This week, Bombshell bids farewell to summer with our final distributed ops episode, closing out what has been a nice, quiet August (ha. ha). Afghanistan is, as usual, still a thing, but this time President Trump – or his teleprompter – actually gave us some thoughts on the matter. We lament waking up to a nuclear test in North Korea and the latest chapters in the Kenyan election and China-India border disputes, and drill down on how everything became about readiness and readiness became about everything: the Seventh Fleet, the Army, DACA, you name it. Finally, we give our take on John Kelly’s efforts at discipline in the West Wing and the continuing parade of White House departures, as well as views on Back to School reading and “book dates” with your partner.

Readings:

• “Why India did not Win the Standoff with China,” M. Taylor Fravel, War on the Rocks
• “Welcome to the H-Bomb Club, North Korea,” Ankit Panda and Vipin Narang, War on the Rocks
• “Xi says BRICS nations should stand up against protectionism,” Lousie Watt, AP
• “Deadly Navy accidents in the Pacific raise questions over a force stretched too thin,” Alex Horton and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Washington Post
• “How the U.S. Navy’s Fleet has been on a collision course for years,” by David Larter, Defense News
• “U.S. Army Unprepared to Deal with Russia in Europe,” Wesley Morgan, Politico
• “Analysis: Could Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Actually Become Policy?” Julie Moreau, NBC News

Back to School Reading:

• A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII, by Sarah Helm
• The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made, by Walter Isaacson
• The Federalist Papers
• The Undoing Project, Michael Lewis
• A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
• In Light of What we Know, Zia Haider Rahman
• The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic, Mike Duncan
• The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, Debby Applegate

The Alice Network, Kate Quinn