Two weeks ago, air raid sirens and tweets of an incoming attack resounded throughout Pearl Harbor and the Hawaiian Islands. The last time such an alert was issued in earnest was 76 years ago when Japanese bombers struck battleship row and other U.S. military facilities early on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. This time, for nearly 40 minutes, the threat of North Korean missiles destroying Honolulu, possibly with nuclear warheads, was no longer remote. Fortunately, no missiles had been launched. It turned out that human error caused the alert and the subsequent outright fear of many who understandably believed the end was in sight. The lesson from this erroneous [...]

The United States has weathered and survived a revolution, a civil war, two world wars, one cold war, economic depressions, and the perils of a government too often paralyzed in gridlock because of the extreme polarization of its politics. Yet, unintended dangers to the nation have also arisen as consequences of profoundly misguided actions by its government. During the 20th century, despite laws and policies that discriminated on the basis of sex, race or political involvement, I would argue that the single most destructive piece of legislation was the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol. The 18th Amendment produced widespread contempt and disregard for the law [...]

Last Friday, in the U.S. Naval Academy’s Memorial Hall dedicated to Navy and Marine heroes, Thomas B. Modly took the oath of office as the 33rd Under Secretary of the Navy and Marine Corps.  In his remarks, Mr. Modly eloquently combined naval lore with a cogent understanding of the challenges lying ahead and a plan to deal with them. Using the Academy motto of “From Knowledge Seapower” as his theme, Mr. Modly warned of the dangers of a “hollow force” and the singular importance of people drawing on the father of the American Navy John Paul Jones’ dictum that “men are important than guns in the rating of ship.” He [...]

Defining a year with a single word defies logic and common sense.  Yet, in many ways, 2017 was a year defined by the word outrage that crossed political, economic, social, cultural and emotional boundaries in the United States. The source of much of this outrage was fear of the future. Fear unleashed anger.  And anger became outrage. Diminishing standards of living; wage stagnation; the skyrocketing costs of health care and education; and the increasing gaps between rich and poor were grounds for fear of the future.  In this highly polarized, divisive and entirely partisan political environment, for many Americans, the target for this outrage was failed and failing government. Cleaning [...]