Who Decides Who Is a ‘Domestic Enemy’?

Defense One August 13, 2020 Retired soldiers John Nagl and Paul Yingling, who came to national prominence on opposite sides of the counterinsurgency debates, joined forces to argue that, if Donald Trump were to lose the election and yet refuse to leave office at noon next January 20, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs must give the order to…

This is Not a Civil-Military Crisis

Defense One June 5, 2020 Mara Karlin, a former senior defense official and national security scholar, rightly laments that retired general officers are having an outsized role in our national political debate. But she’s off the mark when she exclaims, “If this isn’t a civil-military relations crisis, I don’t know what is.” Rather, the crisis…

Why Is H.R. McMaster Pleading For More War?

The National Interest May 12, 2019 Retired Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster contends that support for the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan, which is now in its eighteenth year, is being undermined by a “defeatist narrative that’s inaccurate, and doesn’t reflect what’s at stake.” Instead, Americans should see the fight as an “insurance policy” against the…

The Pentagon Is Flubbing Its Pitch to Silicon Valley

James Joyner and Matthew Bernius Defense One  May 1, 2019 Gen. Joseph Dunford says American tech companies that do business with China hamper “U.S. ability to maintain a competitive military advantage and all that goes with it.” Such companies, the Joint Chiefs chairman added, “are automatically going to be required to have a cell of the Communist Party in…

Social Media Attacks on Trump Could Put America’s Security at Risk

The National Interest August 24, 2018 Retired Adm. Bill McRaven, who became a household name after special operators under his command killed Osama bin Laden, is once again in the spotlight. In a terse August 16 op-ed for the Washington Post, he castigated President Donald Trump for revoking the security clearance of former CIA Director…

‘Bloody Nose’ Strike Illegal but Unstoppable

RealClearDefense February 9, 2018 Eighteen Democratic Senators have reportedly signed a letter to President Trump informing him they are “deeply concerned about the potential consequences of a preemptive military strike on North Korea and the risks of miscalculation and retaliation.” Further, they assert, “without congressional authority, a preventative or preemptive U.S. military strike would lack either a…

The New National Defense Strategy: Everything is a Priority

The National Interest February 2, 2018 Lost to all but the most committed security wonks in the midst of the government shutdown debacle was the unveiling by Secretary Jim Mattis of a new National Defense Strategy. At first blush, it’s a bold declaration of the Trump administration’s priorities. In reality, there’s little new here—least of all…

Who Suffers the Most from Government Shutdowns?

The National Interest January 23, 2018 he federal government shutdown of 2018—or, at least, the first one—ended with only one workday missed. To the extent ordinary citizens noticed at all, they likely think it was no big deal. This is especially true with regards to the impact on the U.S. military, who they’ve been steadily…

How Trump’s National Security Strategy Breaks with the Past

The National Interest December 19, 2017 President Trump unveiled a new National Security Strategy on Monday. Previews of the document, based on leaked drafts and backchannel interviews, had given the impression that it would be a bland continuity of previous administrations’ strategies, with a few sops to Trumpism thrown in to satisfy the boss. A careful reading, however, shows…

Paying Any Price: Starting the Next Chapter of Military Compensation

War on the Rocks November 18, 2013 Over the last dozen years, America’s volunteer warriors have shouldered the burden of multiple deployments to two combat zones, risking death and permanent injury while enduring long separation from their loved ones. As we shift into a peacetime mindset and cope with budget austerity, we’re looking at ways…