Now that the president has vowed to seek Congress’s approval even for what he promises will be very limited military action in Syria, an interesting question arises. What will the authorization authorize him to do? The president will want an expansive resolution, allowing him maximum flexibility to do what he thinks necessary to accomplish what […]
Archive | Military
The 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg
Today is the 150th anniversary of Pickett’s Charge and the last day of the Battle Gettysburg. Many modern historians take issue with the traditional view that this Union victory was the decisive battle of the Civil War. They point out that the Confederacy still had a chance to win by demoralizing northern public opinion during […]
Bill to Be Introduced to Increase Armed Services Committees’ Oversight Over Special Operations
By Kenneth Anderson on May 9, 2013 9:48 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Drones (UAVs), Military, National Security, Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), member of the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, plans to introduce a bill that would increase Congressional oversight over kill-capture operations conducted outside of Afghanistan by the US military. University of Texas law professor Robert Chesney discusses the proposed legislation over at Lawfare, and gives a section by section commentary. Whether […]
Human Rights Watch Can’t Wait to Accuse Israel
By Eugene Kontorovich on February 14, 2013 3:05 pm in Human Rights Watch, International Law, Israel, Military, National Security, War on Terror
Human Rights Watch has just released a report on Israel’s recent “Pillar of Defense” operation to suppress rocket fire from Gaza. The report concludes that 18 airstrikes violated international law by not being properly targeted. I do not know if 18 is a little or a lot for an operation of this scale, as there […]
National Security Law in the News
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 25, 2012 11:51 am in Constitutional Law, Counter-Terrorism Policy, Criminal Law, Executive Branch, International Law, Military, National Security, Press, Targeted Killing
National Security Law in the News: A Guide for Journalists, Scholars, and Policymakers is a new book published by the ABA’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security and Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. Despite the title, the book should be of interest to a general audience, as it offers a concise, broad plain-language overview […]
Assessing Obama’s Performance on Libya
Politico recently asked its Arena contributors whether the recent death of Muammar Gadhafi vindicates President Obama’s Libya policy: How much credit should President Barack Obama get for Qadhafi’s death and the tyrannical regime’s ouster? Does it vindicate the president over Libya mission critics like Rep. Michele Bachmann? My response is available here: President Obama deserves […]
The Return of ROTC to Elite Universities
By Ilya Somin on June 1, 2011 1:04 pm in Academia, Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), Military, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
The LA Times has an article describing how ROTC programs have returned to many elite universities in the wake of the abolition of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy: Helped by the recession, more active recruiting and a sea change in student perceptions of the military, enrollment in ROTC programs on college campuses is booming. […]
Harvard Allows Return of ROTC
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the question of whether elite universities will allow ROTC programs to return to campus now that the don’t ask don’t tell policy has been repealed and gays and lesbians can serve openly in the military. I am happy to report that Harvard University has now agreed […]
Will the End of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Lead to the Return of ROTC Programs to Elite Universities?
By Ilya Somin on February 1, 2011 2:35 am in Academia, Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), Law Schools, Military
At the Weekly Standard blog, Cheryl Miller asks whether the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell will lead to the return of ROTC programs to elite university campuses [HT: here]. In recent years, university officials have defended the exclusion of ROTC from campus as a way of countering the military’ discrimination against gays and lesbians, […]
Professor Of Military History Weighs in on the Implausibility of Bellesiles’s Story
The Chronicle of Higher Education has not yet revealed the results of its investigation of the veracity of Michael Bellesiles’s story about a dying soldier and his student brother. One can only speculate why it is taking more than a day or two to verify a story that should have been easy to verify (if […]
The Chronicle Review is Looking Into the June 27th Bellesiles Article
Late Monday afternoon, I received a one-sentence email from Liz McMillen, Editor of the Chronicle Review: I just wanted to let you know that we are looking into the questions you have raised in your blog post Friday about Michael Bellesiles’s article for us. Here is some background on Bellesiles’s June 27th article. Here is […]
Serious Questions About the Veracity of Michael Bellesiles’s Latest Tale
A few days ago, questions were raised first by Big Journalism and then by me about a story that Michael Bellesiles published in the June 27th issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education: Teaching Military History in a Time of War. I have now read through every DoD casualty report from last fall for both […]
Michael Bellesiles’s Newest Tale
In its June 27, 2010 issue, the Chronicle of Higher Education published an essay by Michael Bellesiles, Teaching Military History in a Time of War: Yet the reality of teaching in wartime, most particularly at a working-class college such as Central Connecticut State University, is that war has touched the families of many of our […]
“Four Days That Shook DADT”
What happened last week to the federal ban on military service by gays and lesbians? Chris Geidner has an excellent summary of the developments.
Light at the End of the DADT Tunnel
The Senate Armed Services Committee has just voted 16-12 to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The repeal would take effect after the release of a Pentagon study on how (not whether) to repeal the policy and after both the president and Defense Department have certified that the repeal will have no detrimental effect on recruitment, retention, […]