Key summary:

Carrie A Lee@carriealee.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Re-upping this piece I published last year on Trump’s efforts to not just politicize but personalize military leadership. nationalsecurity.law.georgetown.edu/journal/2025...

Re-upping this piece I published last year on Trump’s efforts to not just politicize but personalize military leadership. nationalsecurity.law.georgetown.edu/journal/2025...

Trump’s Second Term: The Personalization of the Military and Implications for National Security - Georgetown Law - Center on National Security

By Carrie A. Lee

nationalsecurity.law.georgetown.edu

Firing senior officers for cause is one thing. Firing them repeatedly on this scale and with no explanation is unprecedented in our nation's history. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/u...

Hegseth Fires Army Chief Amid Battle With Its Leaders

nytimes.com

AEI is making a fired flags tracker so you can assess the replacements are more political. Coles out Monday.

Peter Lucier@peterlucier.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"Hegseth has fired over a dozen senior military officers, including CJCS Gen. C.Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife and the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse." www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth...

Years ago our admin did a red and black report. It took salaries & how much $ each instructor made in tuition $ for classes we taught-you were in the red or black. They released numbers once & shut it down bc humanities were producing huge $ for uni & engineers, business and scientists were losing $

Victor Ray@victorerikray.bsky.social · 5mo ago

These are “low enrollment” majors but the classes are regularly at capacity. They changed the funding structure a few years ago here, switching the allocation from course enrollments to majors then blamed these departments for a structural, top-down change. This is entirely a political choice.

If you were surprised by the men’s Olympic hockey team locker room, you obviously weren’t watching any of the interviews during the competition. Patel’s presence with those guys is the least surprising thing about these Olympics.

My friend @gowder.io and his colleagues are brilliant and unflinching here. I’m sorry to be late to it but this is an outstanding piece of critical analysis that has lessons well beyond the current debate over birthright citizenship. publications.lawschool.cornell.edu/lawreview/20...

Was it worth it, Bridge? Was this dumpster-fire of a "strategy" document worth prostrating yourself for white supremacists and those committed to destroying almost every source of American strength? What a tragedy. media.defense.gov/2026/Jan/23/...

Thus far, I've felt that ROK has been a model for how to both repulse would-be authoritarianism and enforce accountability, but this feels like a pretty extreme move that reveals more weaknesses in South Korean democracy than strengths.

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 7mo ago

South Korean prosecutors said they were seeking the death sentence for former president Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed attempt to declare martial law in December 2024.

There are an unknown number of monkeys of unknown origin on the loose in St. Louis. I'm sure this ends well. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/u...

Monkeys Are on the Loose in St. Louis, City Officials Say

nytimes.com

Outstanding summary of the civil-military tensions and issues at play in Venezuela right now by Rebecca Hanson and Veronica Zubillaga. Summary: things are fragile right now.

Venezuela’s civil-military alliance is being stretched — if it breaks, numerous armed groups may be drawn into messy split

How various factions respond to the Trump administration’s threat to be the de facto ruler of the country could quickly inflame domestic tensions and lead to conflict.

theconversation.com

Indeed, the greatest tell of whether someone has actually read/internalized Thucydides is if during times like this, they quote the Melian dialogue unironically. Hint: it’s a warning not a celebration.

Michael DeMoor@michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 7mo ago

When people start puffing out their chests and talking like the Athenian delegation in the Melian dialogue, it's because they are feeling powerful and invulnerable. That's how a lot of people on the right are feeling right now: it feels to them like they just proved that the US can ... 1/

On Lawfare Daily, Loren Voss spoke to @kschake.bsky.social and @carriealee.bsky.social about how they assess a healthy civil-military relationship, the current state of civil-military affairs, potential unlawful orders, and what we should watch going forward. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...

Join us on Thursday morning for a discussion of the new National Security Strategy, the National Defense Authorization Act, and their implications for the Transatlantic relationship. Am excited to join my colleagues to discuss the future of transatlantic security! www.gmfus.org/event/us-nat...

The US National Security Strategy: Implications for Europe and for Washington's Global Priorities

This virtual briefing on the newly released US National Security Strategy will explore the document’s key priorities; their meaning for US engagement in the world; international reaction; and implicat...

gmfus.org

Terrific new roundtable review for the H-Diplo Jervis Forum on Mara Karlin's outstanding book, The Inheritance. An all-star lineup of reviewers in Peter Feaver, @klkuzminski.bsky.social, @profjessblankshain.bsky.social, and Paula Thornhill! Read closely and in full! issforum.org/roundtables/...

Jervis Forum Roundtable 17-19 on Karlin, The Inheritance

H-Diplo | Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum Roundtable Review 17-19 Mara E. Karlin, The Inheritance: America’s Military After Two Decades of War. Brookings Institution Press, 2022.

issforum.org

The Trump National Security Strategy is an act of vandalism against the things that actually make our country strong, safe, and prosperous.

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

a man is sitting at a desk with the words you 've lost another submarine

ALT: a man is sitting at a desk with the words you 've lost another submarine

media.tenor.com

Angry Staff Officer@pptsapper.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

A few thoughts on the new NSS, expert responses, and upcoming NDS. 1. The first talking point for every expert should have been that this is an overtly white nationalist document that spits on every American ideal of meritocracy, the innate value of human life, and self-determination. 1/

This piece by @carriealee.bsky.social is one of the most essential things I've read all year. 100% assigning it to my grad students next term. Read it. warontherocks.com/2025/12/the-...

The Soldier in the Illiberal State is a Professional Dead End

The American political system today is indeed in crisis. Government function is in doubt, the administration has politicized and weaponized a previously

warontherocks.com

🇺🇸 On #F24Debate, @carriealee.bsky.social of @gmfus.bsky.social contrasts the motives of terrorists and drug traffickers and warns against conflating them. More in #F24Debate ➡️ f24.my/Bb73

My latest this AM with @warontherocks.bsky.social. Of note: "[Military officers] will be active participants with choices to make about the degree to which they continue to serve civilians intent on undermining the liberal values enshrined in the Constitution." 1/ warontherocks.com/2025/12/the-...

The Soldier in the Illiberal State is a Professional Dead End

The American political system today is indeed in crisis. Government function is in doubt, the administration has politicized and weaponized a previously

warontherocks.com

The profession of arms derives legitimacy from the system it serves. What happens when that system changes?

The Soldier in the Illiberal State is a Professional Dead End

The American political system today is indeed in crisis. Government function is in doubt, the administration has politicized and weaponized a previously

warontherocks.com

Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing "Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions." Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social

Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.

washingtonpost.com

A Dishonorable Strike Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder www.execfunctions.org/p/a-dishonor...

A Dishonorable Strike

Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder

execfunctions.org

Former US military lawyers speak out: "The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both." Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes 1/2

Super excited that a new edited volume, Bend But Do Not Break, is coming out, edited by Jaron Wharton, @klkuzminski.bsky.social @jkdemp.bsky.social @mzmargulies.bsky.social Keith Carter, and @carriealee.bsky.social And it’s apparently doing well on the amazons

Outstanding reminder by @markhertling.bsky.social on the recent controversy around the oath. This is a subject that needs a lot more discussion, and a lot more nuance. www.thebulwark.com/p/what-ameri...

What Americans Should Understand About the Military Disobeying Illegal Orders

And why it matters there are two military oaths.

thebulwark.com

Hi folks! A few thoughts on this essay, and the questions that we *should* be asking, rather than the ones this Army officer seems inclined to answer. I haven’t done a CMR thread in a while so I’m overdue. 🧵

Am honored to contribute to this special issue of Georgetown Law's Journal of Nat'l Security Law and Policy. I argue that Trump's efforts go beyond politicization and into personalization--to the extreme detriment of natsec and civ-mil relations. nationalsecurity.law.georgetown.edu/journal/2025...

Trump’s Second Term: The Personalization of the Military and Implications for National Security - Georgetown Law - Center on National Security

By Carrie A. Lee

nationalsecurity.law.georgetown.edu

Today's @radiofreetom.bsky.social article for the Atlantic is a must-read. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...