Desert Storm,” has posted. The headline belies the argument.

American forces will be deployed to a combat area in southern Afghanistan, reversing current policy and calling the President’s promised withdrawal date into even further doubt.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will face a Court Martial for the circumstances that led to his being capture and held captive by the Taliban for five years.

Republicans insist that uttering the words “Radical Islamic Terrorism” is somehow important in the fight against ISIS and other terror networks, but it is entirely unclear what doing so would accomplish.

President Obama is set to sign a military spending bill that effectively guarantees that his 2008 campaign promise to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will go unfulfilled.

President Obama came to office inheriting the legacy of one unnecessary war, and another that had faded from memory. He will leave office with Iraq and Syria in crisis, Europe uneasy, Yemen and Libya unstable breeding grounds for terrorism, and China doing whatever it is they’re doing.

The plan to withdraw nearly all American forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 is being put on hold.

President Obama is reportedly considering a plan that would keep up to 5,000 American troops in Afghanistan past the withdrawal date he had already set.

Your tax dollars at work.

The Taliban dealt a major defeat to a numerically superior Afghan Army force, raising questions about just how well Afghanistan can defend itself on its own.

With the exception of Rand Paul, the foreign policy discussion at last night’s debate was about as bad as you’d expect.

The Afghan Army isn’t doing so well against the Taliban right now.

U.S forces in Afghanistan have been involved in missions that go far beyond the counterterror mission the Obama Administration said they would be limited to.

An attack on al Qaeda outposts in January resulted in the death of two hostages, but also resulted in the death of two high value al Qaeda targets.

America’s longest war continues.

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

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

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.

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.

The abrupt departure of Chuck Hagel says much more about Administration policy than it does about Chuck Hagel.

A surprising change at the top of the military’s civilian chain of command.

You thought the American combat role in Afghanistan would end on December 31st? Think again.

U.S. troops will be in Afghanistan for at least the next three years.

The Khorasan Group is, functionally, al Qaeda. Or is it?