Outside the Beltway

The U.S. sends a mostly weak signal to the Egyptian military.

The Pentagon is recalling up to 300,000 furloughed civilian employees on the same day that Congress voted to pay all furloughed employees when the government reopens.

The Defense Department might open for business while the rest of government remains shut down.

“No More Baby Steps,” my first piece for Defense News, has posted.

f Assad is eating Cheerios, we’re going to take away his spoon and give him a fork.

Score one for Team Bush?

Raymond Pritchett longs for the good old days of Tom Donilan, Hillary Clinton, and Leon Panetta.

Could anyone have imagined a decade ago a scenario when the United States would go to war with France by our side and England on the sidelines?

In both Egypt and Syria, it’s damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

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.

Until this year, being gay could get you kicked out of the military. Now, it comes with perks.

The Pentagon is considering making military retirees ineligible for civil service pensions.

The president’s 2008 rival has gone from bitter foe to go-to deal broker.

The Defense Department may have found the money to furlough its civilian workers fewer than 11 days.

The two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are clashing on defense appropriations.

Last month, a retired Navy SEAL came out as transgender. Those still in uniform, however, must serve in silence.

Some thoughts on a decade old video in which Samantha Power speculates on actions to take against an unfolding genocide.

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

Words don’t always mean what you think they mean.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has wasted no time issuing a full-throated statement endorsing today’s DOMA ruling

Did President Obama’s comments about taking a tough stand on military sexual assault constitute “undue influence” on specific cases? One military judge says that they did.

While our leaders may not be fully trustworthy, they, not disgruntled low level employees, are best positioned to decide.

The government has your cell phone and credit card records. What can they do with that information?

The sequestration cuts are two months old, and it seems pretty clear that the claims of doom we heard before they went into effect were heavily exaggerated.

Is someone who’s only be a Senator for just over 100 days a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2016?

There are far too many appointed positions in the US government. And many of them are unfilled.

Chuck Hagel has countermanded his predecessor and canceled the Distinguished Warfare Medal.

Many of our cabinet secretaries are independently wealthy.

My latest for The National Interest, “Hagel’s Three Questions,” ponders our national security decisionmaking.

Examining SECDEF’s call for radical overhaul of our defense structure against the fate of similar calls past.

Chuck Hagel has cemented his legacy as the greatest Secretary of Defense ever.

Rand Paul’s filibuster has made him a darling among conservatives but it may not last.

Rand Paul’s filibuster is one that all American’s should thank him for that.

Congress is banding together on a bipartisan basis to fight the greatest problem facing the country: the precedence of the Distinguished Warfare Medal above the Bronze Star.

The Hagel confirmation, like Obama’s election, was big news to some avid news consumers.