Net Assessment: Does the Pentagon Deserve Our Trust?

This episode kicks off with a discussion of the national security implications of the mid-term elections. With the Democratic Party retaking control of the House of Representatives, we expect to see fights over Pentagon spending, and more oversight of the Trump administration across-the-board. The show then turns to the curious story of a 1,300-page Army study of the Iraq War that has gone unpublished for two whole years. The case raises broader questions about the entire defense establishment’s capacity for self-reflection and analysis. Recent moves to shield the Pentagon from public scrutiny only add to these concerns. We focus our grievances on President Donald Trump in Europe, the New York Times re: North Korea, and Woodrow Wilson (for lots of things), and we mark the 243^rd anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Marine Corps – or, as Bryan calls it, the Navy’s land force (Please direct your hate tweets to @ConsWahoo).

Links

• Michael R. Gordon, “The Army Stymied Its Own Study of the Iraq War,” Wall Street Journal, Oct. 22, 2018
• Danny Sjursen, “Will Iraq Become Another ‘Lesson Lost’ Like Vietnam?” American Conservative, Nov. 6, 2018
• Todd South, “Army’s Detailed Iraq War Study Remains Unpublished Years After Completion,” Army Times, Oct. 25, 2018
• Adam Smith, “The Pentagon’s Getting More Secretive – and It’s Hurting National Security,” Defense One, Oct. 28, 2018
• Fred Kaplan, “Could House Democrats Cancel the Pentagon’s Blank Check?” Slate, Nov. 07, 2018
• Loren DeJonge Schulman and Alice Friend, “The Pentagon’s Transparency Problem,” Foreign Affairs, May 02, 2018
• Eric Gomez, “The Revenge of Expectation: Trump’s Rhetoric and Kim’s Missile Bases,” Cato Institute, Nov. 12, 2018
• Paul Farhi, “What a Stupid Question: Trump Demeans Three Black Female Reporters in Three Day,” Washington Post, Nov. 09, 2018
• Ted Galen Carpenter and Malou Innocent, The Ties That Blind: How the U.S.-Saudi Alliance Damages Liberty and Security, (Cato Institute, 2018)
• Shawn Snow, “To Corps, Country, and Each Other: Top Marine’s Birthday Message May Leave You Hiding Tears,” Marine Corps Times, Nov. 01, 2018
• Angelique Chrisafis and Ed Pilkington, “Trump Ramps Up Macron Spat by Mocking France in World Wars,” Guardian, Nov. 13, 2018
• Adam Rubenstein, “Did Steve King Just Refer to Immigrants as ‘Dirt’ ?” Weekly Standard, Nov. 06, 2018
• Dylan Matthew, “Woodrow Wilson Was Extremely Racist – Even by the Standards of His Time,” Vox, Nov. 20, 2015

Events

• Saudi Arabia’s War in Yemen featuring Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), December 7^th
• The Jones Act: Charting a New Course After a Century of Failure