Corker Should Up Ante in Feud With Trump

by Walter Pincus

It’s time for Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to use his congressional panel rather than just his mouth or tweets, to confront President Donald...

U.S. Afghan Strategy Time Warps to Vietnam 1969

by Walter Pincus

“We may have advisers there 10 years from now, but the Taliban will not be the enemy they are,” was the way Defense Secretary James Mattis described the future in Afghanistan under the new Trump...

Gen. Dunford’s Clear-Eyed Take on Koreas Crisis

by Walter Pincus

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford set out his views on key national security issues last Tuesday during the Senate Armed Services Committee’s confirmation hearing for his second, two-year...

Trump’s Erratic Rhetoric Increases Risk of War in Koreas

by Walter Pincus

Saturday’s Pentagon announcement that B-1B bombers escorted by F-15C fighters had flown a route above the demilitarized zone in international airspace over the Sea of Japan east of North Korea,...

Austerity Cloud Hovers Over Pentagon Wish List for Guerillas and Climate

by Walter Pincus

The Senate-passed, fiscal 2018 Defense Authorization Bill carries two little-publicized amendments that will impact future war-fighting capabilities. But the measure fails to deal with the darkest...

Capitol Hill Budget Brawls Stretch Navy Resources Thin

by Walter Pincus

“If we do a continuing resolution, we are not only not rebuilding our military, we are harming our military,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told his Senate colleagues last Thursday. Ignoring the...

Leave Military Decisions to Those Who Actually Served

by Walter Pincus

In miniature, President Trump’s impetuous attempt to ban transgender individuals from military service illustrates why he is not qualified to be Commander-in-Chief of America’s armed...

Kushner Stumbles on Bumps in the Road on Mideast Junket

by Walter Pincus

The whirlwind Middle East trip last week by Trump son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner and his team working to restart Israel-Palestinian talks highlighted the fallout from earlier policy...

No Direct Way to Denuke Pyongyang

by Walter Pincus

The United States and its allies need to focus first on freezing North Korea’s current nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs with a goal of deterring Kim Jong-un from expanding his...

U.S. Nuclear Arsenal a Deterrent, Not an Impromptu Threat

by Walter Pincus

Within the next week, North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump will face situations that will require them to take steps that could increase already heightened tensions,...