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

Tom’s Guest War Dogs of the Week: Two Marines, the new and the old

This photograph reminds me of the book I wrote many years ago about Parris Island, Making the Corps.

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
U.S. Marine Corps
U.S. Marine Corps
U.S. Marine Corps

This photograph reminds me of the book I wrote many years ago about Parris Island, Making the Corps.

This photograph reminds me of the book I wrote many years ago about Parris Island, Making the Corps.

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

Read More On Military | National Security Agency | War

Latest

The Original Authoritarian

Russia’s Military Cruelty Begins With Its Own Conscripts

Is There Such Thing as a Global South?

What Milei’s Dollarization Plan Would Mean for Argentina’s Economy

Javier Milei Is the World’s Latest Wannabe Fascist
See All Stories

Editors’ Picks

  1. 1
    The Best Books for Understanding the Israel-Hamas War
  2. 2
    How Will This War End? How Can the Next One be Prevented?
  3. 3
    Is There Such Thing as a Global South?
  4. 4
    Russia’s Military Cruelty Begins With Its Own Conscripts
  5. 5
    America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose
  6. 6
    It’s Time to Reconsider Turkey’s NATO Membership

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.

Trending

  1. Russia’s Military Cruelty Begins With Its Own Conscripts
    Argument
    Kristaps Andrejsons

  2. It’s Time to Reconsider Turkey’s NATO Membership
    Argument
    Sinan Ciddi

  3. Is There Such Thing as a Global South?
    Analysis
    C. Raja Mohan

  4. The Shortest Path to Victory in Ukraine Goes Through Crimea
    Argument
    Luke Coffey, Peter Rough

  5. America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose
    Shadow Government
    A. Wess Mitchell