Outside the Beltway

Frank Carlucci, who served as President Reagan’s last Secretary of Defense, has died at 87.

Three Executive Orders signed ahead of the Memorial Day holiday has government employees scrambling.

Seemingly out of the blue, the June 12th summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been canceled by the United States.

Not surprisingly, the North Koreans are pushing back against American efforts to force them into a corner on denuclearization.

President Trump’s decision to violate the terms of the nuclear deal with Iran could be a turning point in relations between the United States and its most important allies, and not in a good way.

Mike Pence’s obsequiousness to his master knows no limits.

Some good news from North Korea.

As expected, President Trump has withdrawn the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran. There was no rational basis for doing so.

The new Secretary of State is an improvement over the worst Secretary of State in history.

Ronny Jackson did not invent the practice of giving Ambien and Provigil to high-level government workers.

Not surprisingly, Mike Pompeo was confirmed as America’s 70th Secretary of State today. Now, the hard work begins.

Michael Cohen will invoke his rights under the Fifth Amendment in response to any questions asked in discovery in the civil suit filed against him by Stormy Daniels. That’s really the only option he has.

For better or worse, Mike Pompeo will be confirmed as the 70th Secretary of State by the end of this week.

French President Emmanuel Macron is in the U.S. hoping to lobby President Trump to keep the United States in the nuclear deal with Iran. He’s got his work cut out for him.

Despite facing headwinds in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mike Pompeo will probably be confirmed as the next Secretary of State. That’s unfortunate.

Cuba has a new President and he isn’t named Castro, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to see significant change in the near future.

Top positions in the State Department are vacant, and there’s only one person to blame for that.

Even the United Nations has given up trying to maintain an accurate estimate.

A decryption device called GrayKey is being used by all manner of government agencies.

Once again, President Trump’s foreign policy tweeting is causing problems.

Just about a year after President Trump attacked Syria over the use of chemical weapons, the Assad regime has again used chemical weapons. There’s not much we can do about, nor should we.

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.

Their website has been scrubbed! Tillerson has all but vanished! The sky is falling!

Under the proposal certain visa-seekers (such as China and India) would have to have their social media presence scrutinized.

Within hours after being fired as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, David Shulkin was fighting back.

From Europe to the Middle East, to Asia, America’s allies are concerned about what the selection of John Bolton as National Security Adviser means going forward. They should be, and so should every American.

Top White House staffers were preparing to fire several troublesome figures at once when the President suddenly upended the plan.

Turkish security personnel who assaulted peaceful protestors in America’s capital will go free.

One of the supposed “adults” in the Trump administration has no class.

The Trump presidency is the latest step in treating commentators like policy experts. It is all a manifestation of how the modern GOP is a populist party.

The selection of Mike Pompeo as the next Secretary of State makes it more likely that President Trump will take the foolish and dangerous step of withdrawing the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran.

The nominations of Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel could be in trouble in the Senate.

By all accounts, Gina Haspel is exceedingly well qualified to be the next C.I.A. Director, but she has a troubling past that the Senate will need to at least force her to answer questions about.

While the nature of Rex Tillerson’s firing as Secretary of State was shocking in its abruptness, taken in context with the rocky nature of his tenure it was hardly surprising.

Rex Tillerson was an awful Secretary of State who simply had to go, It’s quite possible his successor will be an even greater disaster.

Next up: Pompeo

Absent changes in policy, the nation’s most hallowed military cemetery will run out of space in two decades.

It is a fair question. But judging the Trump administration on tax cuts, Gorsuch, and the DJIA is to ignore a lot of profound problems.

The President tried bringing something akin to a traditional policy process to the White House. Now he’s rebelling against it.

While Team Trump has gone out of its way to waylay the Russia investigation, this may not be is part of that effort.

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

President Trump continues to deny the reality of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, and he’s failing to act to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

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

National Security Adviser H.L. McMaster is the latest person rumored to be considering moving on from the Trump Administration.

Expecting North Korea to agree to diplomatic talks that are aimed at getting rid of their nuclear weapons is asking for the impossible, and ensuring there will be no progress on the diplomatic front for the foreseeable future.

The White House’s immigration plan is facing opposition in both chambers of Congress from moderate and conservative Republicans alike.

Once again, President Trump is going soft on Russia. Why? I’ll leave that up to the reader to decide.

While everyone is paying attention to the government shutdown, the Trump Administration is preparing for a never-ending, unwise, and unauthorized military commitment in Syria.

Knowing what you don’t know is important.