The Difference Between George Washington and Robert E. Lee
The former helped created the United States of America; the latter betrayed it.
David Bosco
Max Boot
Rosa Brooks
Thanassis Cambanis
Elizabeth Dickinson
Laurie Garrett
Kim Ghattas
Julia Ioffe
Leela Jacinto
Whitney Kassel
Jeffrey Lewis
Aaron David Miller
Suzanne Nossel
Thomas E. Ricks
David Rothkopf
Kori Schake
Emile Simpson
James Stavridis
Bruce Stokes
James Traub
Stephen M. Walt
Lauren Wolfe
Michela Wrong
Micah Zenko
Recent Voices
Thoughts on General McMaster and on withdrawing from Afghanistan and Vietnam
As McMaster and the national security staff pursue possible solutions to the president’s “competing impulses” on Afghanistan, reviewing the historical record indeed might help infuse some added wisdom into our current foreign policy there.
I was a U.S. Army officer, but nowadays, America feels like a foreign country to me
In 2010, I deployed to Wardak province, Afghanistan, as a scout platoon leader.
Mid-career thoughts: After a decade or so, of war, you begin to wonder if it’s worth it
The wars go on. I increasingly see a weary cynicism in my Air Force peers, and indeed in myself.
You aren’t wrong: Our military officers actually seem to be getting stoopider
That the military needs intelligent officers is not a particularly controversial statement. Underpinning that argument, however, is the assumption that the military normally recruits, recognizes, and retains its intellectual capital.
Things Don’t End Well for Madmen
The president prizes "unpredictability," but history isn't on his side.
Time to follow Gen. Buckner’s example and pull down that Confederate flag
I know that flag means something to many white Southerners. But it means something very different to many black Americans, and to many others, such as myself.
Mission command is not a software!
Tom posed the important general question of what to do when a subordinate commander fails to execute the commander’s clear intent under mission command orders.
A Navy pilot’s take: The Air Force doesn’t have a pilot crisis, it has a leadership crisis
The United States Air Force is facing a crisis, seemingly a recent one, which will define the service for decades to come.
The Supreme Art of War on the Korean Peninsula: Regime Change Through Targeting the Mind of Kim Jong Un
When I was the chief war planner for the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea, I spent considerable time studying Sun Tzu, including this passage: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
Trump’s Worst Week Ever
Until the next one.
The Problem With Making Hate Speech Illegal
The answer to the violence in Charlottesville isn't to outlaw white supremacy.
What the railroad and Civil War might tell us about our military leadership today
In the years before the Civil War, as we were discussing the other day, the United States was transformed by the railroad and the telegraph.
What might the railroad and Civil War tell us about our networked nation today?
I picked up a book about “Railroads, the Civil War, and the Making of Modern America” because I wondered if there is an analogy to the internet in that.
The Game Is Over, and North Korea Has Won
Donald Trump can whine all he wants, but we're now living in a world where American power is less relevant than ever.
An old salt picks his 4 favorite American admirals — and explains why (IV): Nimitz
All my "greats" were deep into technology and its relation to tactics.
An old salt picks his 4 favorite American admirals—and explains why (III): Fiske
I could talk endlessly about Bradley A. Fiske.
An old salt picks his four favorite American admirals — and explains why (II): Burke
My admirations for Admiral Arleigh Burke are twofold and they were acquired early.
An old salt picks his 4 favorite American admirals—and explains why (Part I)
The four flag officers on my personal list of great American naval leaders have, in addition to the usual attributes, two odd things in common.
Why Gen. Meade was right to stop after Gettysburg and not pursue Gen. Lee
The real issue here is leadership.
Meade’s missed opportunity to end the Civil War after the battle of Gettysburg
I was reading a Civil War history the other day and was struck by the opportunity that General George Meade had — and blew — after Gettysburg to end the war.
Donald Trump Is Dropping Bombs at Unprecedented Levels
The candidate who once warned America about Hillary Clinton's hawkishness is turning into a war machine.
Donald Trump Is Defining Successful Foreign Policy Down
The White House’s North Korea latest sanctions are benefiting from the soft bigotry of low expectations.
The scariest article I have read in some time: Nuclear war is becoming thinkable, especially on the Korean peninsula
Once a war starts, no one knows how or where it will end.
The falsity of ‘owning the battlespace’
For years I have heard commanders in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan talk about “their area of operations” or “owning the battle space.”
Fox News Has Completed Its Transformation Into Trump TV
Who needs state-owned propaganda when the president has friends like these?
Book excerpt: Defense Secretary Mattis discusses his favorite books, and why
General James Mattis has accumulated perhaps one of the largest personal libraries of an active-duty military officer ever known in the modern world.
Quote of the day: Gen. Mattis’ reading list, and why he looks more to the East
Tom note: I’d forgotten about this item, which originally ran on June 8, 2015. I am rerunning it now because it has current interest.
The Canadian military’s chief chaplain explains why he visited a mosque
I wondered what the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service could do as a gesture of solidarity for Muslims who had experienced the death of six of their own.
Brexit’s Dunkirk Fantasyland
If the cultural roots of Brexit are reduced to one sentiment, it is that Britain did not win two world wars to be run by Germany via Brussels.
Stephen Miller Has a Point, You Cosmopolitans
Liberals need to understand that immigration isn't necessarily always good for America.
The Top Five Foreign-Policy Blunders Trump Hasn’t Made Yet
(But still might.)
D.J. Skelton’s wild night of adventures
Tom note: Army Maj. D.J. Skelton is a friend of mine.
‘Dunkirk’: Hey, ‘Hunter,’ it’s actually a compelling war film ahead of its time
“Hunter” states that “Dunkirk “is “anti-war in that is unlike most war films,” while I would argue the reason it is unlike most war films is the very reason it is so effective today.
In future ground war, light infantry will be alone and unsupported on the battlefield
So argue two Marine officers in an interesting article in the March issue of the Marine Corps Gazette.
Things I didn’t know (a continuing series)
The French had four times as many dead (95,000) in the Crimean War as the British did (22,000).
Donald Trump Is Pushing America’s Special Forces Past the Breaking Point
America has never had more counterterrorism raids — and less of a counterterrorism strategy.
Turnabout is fair play: A Marine officer interviews Tom about military leadership
Here is an exchange I had with Lieutenant Colonel Jeannette Haynie, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, who is working on her doctoral dissertation.
Donald Trump Is Already a Lame Duck
The White House is in a tailspin, and even the president's fans are starting to realize it.
Scuttling the Iran Deal will Lead to Another North Korea
Tehran can already make an ICBM anytime it wants, and there's nothing Donald Trump can do about it.
Marines on top: Defense Secretary James Mattis must be feeling good about this lineup
If anybody in the White House wants to mess with Mattis, they’re going to have to go through Kelly.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly discusses C.S. Forester’s ‘The General’
Given the appointment of John Kelly as White House chief of staff on Friday, I thought that people might be interested in reading his account of how a book shaped him as a young officer.
Not so fast, Professor Zelikow!: That transgender policy change is in fact up to both the president and the Congress
If only Congress could determine who serves, then all military regulations on enlistment, retention, and health care would be unconstitutional.
The law says transgender policy is for Congress to decide, not the president
In the flurry of media comment on this, I did not see anyone point out that the issue of whether transgender individuals can serve in the armed forces is within the exclusive constitutional authority of the Congress.
Remembering how we won the last war and why it is a good thing to do so
The U.S. military has been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001.
Top 10 Signs of Creeping Authoritarianism, Revisited
Is the president looking more like a dictator after six months in the White House?
Our untapped resource: Junior enlisted
Here’s one of our biggest military secrets: The greatest untapped resource in the Marine Corps is the E-1 to E-5 community.
10 Ways to Tell if Your President Is a Dictator
Just because the United States is a democracy now, it doesn’t mean it will stay that way.
The Next AIDS Pandemic
Funding cuts to key U.S. programs that support medicine and treatment are coming. And with a booming African population and drug-resistant strains on the rise, the future is grim.
It’s More Than Cigars and Rum: Why Cuba Matters
The Trump administration’s rollback of Obama’s opening to Cuba is a step in the wrong direction.
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