Outside the Beltway

Every now and again, it’s not Mitch McConnell’s fault.

Trump’s last Secretary of Defense is being stymied by preclearance review.

A scary if misleading factoid.

The next boot has dropped.

The politicization of the virus continues.

Is media coverage of experts’ struggles to understand COVID helpful?

While 96 percent of airmen are in compliance, the service is about to get smaller.

Their case is less than persuasive.

A follow-up to yesterday’s analysis.

The President has lost his patience with the unvaccinated.

What we know of the American servicemembers killed.

Grandstanding in the midst of chaos is a bad look.

They’ve got a lot of gall blaming Biden for this mess.

A humanitarian crisis made worse by shameful delays.

It appears to be only a matter of time before the SECDEF orders active-duty troops to get the shots.

The President hit all the right notes.

It’s time for our political leaders to grow a spine.

The country’s largest employer is soon going to be less tolerant of the unvaccinated.

The rate at which Americans are getting COVID shots is slowing rapidly.

The downside of the “good guy with a gun” trope.

The politics of science comes full circle.

A serving officer was arrested for his part in events of 6 January

New polling provides useful insights into the problem.

It’s harder than a looks, especially given the limited size of the problem.

New screening procedures follow a Department-wide stand-down.

The politics and the science are in conflict.

Key posts across the government remain unfilled.

A third of Americans are unsure they want the life-saving COVID shots.

The GOP will almost certainly survive. But in what form?

A large, well-trained police force was unprepared for a foreseeable crisis.

On the op/ed page of WaPo, the 10 living former U.S. secretaries of defense say things that shouldn’t have to be said.

In hindsight, there were more than a few clues.

Space Force took a year to decide what to call their uniformed members.

My latest for Defense One.

Women in national security circles love this woman.

The purge of non-loyalists continues.

The venerable military newspaper lives to print another day.

My latest for Defense One.

Yet more flouting of the rule of law by the Trump administration.

It’s much easier to fund bad information than good.

The Supreme Court isn’t taking much of a break this year.

The reporting demonstrates the uncomfortable truth.

Pentagon officials are speaking out about the militarization of police.

The emotional and economic impact of the pandemic is hitting women especially hard.

The Commonwealth is the first state in the nation to issue regulations.

Presidents have appointed loyalists since time immemorial. Has this one gone too far?

The founder of Small Wars Journal passed Saturday.

No. Just no.

Who can keep count?