Letters to the Editor

Commentary: This former CIA analyst has something to say about the classified documents crisis — and it’s likely not what you think

The former involved Trump’s intentionally keeping large amounts of classified material at Mar-a-Lago; the latter led to small amounts of intelligence at Biden’s former office and his home, as well as in Pence’s home. Since I held high-level security clearances for more than four decades while in the Army, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of State and Department of Defense, I have something to offer on the issue of secrets and secrecy.

WP Opinion: Biden Faces Brewing New Cold War

Because the United States is on a path to another Cold War, perhaps it’s premature for Mr. Ignatius to state that President Biden “begins 2023 with the wind at his back on foreign policy.”

Arming Teachers: A Misguided ‘Solution’

Arming Teachers: A Misguided ‘Solution’ is my latest opinion letter posting today and being printed in Sunday’s New York Times.

UKRAINE: THE KEY TO UNLOCKING THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN STALEMATE

Alexander Vindman, the former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, provided testimony to the Congress in 2019 that framed the charge of abuse of power in the impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump.  In doing so, Vindman displayed a political courage that is far different from courage on the battlefield.  He is an American hero on various levels.  Nevertheless, his policy positions on Ukraine, if adopted, would pose a danger to U.S. national security policy, risking an unnecessary confrontation with Russia and a divided transatlantic alliance.

Recent News and Latest Book

The Strategic Nightmare That Follows the “Forever War”

One of these days, the “forever war” between Russia and Ukraine will be over, and the serious challenge of dealing with the strategic triangularity of the United States, Russia, and China will begin.  The Biden administration has complicated this task by pursuing a strategy of “dual containment,” believing that the United States can “contain” both Russia and China.  Unlike the Soviet Union of the Cold War era, China cannot be “contained.”  It is a global economic and political power as well as a formidable military power in the Indo-Pacific region.

When Difi Took on the CIA Over Torture

Very few senators have been willing to tackle the excesses within the intelligence community, but Senator Dianne Feinstein (D/CA) has been a heroic exception to that rule.  Liberals and civic libertarians were a major part of Barack Obama’s constituency when he ran for president in 2008, and they had a right to expect his administration to investigate the CIA’s program of torture and abuse.