By Steven Cash and Steve W. DeVine President Bush Signs Homeland Security Act We responded to 9/11 by building institutions meant to make America safer without surrendering the freedoms we were defending. Twenty-five years later, we’re dismantling pieces of that architecture—and forgetting why we built it. This month marks the 25th anniversary of the September […]
THE STEADY STATE ENDORSES RAY BILGER FOR PENNSYLVANIA’S 15TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON — The Steady State, an organization of more than 420 former national security, intelligence, diplomatic, military, law enforcement, and homeland security officials, today endorsed Ray Bilger for Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District. Ray Bilger is running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th District. Born in […]
My anger after September 11 could have taken me somewhere very different. Instead, people gave me time, purpose, and a way to participate. I was eighteen on September 11, 2001, and still trying to figure out what came next. My closest friends had left for college that summer, while I stayed behind in Bakersfield, California, […]
A republic rarely falls because of a single corrupt act. Democracy is more often weakened over time, as conduct once considered unacceptable becomes tolerated and eventually familiar. Political corruption is usually discussed as an ethical or legal problem, and appropriately so. What receives less attention is the vulnerability it creates for our national security. Public […]
The Supreme Court has put the brakes on a last-minute effort to change the rules governing mail-in voting before the 2026 midterms. The underlying legal fight continues, but for this election, the existing rules remain in place—and voters can cast their ballots under them. In a one paragraph, unsigned Order, seven Justices on the Supreme […]
THE STEADY STATE ENDORSES CAIT CONLEY FOR NEW YORK’S 17TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON — The Steady State, an organization of more than 420 former national security, intelligence, diplomatic, military, law enforcement, and homeland security officials, today endorsed Caitlin Conley for New York’s 17th Congressional District. Cait Conley is running for Congress in New York’s 17th […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 15, 2026 PDF AVAILABLE HERE Washington, D.C. — The Steady State, an organization of more than 430 former national security officials, yesterday asked the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to investigate whether Todd Blanche, then the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, violated the Hatch Act when he appeared […]
I came to America because my family believed in its promise. Twenty-five years after 9/11, I have learned that belonging isn’t something we simply inherit—it is something we choose, defend, and build every day. I was a teenager when I first raised my right hand and swore an oath. That oath was not to a […]
Host Jim Lawler sits down with his former CIA colleague Dr. Les Paldy, a distinguished service Professor Emeritus at Stony Brook University who spent 25 years balancing two identities: university professor by day and CIA operations officer in service to the United States. Paldy shares how he was first recruited — a classic spotting operation […]