Articles & Multimedia
Showing 21-40 of 59 Publications
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What Is James Mattis Doing?
Defense Secretary James Mattis announced Tuesday night that he had ordered a comprehensive study of transgender troops in response to President Donald Trump’s tweets and order...
By Phillip Carter
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What Works in Afghanistan
There is a cliché about Afghanistan that custom dictates must be included in every TV appearance, column, and book about that land: It is the “graveyard of empires.” From Alex...
By Phillip Carter
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What America Owes Its Veterans
Each year, the U.S. military recruits some 175,000 young Americans. At the heart of its pitch is a sacred promise to take care of those who serve—what President Abraham Lincol...
By Phillip Carter
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Trump’s 21 Club Salute
According to an incredibly detailed NBC News report of a highly classified National Security Council meeting, President Donald Trump unloaded on his top military leaders over ...
By Phillip Carter
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Congress can’t save Jeff Sessions
Senators from both parties are telling President Donald Trump not to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters that “if Jeff Sessions is f...
By Phillip Carter
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Trump’s Transgender Ban Will Weaken the Military
In an unexpected move Wednesday morning, on the 69th anniversary of President Harry Truman’s order to desegregate the armed forces, President Donald Trump tweeted that he had ...
By Phillip Carter & Amy Schafer
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Donald Trump Is Abdicating His Role as Commander in Chief
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump hosted several service members at the White House to discuss Afghanistan strategy over lunch. “We have plenty of ideas from a lot of people,...
By Phillip Carter
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Phil Carter on why Russia is Still the Real Scandal
Confronted by the glare of Thursday’s dazzling Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing, we all focused on the bright shiny object that was and is former FBI Director J...
By Phillip Carter
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Welcome to the Forever War
According to legend, Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky famously said that “you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” So it is with Afghanistan and the ...
By Phillip Carter
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Trump’s decision to fire Comey
In his wildest dreams, Russian leader (and former Soviet intelligence officer) Vladimir Putin could have never imagined the extent of his success during President Donald Trump...
By Phillip Carter
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America's Security in Trump's First 100 Days
If the only measure of national security success during a president’s first 100 days were avoiding catastrophe, then, OK, President Trump has succeeded. No attacks on the U.S....
By Phillip Carter
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The Mysterious Case of the Wayward Aircraft Carrier
There is a sobering reality beyond this week’s strange “Where’s Waldo?” story of the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group: For a period of time, significant confusion existed ...
By Phillip Carter
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H.R. McMaster and James Mattis are steering the Trump administration away from “America First.”
President Donald Trump swept into office with no government experience, few policy positions, and a team of iconoclastic outsiders who echoed his desire to put America first i...
By Phillip Carter
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We Are Now Part of This War
In March 2003, during the invasion of Iraq, then–Maj. Gen. David Petraeus turned to embedded reporter Linda Robinson and famously asked: “Tell me how this ends.” That question...
By Phillip Carter
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Why Was Steve Bannon Booted From the National Security Council: Three Theories
Even without the Russian intrigues of the nascent Trump administration, now would be a time for Kremlinology. Just as intelligence officers used to scrutinize every possible c...
By Phillip Carter
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What Is Michael Flynn’s Game?
News leaked on Thursday evening that retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn was shopping his testimony regarding the Trump administration’s Russia ties to anyone who might listen. Spe...
By Phillip Carter
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Stolen Valor
If you stuck with President Donald Trump to the end of his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, you would have been treated to a patriotic display that much of th...
By Phillip Carter
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Trump just blamed the military for the botched Yemen raid. That's a disgrace.
Most Americans thought little of President Harry Truman when he ascended to the White House in April 1945. Six months later, they thought even less, as the nation’s economy sl...
By Phillip Carter
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McMaster knows how national security policy can go wrong. Will that help him?
Commentary
For a generation after losing the Vietnam War, the American military soothed itself with a “stabbed in the back” narrative: If not for meddling politicians, intrusive journali...
By Phillip Carter
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The Trump Administration’s Not-So-Benign Neglect
This week, President Trump delighted his base with a pledge to treat deportations like a “military operation.” There were also reports that his administration is urging govern...
By Phillip Carter
