The near-destruction of ISIS in a matter of months (losing 99 percent of its landed caliphate), the restoration of sound defense budgeting, a reestablished sense of deterrence, and stable recalibration with allies were the signature achievements of James Mattis. And it seems a mistake not to have him finish a four-year stint at Defense.

A fellow free-market-oriented economics blogger, whom I respect but whom I won't name because I also respect Facebook privacy, wrote the following on Facebook: "I guess I disagree with standard libertarian view on this [ISIS]. Libertarians, like progressives, do not think that there are evil people in the world."

With congressional hearings on the Obama Administration’s proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) for the Islamic State on the horizon, we propose six questions that Members of Congress should ask Administration witnesses

President Barack Obama does deserve credit for increasing economic sanctions and espionage against the Iranian nuclear programs. Keeping the Russians, Chinese and Europeans supporting economic and diplomatic isolation of Iran is a major achievement, and probably had more to do with Iran agreeing to negotiate than did the election of a reformist president in Iran.

Kori Schake talks about Iran and their nuclear weapons program.

Yesterday the Chairmen and Ranking members of the Senate Armed Services Committee (McCain and Reed) and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Corker and Menendez) sent a noteworthy letter to Secretaries Kerry and Carter about growing Chinese hegemony in the South China Sea.

The president who thinks there’s such a thing as an “Austrian” language is advising Rand Paul to “bone up on foreign policy.”

“Drill, baby, drill” was derided as a political punch line—until it worked.