-
Trump’s National Guard Deployments Reignite 200-Year-Old Legal Debate Over State vs. Federal Power
If you’re confused about what the law does and doesn’t allow the president to do with the National Guard, that’s understandable. The conflict between the Trump administration and states such as Oregon and Illinois throws into relief a question as old as the Constitution itself: Where does federal power end and state authority begin?
-
-
FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff
As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau background check is unprecedented, insiders say.
-
-
Time to Accept Risk in Defense Acquisitions
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth launched enterprising Pentagon reforms that prioritize speed in acquiring new military capabilities, but this ambitious proposal is at risk of running into the same bureaucratic obstacles that have plagued past efforts.
-
-
Trump’s Squeeze of Venezuela Goes Beyond Monroe Doctrine – in Ideology, Intent and Scale, It’s Unprecedented
The actions of the current U.S. administration smack of a long history of interventions in the region. But while it does hearken back to some quasi-piratical practices of the U.S. Navy, the U.S. military buildup now is in key respects both unprecedented and shocking. It could also damage U.S. relations with the rest of the hemisphere for a generation to come.
-
-
Supreme Court Case on IEEPA Tariffs: Facts Should Matter
The Trump administration’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs, but the facts contradict the administration “emergency” argument. The goods trade deficit and most of its alleged negative effects are rooted in domestic policy, not trade. The Supreme Court is now considering the case, and rules of evidence may limit the Court to arguments formally presented, but the justices would do the nation an injustice if they did not consider the facts.
-
-
What Really Happened in Portland Before Trump Deployed the National Guard
President Donald Trump said there was a need to deploy National Guard troops to “War ravaged” Portland to protect “under-siege” ICE agents. The president’s claims were divorced from the reality on the ground. In the two months before Trump’s decision, criminal charges were announced against only three people. On nights when physical conflict did erupt, it often came from police firing on, shoving, pepper-spraying, and tackling protesters.
-
-
Details of DHS Agreement Reveal Risks of Trump Administration’s Use of Social Security Data for Voter Citizenship Checks
A recently released agreement gives the Department of Homeland Security access to hundreds of millions of Americans’ Social Security data. It contains alarmingly few provisions to ensure accuracy and privacy, experts say.
-
-
Trump Killed a Crucial Disaster Database. This Nonprofit Just Saved It.
Climate Central revived the federal list of billion-dollar disasters, another example of nonprofits providing data the government deletes.
-
-
CDC in Crisis: Mass Layoffs, Leadership Turmoil, and Vaccine Controversy
Roughly 3,000 of CDC’s 13,000 staff received RIF (reduction-in-force) notices this year. Officials warn that these layoffs have left the CDC dangerously unprepared to protect Americans’ health and safety.
-
-
There’s a Right to Record ICE Raids–and There’s No Blanket Immunity for Raiders
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin have repeatedly asserted that citizens have no right to photograph or video record ICE raids or identify the officers by name. This is not an accurate description of the state of the law, and it is dangerous to tell ICE agents that they have blanket immunity whatever they do. If the agents are hearing a persistent message from their higher ups of “you’re immune no matter what you do,” it’s up to the rest of us to disabuse them of that error.
-
-
Trump Plans to Tell Congress About New Drug War, Won't Seek Permission
Since September, Trump has been using the U.S. military to destroy suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. On Friday, Trump ordered the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the U.S. Southern Command.
-
-
Can the U.S. Navy Stay Ahead of Russia and China? This Expert Has a Plan
To put this 5-part plan in action, Northeastern University’s Stephen Flynn is advocating not for a national, top-down process but for a “federated approach” that emphasizes regional strengths.
-
-
Trump Isn’t Sending Troops to Cities with Highest Crime Rates, Data Shows
President Donald Trump has argued that he needs to deploy National Guard troops to support overwhelmed local law enforcement in cities he claims are “overrun” by crime. But an analysis of federal crime data shows that Trump’s deployments and proposed deployments have not focused on the nation’s most violent cities. Of the 10 cities with the highest violent-crime-rates, Trump has sent National Guard troops to just one: Memphis, Tennessee. Instead, the administration has focused on larger, Democratic-run cities in Democratic-led states where violent crime rates are lower than in many other major cities.
-
-
White House’s Video About Supposed “Mess” in Chicago Consists Mostly of Stitched-Together Outdated Video Pieces from Six Other States
The White House released a video which, it claimed, showed unruly and violent conduct by Chicagoans in confrontations with police and ICE gents, thus justifying Trump’s order to send 300 Texas National Guard troops to deal with “the mess” in Chicago. But most of the released video had nothing to do with Chicago: It consisted of stitched-together pieces of video footage from six other states, with some of the video fragments filmed in 2023 and 2024, when Biden was president.
-
-
New Pentagon Policy Is an Unprecedented Attempt to Undermine Press Freedom
Recent changes in a Pentagon policy threaten journalists’ ability to cover the Department of Defense, because it could curb their rights to report information not authorized by the government for release. As a First Amendment expert, I believe the Pentagon policy change represents an unprecedented development in the Trump administration’s offensive against the press and a historic departure from previous administrations’ policies.
-
The long view
Bookshelf: The Waning Dominance of U.S. Dollar
Perhaps the greatest threat to the dominance of the dollar may come from the US itself. US government debt is basically ‘out of control’, representing 120 percent of GDP, and neither political party has a serious plan to bring it back under control.
Plum Island, 1954-2026: A Requiem
Plum Island is an 840-acre island in the Long Island Sound, just off Long Island’s North Fork (New York), a short distance from Connecticut. It has been federally owned since the 19th century and was long home to the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), a research laboratory focused on foreign animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease.
Plum Island: A History
The history of Plum Island is rich and varied, with changing times, historical context, and national challenges changing the use of the island and its purpose.
A Turning Point: U.S. Recognizes Agriculture as a Domain of Defense
The US has legitimized the role of food supply in national defense. It has recognized that in a world of rupture, a nation that cannot feed itself cannot defend itself. A new policy effectively ends the era of agriculture functioning solely as a commercial sector.