Outside the Beltway

Continuing a long-standard tradition, the Trump Administration claims it doesn’t need to get legal authorization to keep American troops in Syria.

A few key observations on the bigger picture.

A bipartisan group of Senators has proposed a largely reasonable fix to the DACA problem, but its fate remains unclear.

Congress seems no closer to a DACA deal than they were in January.

With the Administration set to commit the United States to a forever war in Syria, it’s time for Congress to act.

The Dallas shooting spree ended with police killing the perpetrator with a drone. I’m okay with that.

Donald Trump has insinuated that President Obama is not fighting the War On Terror aggressively because he somehow identifies with terrorists.

The U.S. is poised to send troops to the front lines of yet another war we have no reason to be involved in.

It’s been suggested that subjecting women to a possible draft would make leaders less likely to go to war. Unfortunately, there’s no reason to believe this is true.

The U.S. and Russia have reached a much-needed deal to avoid inadvertent confrontations over the skies of Syria.

The plan to withdraw nearly all American forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 is being put on hold.

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.

President Obama’s confrontational approach to opponents of the Iran Nuclear Deal ignores legitimate questions.

Lindsey Graham says that, if elected president, he would summarily kill anyone thinking about joining ISIS.

Marco Rubio is often described as one of the GOP’s leaders on foreign policy, but a close look reveals a decided lack of substance.

Most in the international relations community are not amused by the president’s National Security Strategy.

For a year that started out with regaining long-lost territory in Ukraine, 2014 is not ending so well for Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

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

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

The CIA has always separated its core spying and analysis functions; that may soon change.

The Burning Man Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

The war against ISIS continues to silently escalate, with little input from the people’s representatives in Congress.

President Obama has opened a new front in his “war” against ISIS

Dan Froomkin says Obama is as bad as Bush, if not worse.

Things are getting serious in eastern Ukraine.

The evidence is clear. When it comes to the ability to handle foreign crises, the President has lost the public’s confidence.

The Iraqi government seems to be panicking.

The latest chapter in an all too familiar story.

The search for more than 200 missing Nigerian schoolgirls is not going well, and part of the blame lies with the Nigerian government.

Hubris.

Not every tragedy can be resolved with a military response.

President Obama’s new rules for killing Americans with drones are proving inconvenient.

The US military needs to cull and standardize its bloated award system.

Apple’s “1984” Super Bowl commercial ran only once, but it remains in a class by itself.

The Iraqis need to learn to govern themselves, and conservatives blaming President Obama for renewed violence need a history lesson.

Jeff Bezos’s latest idea may never get off the ground, but it sure is interesting.

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

The president’s public dithering on Syria is drawing jeers from friend and foe alike.

A headline I never thought I’d see: “Yemen Asks U.S. For Drones To Fight Al Qaeda”

The Air Force can’t find enough people to volunteer to fly remote controlled planes.