Dave Patterson

Keeping the US secure is becoming increasingly more of a challenge. On Veterans Day, those who have served in the Armed Forces are now more involved in writing and passing laws that influence national security, which is more important than ever. Legislators with military experience add an element of validity to congressional budgets and other legislation impacting national security.

Reporting indicates President-elect Donald Trump will choose Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as his nominee for Secretary of State. Rubio has been a loyal and vocal supporter of Trump, even when that was not politically advantageous. The Florida senator has consistently championed Trump's views on foreign policy, particularly about Iran, China, Venezuela, and Russia. However, many believe Rubio's hawkish and interventionist international policy views will be problematic.

When Donald Trump won an impressive re-election, national security wonks went wild with speculation on how Trump 47 would treat the Pentagon.

Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena UAP, and the result was more questions than answers. That was the conclusion one would come to

After more than two years of persistent pleading to permit Ukraine to use long-range missiles provided by the West to strike targets deep inside Russia, the West agrees. As with nearly all of the weapon systems the US and NATO allies eventually supplied to Ukraine, the Biden administration dragged its feet in giving the Ukrainian military long-range precision tactical missiles for fear the weapons would escalate the conflict.

The last substantive opportunity for President Joe Biden to make America's foreign policy case to China's President Xi Jinping came and went.

Just two days after President Joe Biden removed the limitations on Ukraine's use of long-range tactical missiles, Kyiv launched six ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) into Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had requested permission to hit military locations inside Russia with these weapons for almost a year. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin reduced the threshold for his country to employ nuclear weapons.

Is World War III upon us? Since President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use ATACMS long-range missiles, the hearts of the media-chattering class have been fluttering. Prognostications range from one extreme to the other: Putin is all talk, or he's going to launch nuclear weapons and end the world. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle, a poorly defined place.

President-elect Donald Trump has not demonstrated a fondness for the United Nations (UN). During his first term, he pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council because it operated to attack rather than preserve human rights. There is little to recommend the UN for anything more than an opportunity for international diplomats to sit and chat among themselves.

Inside the Biden White House, after more than 1,000 days of brutal conflict in Ukraine, officials at some level are considering a new strategy. It appears the “as-long-it-takes” approach is taking too long, and President-elect Donald Trump's national security team is readying to take over. It seems Joe Biden's coterie of official geopolitical thinkers is floating the notion of providing nuclear weapons to Ukraine.