This is the logical endpoint of the Pentagon‘s current “lethality“ fixation - destroying things is the point.
It also reflects its civilian leaders’ disregard, if not open contempt, for strategic thinking and the skills & intellectual preparation that support it.
incredible
OPINION: I asked a former Trump official to justify this war
So the case for Congress is, once we have gone to war, if they don’t like it, they can remove the money? Congress does not have a constitutional role in the declaration of war. Congress has a role in cutting off funds for wars, which it has threatened to do. And the president doesn’t have to get permission. But yes, you can debate, you can decide. That’s his choice in how he wants to do it. I mean, here I will quote the Constitution: “The Congress shall have power to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water.”
Behold the intellectual might of the conservative legal movement
CENTCOM seeing a meaningless number you can put in a PowerPoint
If you’re old enough to be a GOFO today odds are your formative field grade experience was peak GWOT “the best way to measure COIN progress is # raids conducted, killed/captured”
“do or do not” is actually a pretty garbage yoda quote
“wars not make one great” on the other hand
I know that the people who need to read this aren’t here, but here goes:
Rules of engagement aren’t for the enemy. They’re for you. They’re for your soldiers when they’re captured or wounded. They’re for your civilians when they’re in range of the enemy. They’re for your allies, to reassure.
I know it's shouting into the wind, but fwiw in Newport we do teach, at length, Clausewitz, logistics, combined arms maneuver (esp. if one includes fleet operations as part of that), and great-power competition. But I've learned posting syllabi to these guys is pointless
starrs.us/its-time-to-...
I scream this internally anytime someone says “department of war”
Doing lots of deep breathing as all my coworkers who were previously experts on Venezuela are now all experts on Iran.
US Army majors have some of the most confidently uninformed opinions in the world
Hell of a chart, this, from @financialtimes.com. Spot the JCPOA.
on.ft.com/4kSuQYO
this is also true for 90% of the military's understanding of military affairs tbh
A missing category perhaps “my vote choice and my attitude on curtailing militarized foreign interventions are creating an unresolvable cognitive dissonance and I don’t see that as an option on this survey”
In 2026 the gray bar is
A) I haven’t received a partisan cue on this yet
B) A + I have no idea what you’re talking about
C) A + B + and I really don’t care to learn because it will be out of the news by next week
Quick reactions after learning that no, nobody could stop him. 1/ goodauthority.org/news/trump-m... 1/
On attacking Iran:
My guess is that the US and ISR top aims are pure decapitation. ISR may have a plan for What Comes Next, but I doubt the US does.
Unfortunately today’s column seems like it’ll remain timely. open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...
At all three places where I taught, veterans and military students are admired for their service, their ability to get their academic work done quickly and extremely well, and for often balancing family and school.
Not *once* have I ever heard a faculty member disparage a military student.
Secretary Hegseth announced this afternoon that DOD will cease ALL graduate study by military personnel at universities including MIT, all the Ivies, Stanford, etc because such schools teach "the enemy's wicked ideology" to officers.
thehill.com/policy/defen...
Writing an article under a pseudonym that parrots the preferences of those in power seemed baffling - like normally reserved for fearful dissidents … but this makes sense. Save the rag further embarrassment.
I love that @warontherocks.bsky.social is starting a series on the literature of war, and let me bat lead off with Salinger’s For Esme, @philklay.bsky.social’s Psychological Operations, and Matt Gallagher’s Daybreak.
The Guardian has a striking map suggesting Trump has pushed the world, especially Europe, toward China.
It’s visually compelling. But misleading. The world isn’t moving away from the U.S. The U.S. is moving away from the world. as I show on @goodauth.bsky.social. goodauthority.org/news/the-wor...
Evidently, something was broken with the other link. So, here, I've written about the right-wing attacks on PME and civilian educational institutions.
othermeans.substack.com/p/the-myth-o...
Impressive. US Embassy Copenhagen.
One Danish flag per Danish soldier that died in Afghanistan, fighting alongside US soldiers.
📸 h/t @onkelmikkel.bsky.social
Minnesota National Guard members have arrived at a federal building and were directed to distribute donuts, coffee, and hot chocolate to anti-ICE protesters. Guard members were issued reflective vests so they would not be mistaken for federal agents.
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense force working on railguns instead of modular gold-plated hulls.
“I am a hopeful animal and in my most hopeful moments, I think the longer term consequence of the Trump presidency will be much more stringent restrictions on the executive power of the president of the United States.” @ldfreedman.bsky.social drew me out on civ-mil and US politics.
Terrific analysis and scathing critique of the new U.S. National Security Strategy by @kschake.bsky.social .It “assumes that the US can be a terribly ally (…) and yet other countries (…) are going to help us achieve what we want in the world. (…) it just doesn’t work that way.”+
