Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks’ daily take on national security.
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Harold_Brown_photo_portrait_standing Why did Robert Gates name Harold Brown as his favorite defense secretary? And what can we learn from that?
On January 23, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in an interview with Fox News, named Mel Laird and Harold Brown, as his two favorite defense secretaries.
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5499266988_d387527b20_o Thinking back to our post-9/11 pizza
As a combat-zone veteran wife and mother of a teenage son I think about national security from my own home base.
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operation_castle_-_romeo_001 Best Defense contest: Trump crisis predictions that haven’t happened yet
For those keeping score in our contest to pick President Trump’s first foreign policy crisis, these are the ones that haven’t happened yet.
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51+qZdxMLlL._SX320_BO1,204,203,200_ Best Defense book excerpt — Ford’s ‘Weapon of Choice: Small Arms and the Culture of Military Innovation’
Weapon of Choice maps military innovation from the battlefield to the bureaucrat, from soldier to scientist.
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Women_at_the_Siege_of_the_Alcázar_in_Toledo_-_Google_Art_Project Will we have a 2nd Civil War? You tell me.
What are the chances of another civil war breaking out in this country in the next 10 to 15 years?
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Anniversary Of D-Day Landings Well done, Canada
The chief chaplain of the Canadian military appointed an advisor on indigenous religions.
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19381011_nyt_frontpage_kristallnacht A lieutenant responds to the colonel about whether she would have balked at Hitler
Army officers swear an oath to the Constitution of the United States. Unlike non-commissioned officers (who swear an oath to the President) officers are directly beholden to the Constitution. This document is our supreme authority figure.
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3960822393_f5bb1b36b2_b Diaries of Trump’s Russian handler (I)
Over the weekend, Best Defense discovered a document in a pumpkin patch on a farm near the nation’s capitol. It purports to be the handwritten diary of a Russian travel agency operator in Washington D.C. Some of the more indiscreet excerpts are being published here in the public interest.
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the_thinker_on_the_butte_de_warlencourt OK, just what does a military professional profess? (Best Defense contest round III)
I fear that some of our contest entries use “professional” when they mean “expert” or “team member” or just “a person of good character.”
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800px-pyle_pirate_plank_edited Reliefs, firings, suspensions and such
A government sniper had a negligent discharge during a speech by the French president.
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war_dog_handler_peleliu_1944_8009922211 A dog delivers a message
With the old breed on Peleliu.
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Zentralbild / Quick 16.7.1964 Zum 20. Jahrestag des 20. Juli 1944. Der Gestapo-Spitzel Lübke und der Goebbels-Journalist Lemmer, der im "Pester-Lloyd" die Hinrichtung Stauffenbergs und seiner Gruppe begrüßte, wollen jetzt die Opfer des 20. Juli 1944 "würdigen" und als Vorbilder für ihre Revanche-Politik benutzen. 37jährig, als Oberst und Stabschef des Ersatzheeres wurde Stauffenberg hingerichtet, weil er mit seiner Gruppe einen Ausweg aus der tiefen Krise suchte, die das faschistische Regime seit den katastrophalen Niederlagen der Hitler-Wehrmacht an der deutsch-sowjetischen Front erfaßt hatte. Unser Bild zeigt Stauffenberg beim 17. Reiterregiment in Bamberg. A retired Army officer finds new sympathy for the German officers of the 1930s
Rather than commanding the military, Trump is militarizing his administration, and the echoes of 1933-39 are disturbing.
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head_of_the_statue_of_liberty_on_display_in_a_park_in_paris How immigrants can help us better understand American identity
As Americans we link our national story to the Founding Fathers, the founding documents, and a brave history of rebellion against foreign rule. We look back to our national history to identify who we are now.
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President Barack Obama meets with Warren Buffett, the Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, in the Oval Office, July 18, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House. Buffett on what made America great — persuasive, but with one big omission
Buffett summarizes my investment approach better than I can.
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reading_rainbow2ndlogo Reading rainbow: Take a look inside a book, you might learn something dammit
Different sort of list: Non-Western books you should have read.
