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...

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

On the left: Sept 2: Judge Breyer opinion (in CA case) showing DoD's own instructions of actions that violate Posse Comitatus Act (eg "crowd control"). On the right: Sept 26: DHS request to DoD for military forces in Chicago "in direct support of ... access control, and crowd control."

Folks we are watching the adjudication of some of the most important constitutional issues of federalism, executive discretion, and judicial review since the 19th c www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

NEW: Judge Immergut issues her written second TRO, blocking the Trump admin from deploying ANY federalized National Guard troops from ANY state in Oregon. (Full hearing thread below) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

New ruling in Portland NG case, reaffirming the previous restraining order and restricting USG from deploying NG troops to Portland. And few notes on this based on some questions I’ve seen: 1/ storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

🌊 "...while [this week's all-general meeting] did not spark an immediate crisis, it was a stark reminder that there are rough seas ahead for both the senior US officer corps and US partners across the Atlantic." Read an analysis of this week's US military developments by Carrie Lee:

My analysis of Tuesday's mtg: "...It underscored the admin’s intention to shift its focus... toward homeland issues, and provided the clearest indication yet that US partners and allies will have to contend with a military increasingly operating outside of int'l law." www.gmfus.org/news/rough-s...

Am trying to write about the Dept of War change without using a gender lens (audience) and finding it basically impossible. Send words.

News Analysis: By ordering the U.S. military to summarily kill a group of people aboard what he said was a drug-smuggling boat, President Trump used the military in a way that had no clear legal precedent or basis, according to specialists in the laws of war and executive power.

This was a completely predictable move that was enabled by everyone on the left screaming "wHaT aBoUt tHe rEd StAteS?!!" Mobilizing the NG to do policing in cities is wrong and unAmerican no matter where in the country they are located. IT WAS NEVER ABOUT CRIME; it's just about intimidating people.

David French has it exactly right. Trump’s Domestic Deployments Are Dangerous. For the Military. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/o...

Our CEO, @lfschleusener.bsky.social, is thrilled to be in Ottawa this week to work with @smsaideman.bsky.social, @carriealee.bsky.social, and others on the future of @cdsn.bsky.social, one of our favorite longtime partners.

My take is that senior officers are completely unprepared for this moment. When demo is healthy, there is little tension btw adhering to civilian control & serving democracy Faced w/ the manifest clash in principles these missions present, they are doing what's familiar--following orders.1/

A senior administration official, as well as other officials, told Rolling Stone that it is a priority of Trump that these kinds of military deployments -- in times of relative calm -- become normalized in American political culture. More: rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

I’m quoted in this story and would like to expand on what I’m talking about in terms of this not being how the NG has been used, historically. Though first I should note that Joe Nunn is right on all counts. I’m just adding a little historical context. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Every activated Guardsman has a family, a job, school, or something that they are leaving to do their duty. It’s one thing when it’s a war… or a real mass civil disturbance, which those only last a few days. But to rip these people from their lives for a show… is awful.

This happening now. IDF strongly opposes this move which led to high profile clashes between politicians and the new IDF chief. I also think it’s bad. It’s also a textbook case of civilian control and civilian right to be wrong. #CivMilSky

Also, deference to exec judgement should be tossed along with presumptions of regularity. Courts often (for good reason) assume POTUS has access to better info and is working in public interest, esp on natsec. But recent reporting reveals intent to skirt the law. Can't assume good faith anymore.

3/This is no longer the DOJ courts can rely on to act in good faith. The “presumption of regularity” courts have afforded the gov’t, an assumption of good motives & proper behavior that the gov’t regularly pleads in court when accused of wrongdoing without evidence, no longer exists.

If you're using AI to write essays, eulogies, a text to your wife, I do think less of you as a person. Ceding your mental and creative abilities to a machine is an embarrassing thing and people should be ashamed to admit doing it in public.

Strikingly, the memo says straightforwardly that what happened in Los Angeles is the sort of operation that may be necessary "for years to come." As one expert told me: "They see Los Angeles as a model to be replicated." newrepublic.com/article/1987...

NEWS --> An internal Homeland Security memo suggests Trump's use of military for domestic enforcement is about to get worse. It details top-level talks between Defense Department and DHS on what this should look like. Experts say it's alarming. We obtained the memo: newrepublic.com/article/1987...

“The memo… speaks to the intent to use the military within the United States at a level not seen since Japanese internment,” Carrie Lee, senior fellow at GMF, told me… “We don’t want the military doing law enforcement. It absolutely undermines the rule of law.” newrepublic.com/article/1987...

Precisely this is what I try to highlight in my research regarding the military tech industry with VC backing. I can't stress enough that this raises huge ethical questions in the context of defence. My short policy brief based on my longer research here: www.qmul.ac.uk/mei/policy-h...

@historians.org The National Humanities Center welcomes applications for 2026–27 residential fellowships. The deadline to apply is October 2, 2025. Please help us spread the word about this opportunity.

Tone deaf, even for the @nytimes.com. This is the same administration that has collapsed morale, forced resignations and RIFs to create MORE workload and stress on AD, cut budgets, politicized the military, and created chaos in the Pentagon. What a load of BS. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/o...

I cannot think of a more spectacularly stupid idea.

🤝 At today's #URC2025 side event on Ukraine's reconstruction, GMF's newly-announced Marshall Plan Initiative and the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine signed Memorandum of Understanding.

Here’s the bottom line for what’s going on with Grok - if the owner of the website is putting his thumb on the scale hard enough for the chatbot to turn into Goebbels, you should be deeply concerned about what he’s doing to the algorithm that you can’t so easily see, and what it’s doing to you

Worth a watch: Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.

Tom Nichols with a great piece on resignations from PME. Focus is on the excellent @queenofthinair.bsky.social, but also includes my own reasons for leaving an institution I loved. @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Even abusive/neglectful parents only ask for 24 hrs notice from CPS to prepare. Congress is the oversight body. You don’t get to choose how they do oversight.

If international relations teaches us anything, if there's a practical takeaway from decades of research, it's this: The confusion and fear generated by uncertainty in militarily-heightened moments is where a lot of bad happens, and responsible leaders should reduce uncertainty where they can.

#civmilsky via Politico Playbook

“What had been billed as an overwhelming display of military might turned out to be a linear history lesson… from the Army’s disciplined sense of itself as a lethal fighting machine in the service of democracy and the Constitution.” www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

Your friendly reminder that on the eve of war with Iran, the SecDef thinks the most important place for US Marines to be is policing Los Angeles.

Hard to overstate the degree to which there appears to be literally no one in the president's current circle who has any experience, even at a low level, managing ANY kind of national security crisis or even situation. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/thoug...

A hugely important point: this is the most inexperienced natsec team in history and they're loyalists who will not stop Trump's final decision. We love to complain about elites, who can make terrible mistakes. But elites, including advisers, are a *vital* source of constraint on elected leaders. 1/

It was a more effective strategy when you knew that your voice was going to be talked about for days. "So and so speaks" would have been big news and really elevated the issue. The problem is that the news cycle moves too fast for this strategy to work anymore.

My latest in @wpr.bsky.social, gifted for you. "Over and over, Washington’s efforts to disengage from the Middle East instead keep bringing the U.S. back into the region, with increasingly disastrous effects." www.worldpoliticsreview.com/us-middle-ea...

Stay tuned for @carriealee.bsky.social's WPR column tmw!

Actually hungry or just stress eating? The world may never know.

America now has the foreign policy of a personalist dictator. New piece from me in @foreignaffairs.com www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

"There's no precedent for a nationwide preemptive deployment of the military [to police protests]. That's not something that happens in the United States of America." - @lizagoitein.bsky.social www.nationaljournal.com/s/728762/qa-...

Food for thought. I honestly hadn’t given the route a lot of attention. My best guess is that the person/committee that planned the route went with what was easiest logistically. Though ending at the WH was probably directed.

This applies to the service members involved with today’s 250th Army birthday as well.

…my poor RA this week. First week on the job and she gets thrown into *waves hands* this. Welcome to the deep end of the pool!