Now that’s what I call a pivot

Awfully strongly phrased line (re West Africa/Sahel context). Although tempered by extent of meaning of partnership. “Without partnering to address terrorism, Africa becomes the next 9/11 source.” This is re West Africa / Sahel seemingly. www.africom.mil/pressrelease...

If one’s going to run these arguments through questions of debate as training / education (as the initial posts do), feels like it matters a major part of US debate tradition is specifically not very focused on rhetoric as skill but precisely on research / argument structure.

A rare good moment. I hope he remains free.

The guy who killed the investigation—or at least said he didn’t support it—is now a federal judge.

This press release refers to a “direct threat to the U.S. homeland.” Given the description of the target could be. But if so that should be something that’s explored in public. I worry combatant commands may be stretching their language around homeland threats lately for political reasons.

Very notable to me that the latest US strike in Somalia that may be a civcas case and at least seems to raise large qs about the political context of the strikes has received so little attention whether from major Western media or from online communities that frame themselves as critical of strikes.

It’s not the biggest issue with these drug boat strikes. But I’d like to know why the government is ok reporting death tolls for these and has pulled back from doing so elsewhere. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/u...

Moments like these drug war strikes and discussion of a cartel AUMF are evidence for the importance of having a usable definition of endless war and one that isn’t just a critique of the war on terror. That basis exists and derives in part from earlier militarized counter drug efforts. 1/2

2/ And in case you thought this is just about non-state actor groups: "Nations that harbored such groups would also be covered." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/u...

Why not do AUMF 2.0 but without a big armed attack on the U.S. to justify the shift to a war frame from a crime frame, without international support, and without a clear strategy for success at even limited aims. Just nuts. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/u...

I mean Trump also denied during the campaign that there were any terrorist attacks during his term even though Al Qaeda coordinated its first deadly attack in the U.S. since 9/11 so not totally surprised if still flabbergasted by this.

AYFKM.

U.S. has issued a press release for a strike targeting (and per reply to query killing) a weapons smuggler that looks to closely match this unknown responsibility strike. Seems a possible civcas case and even if not still very notable.

“Can the government’s claims regarding the terrorist threat be trusted? If the answer is no, that has serious ramifications for efforts to prevent terrorism and communicate effectively when an attack does occur.” 2018 re travel ban data. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/01/...

U.S. has issued a press release for a strike targeting (and per reply to query killing) a weapons smuggler that looks to closely match this unknown responsibility strike. Seems a possible civcas case and even if not still very notable.

To wit. apnews.com/article/trum...

Closely watching this story. Again it seems a problem to me that there are these unknown strikes and they’re allowed to fester for news cycles w/ little clarification. allafrica.com/stories/2025...

www.liberalcurrents.com/the-warmonge... For the afternoon crowd: I've got an article in @liberalcurrents.com arguing that renaming the DoD as the Department of War encourages militarism, misrepresents what the DoD does, and offends the values of the liberal international order.

Casablanca Grand Budapest Hotel Barton Fink

More than 1 in 4 workers without jobs have been unemployed for at least six months, new data shows. That number is a post-pandemic high and a level typically only seen during periods of economic turmoil.

Personally I think it’s rather presumptuous to run an event with this as part of its title when the President is busy expanding the concept of the war on terrorism in ways that even George W Bush on 9/12 would have probably found a bit much. “Americans Eventually Rejected the GWOT”

Migrants sent by the U.S. to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, were moved to another part of the naval base there because of a water failure, raising doubts about housing large numbers of deportees.

Personally, I don’t take broad claims about debate being good/bad as a concept very seriously. As anyone who has ever engaged in debate as a structured activity should know all claims about what debate is or is not are tied to the framework of the debate and what it is about, covers, and excludes.

So uh there's a lot going on today. But I wrote this icct.nl/publication/... Did you know the US has added 12 *criminal groups* to the Foreign Terrorist Organization list this year? There were zero such FTOs last year. For decades, US allies have copied US terrorist designations. Not this year.

Updated data covering a number of recent Somalia strikes including one on 9/9. www.newamerica.org/future-secur...

So the National Guard deployment to DC is costing $1 million a day.

We don’t yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy. Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie’s family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children.

Something that bugs me about foreign policy critics’ apologia for the DoD name change is that it sets up a binary between defense and war. And the thing is, that binary is serving to obscure a set of key questions right now. Defense of what? War for what?

Senator Rand Paul directly and forthrightly takes on JD Vance: "What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial."

The focus on tactical changes is the fool’s version of critiques of endless war. And it tends to loop back into endlessness. One has to speak about objectives.

NEW 🧵The White House has now issued its first formal legal justification for the lethal attack on a vessel in the Caribbean. This War Powers report to Congress is long on bluster and short on substance. This letter does not adequately justify the premeditated killing of apparent civilians. 1/n

Yes when I think about how endless war is related to lack of clarity and definition of end states, the answer is definitely just saying victory, decisive, and lethality a lot. Definitely not tried that before. No other President has talked about victory. Not one.

Pentagon Official: Trump Boat Strike Was a Criminal Attack on Civilians A current DoD official and many military legal experts say the U.S. attack on a boat in the Caribbean near Venezuela broke international law. theintercept.com/2025/09/05/p...

As I explained to the @wsj, designating an entity as a “terrorist” organization does not by itself authorize the use of force. Nor does the 2001 AUMF provide authority to attack criminal groups in Latin America like Tren de Aragua. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Rodrigo Dueterte is literally in The Hague for this headline. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/u...

Good statement (with caveats) but the key question is what are you going to do about it. www.huffpost.com/entry/rand-p...

There was a segment of critics of the WoT that downplayed the importance of authorization issues. I see that segment as holding significant responsibility for a lot in this moment. The dismissals were often part of another trend of putting faith in individual politicians’ rhetoric.

Truly would like to see some HASC or SASC members ask for the receipts on the legal review of these orders.

Often when one presents counts of strikes it gets wrapped up in Donald the Dove vs Donald the Hawk discourse. I’m pleading for folks to not just fixate on the relevance to individual presidents but look at the contexts. Especially for those who acknowledge the fixation failed in prior admins.

Indeed. Early uses of the concept of endlessness for the war on terror drew connections to endlessness in these forms in the war on drugs. For example in Sontag’s ‘02 article. www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/o... But other cases too.

Looking forward to reading this which just landed in my Kindle.

Certainly not the most important reaction but thinking on how Tom Clancy’s Clear and Present Danger storyline got culturally revised from a criticism (with caveats) of military force against drug trafficking to fully uncritical boosterism in recent years.

BREAKING: Trump, Hegseth violated the Posse Comitatus Act with their troop deployment to Los Angeles, Judge Charles Breyer rules after trial. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Two more Somalia strikes over the weekend. Both against Al-Shabaab.

We’re hiring! JS is seeking a full-time Editorial Assistant to support our democracy and rule of law initiatives and help advance our broader work and mission. Application deadline is September 15. Early applications are highly encouraged. Apply here: www.justsecurity.org/just-securit...

This certainly increases already severe issues with this strike. But I wouldn’t describe it as a triple tap based on this. The report says the second and third munitions were near simultaneous. The key distinction between a double tap and a large strike is time between. www.cnn.com/2025/08/27/m...

The very unitary executive. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/h...

It is not great that in a break from recent practice, AFRICOM is not providing specific dates for the nine strikes conducted as part of a two week operation. Add to not providing assessed death tolls, there’s a lot of transparency backtracking for a war that has escalated substantially.

Make that 69 (with same notes) - a press release dropped for another strike against Al-Shabaab.