Pentagon
56 Articles
The U.S. Military Is Increasingly Politicized. Active-Duty Personnel Need to Prepare.
When Americans watch news coverage of any contemporary event, no one’s surprised to see it turn political. We live in a time when we can expect almost any topic – whether it’s…
Acting or Not, the Play’s The Thing
Focusing on the number of acting officials may detract from an assessment of the real failures of the Trump administration’s policy process and oversight gaps.
What Questions Is the Pentagon Avoiding?
No on-camera briefings at the Pentagon mean officials are getting away with not answering questions about policy decisions and ongoing combat operations.
The Pentagon’s Latest Report on Civilian Casualties Policy
Late on Friday night, the Pentagon submitted to Congress and publicly released a 17-page report required under the 2019 John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)…
The Pentagon Put Someone in Charge of Its Civilian Casualty Policy. Now What?
For all the time and attention that the Defense Department has rightly spent addressing civilian casualties, no single official at the Pentagon has ever been formally charged with…
Update: The Military, the Mexican Border and Posse Comitatus
Unlike the earlier deployment of National Guard personnel, the use of federal forces raises new issues concerning what they are permitted to do.
The National Security Threat of Trump’s Defense Budget
As a former military officer and national security appointee under President Barack Obama, I know firsthand the value of U.S. defense spending for securing the United States and…
What the Law of Military Obedience Can (and Can’t) Do–What Happens if a President’s Orders are Unlawful?
A proposal to bring back waterboarding and a “hell of a lot worse.” The possible suggestion that members of the military should intentionally target terrorists’ civilian…
So Far, Trump’s Border Guard Deployment Expected to Cost $180 Million
Because it was unsuccessful securing the amount of funding it wanted to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, the Trump administration is moving ahead with its plan to deploy…
Google Employees’ Ire Over DoD’s AI Work Shows Need to Bridge Tech and Security
Years ago, at a conference of national security types, I asked a pointed question of two former senior intelligence officials about encryption, and whether it was good for the…
Exclusive: Mattis Drafting Specific Options for Using Defense Dollars to Pay for Trump’s Wall
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis feels that, at the very least, he owes Trump options for how the military could build the border wall, but all of them are fraught with political and…
Two Notable Omissions in the Mattis National Defense Strategy
The Pentagon has a new National Defense Strategy (NDS), its first in 10 years, and, on Friday, released an 11-page summary of it. Signed by Defense Secretary James Mattis, the…