Dereliction of Duty

by James A. Russell It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry listening to President Obama’s series of retrospective interviews on radio and television about his eight years in office. He invariably comes off as a bright, reasonable, detached… Continue Reading

Why Intelligence Briefings Matter

by Paul R. Pillar and Roger George As President-elect Donald Trump establishes his national-security team and delves into major foreign-policy issues, it is clear that he begins with a dim view of what intelligence can offer. Like many presidents-elect without… Continue Reading

Why We Went to War Against Iraq: Re-Writing History Again

by Wayne White Some Republican presidential hopefuls—plus Colin Powell—are trying to shift responsibility for the Iraq War away from Bush administration politicians by blaming the U.S. intelligence community. This is only part of the real story. The rest, which the… Continue Reading

The Unwritten American Rules of the Road

by Alfred W. McCoy “The sovereign is he who decides on the exception,” said conservative thinker Carl Schmitt in 1922, meaning that a nation’s leader can defy the law to serve the greater good. Though Schmitt’s service as Nazi Germany’s… Continue Reading

Why Have An Intelligence Community When AIPAC Knows Better?

by Jim Lobe I guess that’s one of the things that occurred to me when I received this Press Release and the letter to the president (reproduced below my post) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) yesterday. All but one… Continue Reading