Outside the Beltway

Good intentions aren’t an excuse for failure to follow the law.

It’s good that Bowe Bergdahl is free, but questions remain about how he went missing that need to be answered.

The Obama White House rejected Republican criticism of the deal that led to the release of the only American Prisoner Of War from the Afghanistan War.

Petty politics, or valid concerns?

The President’s second speech to the Corps of Cadets is a vast improvement over the first.

Once again, President Obama’s attempt to communicate a foreign policy vision falls short.

The latest chapter in an all too familiar story.

An imperfect timetable, but better than nothing.

Diplomatic word games.

Today’s foreign-policy disputes rarely consider the way America’s response to one crisis might affect another.

There’s plenty of blame to go around.

James Oliphant asks, “Why Hasn’t the GOP Treated Fort Hood Like Benghazi?”

Hubris.

Not every tragedy can be resolved with a military response.

Bureaucracy at its finest.

A new poll indicates that most Americans don’t want to see the United States intervening overseas.

On screen body objectification is now equal opportunity.

Hillary Clinton’s numbers aren’t at the incredibly high levels they used to be, but they were never going to stay that high anyway.

The Pentagon wants to continue receiving special war funding well into peacetime.

Benjamin Wallace-Wells wonders with some irritation “Why Henry Kissinger Never Goes Away.”

Americans are skeptical about getting involved in the Ukraine crisis. This isn’t a surprise.

Afghanistan’s outgoing President says that his nation doesn’t need American troops to stay after the end of the year.

Barack Obama is no Jimmy Carter.

Russian invasion or legitimate secessionist movement? And does it matter?

My latest for The National Interest, “Hagel’s Defense Cuts: The Least Bad Choice,” is out.

Hamid Karzai’s refusal to sign a new security agreement may result in all U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan by the end of the year.

A rather impressive recovery from a career that was mostly dead in 2007.

President Obama is rewarding unqualified hacks who raised huge sums for his campaign with ambassadorships.

Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry, recipient of the Medal of Honor for gallantry in Afghanistan, is medically retiring from the Army.

Hundreds of soldiers allegedly scammed a system that awarded bonuses for referring recruits.

Most Americans now see America’s decade of war as a failure.

Dr. Alexandros Petersen, a scholar of Eurasian energy and a former colleague at the Atlantic Council, was killed in a bomb blast in Kabul.

Former SecDef Robert Gates is among those who believes that the Iraq War unduly diverted attention from fighting the War On Terror.

A new book by former SecDef Robert Gates is making political waves in Washington power circles, but will it matter to ordinary Americans?

The New York Times Benghazi report raises as many questions as it purports to answer.