“Never, ever…was there ever a hint that an analyst would be fired because they produced conclusions that did not fit with the administration’s policy preferences. Until Now.” I served on the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in the mid-1990’s as the Deputy to the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia under Ezra Vogel, the brilliant and […]

The first 100+ days of the Trump regime have weakened both freedom in the US and also US leadership in the world. The more obvious assaults on our freedom include political kidnappings on our streets by plain clothed, masked thugs as well as the evisceration of federal agencies vital to our society. But these distract […]

When I was growing up in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, you heard folks asking not infrequently, “How could Hitler have taken power and do the things he and his government did?” My mother who was born in 1928 and lived through WWII often asked this question, once in the mid-1960s seeking but not really […]

A brief recollection of one chapter in our nation’s history tells of great wisdom. In 1861, upon entering office, Abraham Lincoln brought with him two things: one, the idea that a lot of differing ideas and preferences for governing would be useful to him in administering the government in the face of what everyone knew […]

[The below comment was formally submitted by the Steady State in response to a proposed rule, now in the public comment phase, which will create a “Schedule F” in the US Civil Service. Although ostensibly to improve “performance, accountability and responsiveness,” the actual intent is clear — to ensure that civil servants are loyal to […]