Outside the Beltway

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.

My latest for War on The Rocks, “The Inter-Service Wars Are Looking Like Calvinball,” has posted.

Lindsey Graham recently retired as a colonel in the Air Force Reserves after 33 years of service. He missed most of the last twenty.

The Defense Department is working to fully integrate transgender troops.

Tragedy in Tennessee.

Marine special operations forces have called themselves “Raiders” for years. Now it’s official.

In what seems to be a clear signal to Russia, the U.S. is considering pre-positioning military equipment in nation’s very close to Russian borders.

An Air Force general is bragging about a targeting technique being used against ISIS.

A woman discharged from the Marine Corps for violating multiple direct orders is fighting to the highest military court.

Ray Mabus is trying to make serving in the Navy and Marine Corps more attractive to women.

The tributes to the troops you see during N.F.L. games were most likely bought and paid for with your tax dollars.

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.

Conditioning an Iranian nuclear deal on recognition of Israel is foolish, unrealistic, and very bad diplomacy.

Fox News’ Catherine Herridge is creating a scandal where none exists.

One freshman Senator seems to think that war with Iran would be easy, just like Republicans used to think that war against Iraq would be easy.

Bowe Bergdahl will face charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, and the White House’s narrative about this release lies in tatters.

America’s longest war continues.

A headline I did not expect to see, courtesy the Army Times: “Dakota Meyer engaged to Bristol Palin.”

The president is the commander-in-chief of the US armed forces. He’s not commander-in-chief of the United States.

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

Daniel Larison is far less ambivalent about our war on ISIL than me.

Explaining my ambivalence around the latest escalation in our intervention.

The last of my four pieces analyzing the revised National Security Strategy has posted at RealClearDefense.

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

Pressure is building on the Administration to send military aid to Ukraine, but it would be a very bad idea.

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.

David Petraeus provided highly classified secrets to his mistress. Will he be charged?

The Army’s investigation of the disappearance five years ago of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been referred to a top General, who will decide if a court martial should be convened.

There’s not a whole lot the United States can do to respond effectively and proportionally to North Korea’s hacking attack against Sony.

In the wake of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on C.I.A. torture, some have suggested that eight years of Jack Bauer helped make torture more acceptable to the American public.

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.

Vice-President Cheney’s amoral defense of torture has come to define how most conservatives view the issue, and that’s a problem.

A dark and regrettable time in American history is finally seeing the light of day.

The Navy has stripped Navy veteran Bill Cosby of an honorary promotion in the wake of unproven sexual misconduct accusations.

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.

The shocking has become routine. We’re no safer because of it.

The House Intelligence Committee has concluded that the conspiracy theories regarding the 9/11/2012 attack in Benghazi are not supported by the evidence. That’s unlikely to change anyone’s mind, though.

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

The latest ISIS video is horrible and barbaric but we should not take the bait they are offering before considering the consequences of our actions going forward.

Some people didn’t like the song selection at last night’s Washington, D.C. concert for Veterans Day.

Mission creep.

Always as many military personnel identify as Independents as with the GOP.