The Human Tinderbox in the Middle East Sandy Berger, NSN Advisory Board Chairman June 10, 2015 | Foreign Policy The 25,000 civilians who fled the Iraqi city of Ramadi after its recent fall to the Islamic State represent only the latest wave of tragic human dislocation resulting from violence in the Middle East. Turmoil across the region has displaced more than 15 million people since 2011, leaving their return uncertain. Today, a staggering 78 million people worldwide, many uprooted, need assistance to meet basic food and shelter needs. This reflects a steady and unrelenting increase, up from approximately 30 million in 2006 and 65 million in 2012. This situation is the human byproduct of political disintegration in conflict-torn countries across the Middle East and around… Read More ›

Obama Faces Political Setback Over Jason Rezaian Trial May 26, 2015 | Fox News David Mercer, NSN Board of Directors member, and Amos Snead react to new calls to stop nuclear talks. To watch the original interview posting, click here. Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Read More ›

Congress Puts NSA Surveillance Program in Jeopardy May 26, 2015 | Fox News David Mercer, a member of NSN Board of Directors, and Amos Snead debate whether Capitol Hill is playing politics with security. Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com To watch the original interview posting, click here. Read More ›

The Patriot Act in Policy and the Presidential Campaign By Tobias Gibson, NSN Non-Resident Fellow May 28, 2015 | The Hill Recent developments have all but guaranteed the demise of significant programs of the USA Patriot Act. The history of the act is well-documented, and the sprint to the June 1 deadline has been the subject of front-page news, commentary and presidential election hopes. Many politicians have expressed why they support the renewal of Section 215, the controversial section that the executive branch has interpreted to allow unlimited storage of “metadata.” Other politicians have opined about supposed civil liberties violations due to the government’s storage of this data. Pundits, too, have expressed, concern, support or even indifference about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) metadata collection… Read More ›

Unpacking the National Defense Authorization Act May 12, 2015   On May 6th, National Security Network and the Pentagon Budget Campaign co-hosted a lunch panel discussion, “Unpacking the NDAA” for over 30 Hill staffers. The panel included presentations from Todd Harrison, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Mandy Smithberger, Project on Government Oversight, and Ben Friedman, Cato Institute, and was moderated by Wendy Jordan, Taxpayers for Common Sense. Harrison outlined budget caps levels under the Budget Control Act and discussed areas of efficiency reforms that were included and not included in the NDAA. Friedman discussed budgetary gimmicks in the Overseas Contingency Operations account and key areas where the Pentagon needed to make strategic choices. Smithberger highlighted particular weapons programs full of waste that were cut… Read More ›

Corker Bill Goes Forward Despite Deal-Killing Efforts May 4, 2015 The Senate is expected to move toward voting on legislation put forward by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) that would allow Congress a greater role in approving the international agreement being negotiated by the United States and its P5+1 partners with Iran. Previous iterations of the contentious bill contained provisions that would have placed impossible expectations on the deal, including on issues outside the scope of the negotiations, but a compromise brokered by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) stripped those provisions. The compromise has allowed bipartisan support for the bill to coalesce and the Obama Administration says it will not veto it if it passes in its current form. That hasn’t stopped dead-ender conservatives including Sen. Tom… Read More ›

Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton (Ret.) Signs Open Letter Warning of Imbalances in Defense Budget May 1, 2015 Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton (Ret.), Senior Advisor at the National Security Network, signed an open letter calling for Defense and Congressional leaders to address “growing imbalances within the defense budget that threaten the health and viability of America’s military power.” The letter, a part of the Defense Reform Consensus project, included 38 signatories from 15 think tanks and universities, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Significant quotes from the letter: too much of the defense budget is currently consumed by institutional inefficiencies, some of which are mandated by law. This is leaving a smaller share of… Read More ›

An Updated NDAA Falls Short of Real Reform May 1, 2015 This week, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was marked up in the House Armed Services Committee and now waits to head to the floor for additional work. While the bill takes the important step of modernizing the outdated military retirement system, it stops well short of the kind of reforms and choices needed to sustain American military power efficiently and effectively. Overdue cost-savings reforms like paring down the Pentagon’s bloated civilian work force or closing excess bases were either not tackled or explicitly prohibited in the bill. Meanwhile, Congress is keeping its Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) funding $38 billion above the president’s request, ensuring that the war fund actually serves as a slush… Read More ›

Letter to Senate Urges “No” Vote on Budget Resolution Conference Report May 1, 2015 Dear Senator: On behalf of the undersigned organizations and our combined memberships, we urge you to oppose the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Resolution conference report scheduled for votes this week. The conference report contains serious fiscal concerns, particularly related to billions of dollars being allocated toward the Pentagon’s war budget for ill-defined purposes. The conferees agreed to add $38 billion to the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, an emergency account that has been used to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This brings the new total to $89 billion in addition to the $523 billion 050 defense budget. An additional $7 billion has been added in the Overseas Contingency… Read More ›

NSN Letter to House Urges “No” Vote on Budget Resolution Conference Report May 1, 2015 Dear Representative: On behalf of the undersigned organizations and our combined memberships, we urge you to oppose the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Resolution conference report scheduled for votes this week. The conference report contains serious fiscal concerns, particularly related to billions of dollars being allocated toward the Pentagon’s war budget for ill-defined purposes. The conferees agreed to add $39 billion to the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, an emergency account that has been used to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This brings the new total to $90 billion in addition to the $523 billion 050 defense budget. An additional $6 billion has been added in the Overseas Contingency… Read More ›