Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Mac Owens goes spelunking through ‘US Civil-Military Relations After 9/11’

Mackubin Owens‘s new book, US Civil-Military Relations After 9/11, landed in my mailbox recently. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet because I am deep into Vietnam War research and have about another 30 books to go before disappearing into the archives again later this month. But the Owens volume looks terrific. (Mac, ...

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images.

Mackubin Owens's new book, US Civil-Military Relations After 9/11, landed in my mailbox recently. I haven't had a chance to read it yet because I am deep into Vietnam War research and have about another 30 books to go before disappearing into the archives again later this month. But the Owens volume looks terrific. (Mac, by the way, is a Silver Star recipient who led a Marine infantry platoon in Vietnam and now leads classes at the Naval War College.) Anyone interested in this subject is going to have to get a copy.

Mackubin Owens‘s new book, US Civil-Military Relations After 9/11, landed in my mailbox recently. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet because I am deep into Vietnam War research and have about another 30 books to go before disappearing into the archives again later this month. But the Owens volume looks terrific. (Mac, by the way, is a Silver Star recipient who led a Marine infantry platoon in Vietnam and now leads classes at the Naval War College.) Anyone interested in this subject is going to have to get a copy.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.
An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.

A New Multilateralism

How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.

A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.
A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.

America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want

Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seen in a suit and tie and in profile, walks outside the venue at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Behind him is a sculptural tree in a larger planter that appears to be leaning away from him.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seen in a suit and tie and in profile, walks outside the venue at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Behind him is a sculptural tree in a larger planter that appears to be leaning away from him.

The Endless Frustration of Chinese Diplomacy

Beijing’s representatives are always scared they could be the next to vanish.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on June 22, 2022.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on June 22, 2022.

The End of America’s Middle East

The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.