Outside the Beltway

The founder of Small Wars Journal passed Saturday.

Most federal workers are still packing themselves into offices.

The greatest crisis the nation has faced in my lifetime.

Donald Trump is once again trying to deflect reality.

Tweets aren’t policy, unless they are.

Nobody even agrees on what baselines to use.

A legendary newsman has passed.

The newest branch of the US Armed Forces has made a long-overdue policy change that others should copy.

John Kelly, President Trump’s former Chief of Staff, is speaking out nearly a year after leaving office

Adm. William Moran had been set to become Chief of Naval Operations in three weeks.

The Democratic-controlled House has settled on the worst possible option.

While the scope of Federal power has expanded beyond the ken of the Framers, this is not an example.

The last of the World War II code talkers from the Mohawk tribe has passed away at the age of 94

President Trump is reportedly planning to pardon several American servicemen convicted of war crimes, an action that would be an insult to everyone who has ever worn an American uniform.

The way the Navy and Congress have handled this has been abysmal.

Northern Virginia is slowly undoing an anachronism.

The raw number of vessels is not the best metric of naval power.

A months-long standoff is stopping hurricane relief.

Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts is the latest Democrat to enter an already crowded field.

Maybe there was a better way to get his point across?

There are even higher obligations than taking care of Marines.

Despite some obstacles, America’s armed forces drink other professions under the table.

President Trump will get his Space force, but it won’t exactly be what he wanted when he first proposed that idea.

A Coast Guard officer and aspiring domestic terrorist was arrested late yesterday for plotting to kill Democratic politicians and members of the media.

Walter Jones, a former supporter of the Iraq War who became one of the most prominent anti-war voices in Congress, has passed away at the age of 76. He will be missed.

President Trump’s impending decision to declare a national emergency to get funding for his border wall will quickly face serious legal challenges. It may be more vulnerable than the White House suspects.

President Trump is claiming that he could use authority to declare a “national emergency” to build his wall even if Congress doesn’t authorize it.

In what clearly appears to be a rebuke of the President, Defense Secretary James Mattis is retiring as Secretary of Defense.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has announced that the deployment of U.S. troops to the Mexican border will be extended through the end of this year.

Another part of the country that was once a Republican stronghold is now almost completely blue.

Losing the midterms is not going over well with the President.

A slight variant of the uniform from World War II and Korea is coming to a soldier near you.

Claiming it was because of the weather President Trump chose to skip a visit to a cemetery at the site of one of the bloodiest battles involving Americans in World War One.

My latest for War on the Rocks.

President Trump wants to send more troops than we have in Syria and Iraq combined to the border to deal with a non-existent threat.

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is running for a third term under a dark ethical cloud. That probably won’t matter.

The situation isn’t as awful as portrayed by the AP—but it’s still pretty bad.

What was once a rare symbol of national mourning has become so commonplace as to be meaningless.

Seemingly out of nowhere yesterday, the Commander-in-Chief ordered the Pentagon to create a fifth service.

Two months ago, the President called on states to send National Guard troops to the border. As expected, they’re not guarding the border.

More signs of tension between President Trump and his Chief of Staff.

An oak sapling brought to the United States by French President Macron went missing over the weekend. The reason for its disappearance has been answered.

President Trump may be looking to push Chief of Staff John Kelly aside by giving him a next to impossible job.

After eight months in office, the pressures on Chief of Staff John Kelly continue to mount under a President who cannot be controlled and whose behavior will not change.

President Trump wants to send the military to the Mexican border. This is both unnecessary and a bad idea.

This isn’t your ordinary windy day.

We form stereotypes about generational cohorts when they’re very young and then freeze them.

Staffers are fleeing the administration like rats from a sinking ship.

Big problems for the Air Force.

The White House believes that it is ‘inappropriate’ to question Generals. This argument is not only wrong, it’s downright dangerous.