Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks’ daily take on national security.
-
USMR_Locomotive_W._H._Whiton_and_Lincoln_Presidential_Car More on how “railroad generalship” was learned during the Civil War
Following my discussion of parallels between the railroad in the mid-19th century and the internet in our time, one of you sent me an interesting essay titled “Railroad Generalship: Foundations of Civil War Strategy.”
-
stephanie_smith_human_cannonball_-_melbourne_show_2005 Our military is busy, but not always in a good way: reliefs, ousters, and scandals
Navy Rear Adm. Robert Gilbeau made history by being the first admiral ever to be convicted of a federal crime while on active duty.
-
British_Forces_in_the_Middle_East,_1945-1947_E31102 War dog: Shade is valuable in the desert
And matters more to this dog than does the end-of-the-war election.
-
Hawker_Hurricane_R4118_arrives_RIAT_Fairford_10thJuly2014_arp Sept. 15, 1940: Churchill watches as the last of the RAF reserves are committed
If this doesn’t pull you in, please check your pulse.
-
41WzjsBNF9L Book excerpt: Thoughts on our approach to ‘The Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism’
The United States can play an important role in countering the international threat of lone wolf terrorism.
-
Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-127-0362-14,_Belgien,_belgischer_Panzer_T13 The Dunkirk evacuation, and why it was a near-miracle for England and Churchill
This is an excerpt from my new book, Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom.
-
Fury_2014_poster ‘Fury’: The sergeant major responds to the writer/director’s defense of the film
Before I give cites to my comments, I thought I might give a vignette that I experienced in dealing with recollections made far after the fact.
-
30647130686_6790caf151_o The scariest article I have read in some time: Nuclear war is becoming thinkable, especially on the Korean peninsula
The new issue of International Security magazine contains a hair-raising article about nuclear weapons.
-
5706873048_6f99e05d0f_o Franke: Here’s a list of 20 foreign national security women to follow on Twitter
This is a list of 20 recommended non-American (European and Canadian, really) women on Twitter who write about, think about, or work in international security or foreign policy.
-
41ahCRdsiaL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_ May 20, 1937: Orwell is shot in the neck
This is from the chapter of the book that I most enjoyed writing.
-
Fury_2014_poster What I intended to do in Fury: The film’s writer and director responds to CSM Rush
It seems that, because of Fury, I will forever be known by some parties as the filmmaker who failed to do his homework.
-
Fury_2014_poster Fury: A hard close-up view of small unit cohesion, both the good and bad sides
I give high marks to the film’s authenticity, which portrays true cohesion.
-
41ahCRdsiaL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_ D.C. on May 23rd: Come on down
I’ll be speaking twice in D.C. on Tuesday, May 23.
-
Sergeant_Bohumil_Furst_of_No._310_(Czechoslovak)_Squadron_is_greeted_by_the_squadron_mascot_on_returning_to_Duxford_after_a_sortie_in_his_Hawker_Hurricane_Mk_I,_7_September_1940._CH1296 War dogs: Always nice to have a pup to welcome you home from work
Especially after a hard day of shooting down Nazis.
-
special forces berlin Book excerpt: An untold story of Special Forces in the Tehran hostage rescue raid
Today, the lessons learned by Special Forces Berlin serve to guide the renewal of the Unconventional Warfare mission by U.S. Army Special Forces.
