The dignity of Arlington stands in stark contrast to proposals that confuse remembrance with self-promotion. As I have on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend for the last nine years, last Sunday, May 24, 2026, I went to Arlington Cemetery to visit my parents’ grave. I actually go to the cemetery fairly frequently; it’s a […]
In this episode of The Steady State Sentinel, John Sipher speaks with veteran intelligence and counterterrorism official Russ Travers about the state of American democracy, the national security system, and his forthcoming book, Common Sense Take 2. Travers reflects on his 45-year career across the intelligence community, from warning about systemic intelligence failures before 9/11 […]
Most Americans know something is wrong with our democracy. Fewer understand how much is failing, why it is happening, or what ordinary citizens can do about it. That is why Steady State’s Russ Travers wrote Common Sense: Take 2. This week, we begin a five-week series walking through this book’s central themes. We we will […]
PDF We assess that President Trump’s chronic need to reward loyalists and appease dictators is a primary driver of America’s path toward authoritarianism. Trump’s creation of a $1.776 billion slush fund to reward anyone claiming they were “persecuted” by the Biden Administration suggests he may see a need to remind people who have proven willing […]
The United States did not fight, finance, or win the Revolution alone. As modern alliances come under strain, the nation’s founding story deserves a fuller—and humbler—telling. President Trump has made abundantly clear his attitude towards alliances, especially NATO. At best, his approach is transactional. More often, it is dismissive or even contemptuous. Leaving NATO would […]
This week The Steady State focused on the country’s internal polarization and the underlying challenges involving democratic culture, institutional resilience, and the continuing concentration and personalization of political power at a time that the country is facing international instability and strategic risk. We maintain that democracy’s survival depends not only on elections or constitutions, but […]
Peoria once symbolized an America where political opponents still shared democratic values and basic decency. The disappearance of “Peoria Nice” reveals how profoundly American politics—and the Republican Party—have changed. “Will this play in Peoria?” American presidents were famously known to ask this in the mid-20th century. Peoria, a small central Illinois city between Chicago and […]
Nuclear weapons-usable uranium, biolabs for biological warfare, secret chemical facilities — In Operation Sapphire, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Andy Weber found and disposed of them. Where are the current threats? What does Iran still have? Biological threats may ultimately prove even more dangerous than nuclear ones. How do we control them? This special joint […]