The big idea should be to cut unnecessary *processes* from DOD (which leads to fewer people, greater efficiency & lower costs) and to rebalance our power portfolio such that diplomacy & soft power have more resources & impact

We can’t keep using the military as the primary solution to our problems

remove the dice!
*gasps*
add the placemat!

*clinging to completely superfluous map at a wargame where no game play happens but is a visual crutch for senior leaders*

"most wars demonstrate the limits of military power, especially when unsupported by a realistic political strategy.” @ldfreedman.bsky.social

At least from the mil side, this drives home how the “operational level of war” is a mythical contrivance that indulges the worst impulses of military organizations that think war isn’t politics and strategy is just the plural of tactics

China Edges Past U.S. in Global Approval Ratings Globally, China led the U.S. in 2025 leadership approval (36% vs. 31%), one of the widest gaps in 20 years, while U.S. disapproval hit a record high of 48%.

Got drowned out by events but ghastly Gallup numbers for US global support compared to China and these *predate Venezuela and Iran*

When it comes to being syllabus poison for multiple literatures of study Huntington remains first ballot hall of fame

Denethor II would disagree

Error 404: Strait Not Found

“Trump’s putative orders also threatened to break the moral backbone of the American military.” Important piece by @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/o...

Tales of my recent trips to SF are met with awe/horror like I escaped from Jurassic Park

Brent, Science Funding, State and the Soldier. Podcast Episode · Sirens: A Bombshell production · April 2 · 55m

NEW: @kschake.bsky.social joins to chat her new book on US civ-mil relations history (you will learn so much!). Plus, what's going on with the slowdown of federal science? We learn from @jeremymberg.bsky.social @stuartbuck.bsky.social + @scientistsorg.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

Real Prussian "army with a state" vibes

Hegseth Fires Army Chief Amid Battle With Its Leaders

Firing senior officers for cause is one thing. Firing them repeatedly on this scale and with no explanation is unprecedented in our nation's history.
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/u...

AEI is making a fired flags tracker so you can assess the replacements are more political. Coles out Monday.

Overseen or Overlooked? | Stanford University Press "War is too important to be left to the generals," declared French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau over a century ago. But which civilians, exactly, play the most important roles in controlling the ...

@smsaideman.bsky.social

www.sup.org/books/politi...

Moon moon moon. Only posting about the Moon. All is great on the Moon. Happy happy Moon.

The Lecture I Couldn’t Give Now more than ever, our armed forces need to understand the history of civil-military relations.

“The armed forces will not long remain immune to our febrile politics if we keep dragging them into it.”

I wish @kschake.bsky.social could have given this lecture at the Air War College. I hope more Americans read it as a result.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

What Are the Laws of War Good For? The secretary of defense fails to understand that rules of engagement benefit the U.S. military.

"While the military may be the country’s last line of defense against a president resorting to force against Americans, much of the current debate would have them be the first. And that is profoundly unfair to them."

“Optionality”

Unhinged

“…for to him that is pitiless the deeds of pity are ever strange and beyond reckoning.” The Silmarillion, p. 333

This problem only gets worse when you reduce all of foreign policy to one tool — when you hollow out Diplomacy and delete Development, you bet everything on Defense

Strategic stability has been described as the great achievement of US nuclear statecraft. Francis J. Gavin revisits its intellectual foundations and finds tension at the core.

Read the full article at: tnsr.org/roundtable/s...

#NuclearStrategy #StrategicStability #EmergingTech

One of the many benefits of having any exposure to university (or PME!) IR or security studies is having a vocabulary of conflict termination that extends beyond the European theater of WWII

How Hegseth Came to See Moral Purpose in War as Weakness

Secretary Hegseth's public comments reveal a key shift in US civil-military relations that hasn't gotten enough attention. NYT recently described his view of war as without "moral purpose" but more accurately he assigns war *no* political or strategic purpose. 1/7 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/u...