Outside the Beltway

Trump and Iran.

Just days after being named the next Acting Secretary of Defense, the President is appointing Mark Esper to be full Secretary of Defense.

The planes were apparently in the air, and the ships in position, for an American attack on Iran last night. Then the order to pull back came in.

Patrick Shanahan is out as nominee to be Secretary of Defense after questions were raised during his background investigation.

As we head toward a potential crisis in the Persian Gulf, the consequences of the President’s lies are coming home to roost.

Tensions are increasing in the Persian Gulf as the Iran war hawks seem to be winning the battle for the President’s support.

A new report in The New York Times raises both national security and Constitutional concerns.

It’s been three months since the White House held a press briefing. Meanwhile, the President continues his unhinged attacks on the media.

A misleading, annoying media trope that needs to go away.

A Federal Judge has put at least a partial hold on President’s Trump’s effort to use a “national emergency” to fund his border wall.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been indicted on seventeen counts under the Espionage Act arising out of his role in the Chelsea Manning affair.

Not surprisingly, Chelsea Manning is headed back to jail for her refusal to answer questions before a Federal Grand Jury investigating Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

Chelsea Manning, who was being held in jail for refusing to comply with a Grand Jury subpoena, was released yesterday but it’s likely to only be a temporary freedom.

Patrick Shanahan, who has been serving as Acting Defense Secretary since James Mattis left in December, is being selected to replace Mattis in that position.

The Trump Administration is taking an unnecessarily militaristic approach toward Iran, and that poses real dangers for the country and for the Middle East.

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

Lacking any real support from the military or police, the attempted coup against Nicolas Maduro has predictably failed.

The U.S. military will no longer release reports regarding the success, or failure, of the current strategy in Afghanistan.

Matt Bernius and I collaborated on an essay for Defense One.

The Wikileaks founder has been detained by London authorities after 7 years hiding in Ecuador’s embassy.

Add DHS to the list of Departments being run by interims.

The legendary figure was in charge of strategic forecasting at the Pentagon for decades.

The (Acting) Secretary of Defense has issued an unconstitutional order.

The office has been vacant for 81 days. President Trump has yet to nominate a replacement.

An odd bureaucratic reshuffling, seemingly out of the blue.

Once again, President Trump gets taken for a sucker by the North Koreans.

Reason’s Nick Gillespie makes an interesting case but I don’t buy it.

After two years of spitting in their faces, President Trump is finding it hard to get America’s European allies to come to his aid.

Rather than pulling completely out of Syria the United States will be leaving behind a token force of about 200 troops. This is a mistake.

Now that women are allowed into all combat roles, the rationale for excluding them from Selective Service has evaporated.

The House of Representatives has begin the process of challenging the President’s recent declaration of a ‘national emergency’ at the southern border.

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

The lawsuits against President Trump’s “national emergency” have begun. Except more.

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.

In a rare display of assertiveness in the foreign policy arena, the House voted yesterday to bar U.S. assistance in Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war on Yemen.

When it comes to the shutdown and border wall showdown that started back in December, Donald Trump is the biggest loser.

If all goes well, the bill to avert another shutdown should become law today.

It’s reasonable and just to adjust our outrage based on the context of the time when incidents occurred.

The President’s second State of the Union began and ended with calls for unity. In between, it was filled with the divisive partisanship that has marked his Presidency.

The American withdrawal from the I.N.F. Treaty gives Vladimir Putin exactly what he wants.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned the President against using a national emergency to fund his border wall.

In what amounts to a setback, the Supreme Court has lifted an injunction barring the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender service in the military to go forward pending further legal proceedings.

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.

Former Senator and Denocratic Presidential candidate Jim Webb is reportedly being considered for Defense Secretary.

In his annual message, Kim Jong Un sent a message to President Trump on denuclearization and the future of the Korean Peninsula.

President Trump announced today that James Mattis would be out as Secretary of Defense by the end of the year.

The Pentagon is being ordered to draw up plans to withdraw roughly one-half of the American forces remaining in Afghanistan. It’s about time.

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

The Trump Administration is reportedly preparing to withdraw the small contingent of American troops from Syria. If it actually happens, this would be a good move.

In a small, but meaningful, step, the Senate has rebuked the Administration’s policies toward the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.