Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks’ daily take on national security.
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Ulysses S. Grant. (Wikimedia Commons) War and Reconstruction: Ron Chernow’s marvelous new biography of U.S. Grant
In the years following the Civil War, the American south descended into chaos.
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Malcolm X and Bayard Rustin. (Wikimedia Commons) Malcolm X, Bayard Rustin and MLK Jr. Hailed in the ‘Marine Corps Gazette’
Civil rights, and some news about Best Defense
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Lt. Gen. John H. Cushman in the classroom. (U.S. Army) An Appreciation of Recently Departed Lieutenant General John H. Cushman
Gen. “Jack” Cushman, former commandant of the U.S. army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) from 1973-1976, died earlier this month at 96.
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Brian Jones, of Orange High School ROTC, holds an American flag on color guard duty during a Veterans Day observance Nov. 11, 2002 in Orange, California. (David McNew/Getty Images) We Were Students Once … and Young: A Tribute to a Military-Heavy Public School
DoD families have much to offer American public schools.
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Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and former Air Force Chief of Staff Merrill McPeak. (Wikimedia Commons) Quote of the Day: McPeak and Prine on Robert Gates, and on the Defense Media
An interview from the San Diego Union-Tribune
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The East India Company's iron steamship, Nemesis, destroying Chinese war junks at the Second Battle of Chuenpi on Jan. 7, 1841. (Wikimedia Commons) Fifty to One: Why China Is Weaker Than it Looks Militarily in Maritime East Asia
Defense is dominant in maritime East Asia.
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U.S. navy aircraft on the deck of the USS Enterprise on the first day of the Battle of Midway. The Quantum Gap with China
China has ramped up its investment in developing quantum technologies, but few understand the impacts of losing this modern-day space race.
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Crew members aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier. Three Carriers Carrying on SE of North Korea
3 carriers with a message for North Korea
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The author, pictured near the Golden Gate Bridge. (D.J. Skelton) D.J.’s open letter to the VA
Sporting a fresh hole in his stomach, a veteran is informed the VA will not pay for his feeding tube liquid.
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The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Wikimedia Commons) Babylon Revisited: Melancholy Thoughts After a Short Trip to Washington, D.C.
As a young reporter in political Washington in the late 1980s, I noticed that there was a type of person who thrived in the driven, transactional environment of the capital.
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Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969) drinks a cup of coffee at Allied Headquarters in Paris, in a scene from the World War II documentary 'The True Glory', directed by Garson Kanin and Carol Reed, circa 1945. (FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images) Coffee: The Military Essential That Fuels Combat, Camaraderie and Communion
Coffee as the conduit for memories of a military career
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The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster, 15 May 1648. (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam via Wikimedia Commons) Edgar on Strategy (Part X): Build your approach on the understanding that the global state system is here to stay
While some arguments for the decline of the state are insightful and important, none of them have stuck.
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U.S. Navy SEALs train on the flight deck of USS Enterprise. (Lance H. Mayhew Jr./US Navy/Getty Images) What’s Going on With the Alleged Murder of a Special Forces Soldier by Two SEALS?
Is it that secret units that live on the edge always have such trouble on occasion?
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Bust of Athena at the Glyptothek museum in Munich, Germany. (Wikimedia Commons) Reading rainbow: And yes, a list of security related books by women
A list on books about war and strategy
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Gold coins from the Roman town of Pompeii on display in Chicago, Illinois on Oct. 18, 2005. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) Two Unexpected Ways in Which Mercenaries Affected Ancient Battles
This hadn’t occurred to me until I was reading a volume of ancient military history.
