Outside the Beltway

Tom Clancy, author of dozens of bestselling military thriller novels, has died aged 66.

The world changed significantly twelve years ago today. Will it ever change back even a little bit?

:Like his predecessors, President Obama’s speech last night exaggerated the threat that Syria poses in order to sell his plan to American voters.

My latest for The National Interest has posted.

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

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.

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

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.

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

TheTransportation Security Administration is expanding its purview to train stations and sporting events.

In the end, it doesn’t appear that the Boston Marathon bombings could have been prevented by law enforcement.

CNN reports that CIA is going to great lengths to keep operatives from talking about what happened at Benghazi.

A new poll shows public approval for the Supreme Court nearing a all-time low.

The Defense Department will freeze promotions, cut workers, and suspend training in the face of across-the-board funding cuts.

A state of perpetual war is incompatible with good mental health and stable family relationships.

Frustrations with the mercurial leader of Afghanistan may increase the pace of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Don’t blame “secret courts” for the government’s expanded spying on American citizens and allies.

The French were indignant about reports of the NSA’s surveillance programs. Now we know they have own of their own.

My latest for The Atlantic, “Why Should Congress and the Courts Care About Snooping If Citizens Don’t?” has posted.

A George W. Bush renaissance? Not exactly.

The ACLU is suing over the NSA’s data mining. Does it really have a chance?

Revelations about the NSA’s data mining programs don’t seem to be having a significant impact on public opinion.

Will voters care about the revelations about NSA data mining? Signs point to no.

Jay Stanley and Ben Wizner, privacy experts at the ACLU, argue that metadata is more sensitive than we think.

Just because NSA data mining is legal, that doesn’t mean it’s proper or that the American people should tolerate it.

The NSA’s data mining project is about more than just subpoenas for cell phone records.

Apparently, it’s not just reporters whose phone logs the Obama administration is tracking.

The same story yet again.

A starting point for two important stories.

We’re actually not speculating about who might be running any more than we used to.

Would more information about the Benghazi attacks have changed the outcome of the Presidential election?

Republicans looking to Benghazi for political ammunition are likely going to be disappointed.

Apparently, Benghazi has not faded (at least not for some).

The American people aren’t panicking.

Are civil liberties once again at risk in the wake of the bombing attack in Boston?

The wacko fringe of the GOP is increasingly finding room in the mainstream of the party.