Unpacking this week’s Sentinel podcast: Here’s what you need to know from a conversation that ranges from the battlefields of the MAGA media wars to the paralyzed hallways of the FBI. In the latest episode of The Steady State Sentinel, John Sipher welcomes David Corn, Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, MSNBC analyst, and one […]
AI Generated Graphic A poorly informed electorate makes it easier to vilify public servants, dismantle expertise, and replace governance with self-serving power. The tumult of recent years has illuminated how little the average citizen knows about the United States government and the people who perform its functions. As politicians continue to slash civil service jobs […]
AI Generated Graphic The focus on partisanship is distracting from a more serious threat: the weakening of democratic checks and balances. I have published multiple negative essays and commentaries regarding our current president and the damage done by both him and his appointed band of sycophant grifters, especially in his second incarnation. Those many pieces […]
Former CIA officer John Sipher sits down for the latest Sentinel podcast with David Corn, Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones and one of the nation’s most respected political journalists. They dive deep into the explosive schisms within MAGA world triggered by the Iran war, from Tucker Carlson accusing Trump of being the anti‑Christ to […]
The MAGA Crack-Up: David Corn on Iran, the FBI, and a Democracy Under Siege Conspiracy Narratives, Media Challenges, and the Long Shadow of Russian Influence Former CIA officer John Sipher sits down with David Corn, Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones and one of the nation’s most respected political journalists. They dive deep into the […]
War does not suspend the law—the principles of distinction, necessity, proportionality, and humanity are not optional, and abandoning them carries real strategic and moral consequences. In the several weeks since the United States and Israel attacked Iran, the President and Secretary of Defense have announced on a number of occasions that we are winning the […]
This week lays bare the consequences of improvised and personality-driven statecraft: The loss of coherence and credibility. As expertise is sidelined, and negotiation gives way to coercion and spectacle, foreign policy becomes less predictable and more prone to miscalculation. Read more… The Essentials Quoted “The Steady State, an organization of retired national security officials dedicated […]
By Guest Author (Name Withheld) When a country starts treating belonging as conditional and dissent as dangerous, it’s no longer deciding who gets to stay, but whether democracy itself will endure. I came to America in the summer of 2016. I was twelve years old. My family and I landed at Newark Liberty International Airport, […]
The United States can—and must—protect national security without sacrificing civil liberties, but doing so requires strict adherence to legal constraints like the Privacy Act of 1974, robust oversight, and greater transparency; without these guardrails, the expanding power of government data risks being turned inward on citizens, undermining both public trust and the foundations of democratic […]
Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers and author of the Declaration of Independence, was also the first Secretary of State. Like George Washington, he wanted to avoid ‘entangling alliances,’ but also wanted to stress foreign commerce. Through forced exits, ideological enforcement, and institutional neglect, the State Department is being transformed into a tool of […]