Outside the Beltway

Vice-President Cheney’s amoral defense of torture has come to define how most conservatives view the issue, and that’s a problem.

As expected, the Senate passed the so-called “Cromnibus,” but not before a self-aggrandizing maneuver by Ted Cruz ended up being exploited by Democrats to pass outstanding nominations.

Today is a day for turkey and football, not a day for politics.

The abrupt departure of Chuck Hagel says much more about Administration policy than it does about Chuck Hagel.

A surprising change at the top of the military’s civilian chain of command.

Our supposed Syrian allies seem to have a different idea of who the enemy in Syria actually is.

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 idea that the U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists is simply not historically accurate, so should we be reconsidering the policy of not negotiating with ISIS for the release of Western hostages?

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

Some of his party’s leaders want the president to save them.

Another round of election losses is leading Democrats to contemplate the direction they should take going forward.

The latest ISIS video is horrible and barbaric but we should not take the bait they are offering before considering the consequences of our actions going forward.

As things stand right now, there is no legitimate legal authorization for the President’s war against ISIS, and that’s largely because Congress has failed to act.

Outdated rules? It sure seems like it.

Some people didn’t like the song selection at last night’s Washington, D.C. concert for Veterans Day.

Mission creep.

The GOP added to its majority in the House, giving it the biggest majority it has had since Truman was President.

2014 was not supposed to be a wave election, but it clearly qualifies as one.

The Navy Special Warfare community is angry at SEALs exploiting their part in the bin Laden raid.

Quietly, oil prices have been falling for months now. That’s potentially a very big deal.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle like to tell people they’re just “average Americans,” but they’re lying and the American people seem to have figured out that they’re lying.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul continues to challenge Republican orthodoxy on foreign policy, and that’s a good thing.

We’ve handed off operations in Helmand Province to the Afghanistan army.

It’s been three months, but there’s been no action on the lawsuit that the House of Representatives said it was filing against President Obama.

Yesterday’s apparent terrorist shooting in Ottawa reveals again a phenomenon that seems difficult if not impossible to stop in advance.

Who should own antiquity?

Poor Joe Biden can’t stay out of the news. This time, it’s not one of his gaffes but one by his youngest son.

A new report from the New York Times confirms the adage that, in war, the first casualty is the truth.

The Turks have entered the conflict in Syria. Unfortunately for the United States, it’s not on the side we would prefer.

The U.S. Air Campaign Against ISIS Is Much Bigger Than You Think

So far at least, the air strikes against Islamic State positions in Syria do not seem to be having much of an impact.

Remember the border crisis? Yea, it’s not much of a crisis these days.

ISIS at the Gates Edition.

A massacre is about to unfold “a stone’s throw” from Turkey’s border.

Germany’s new defense minister has promised a more robust role but lacks the ability to back her words with action.

Corporal Jordan Spears died in a V-22 accident in operations against the Islamic State.

It has nothing to do with winning, but it does have a lot to do with the foreign policy debate inside the Republican Party.

U.S. troops will be in Afghanistan for at least the next three years.

Apparently, the buck doesn’t stop in the Oval Office these days.

The American public’s support for the President’s war against ISIS has its limits.

The Khorasan Group is, functionally, al Qaeda. Or is it?

The Administration’s policy in the President’s war against ISIS has no coherent plan, and that virtually guarantees escalation.