Kelley B. Vlahos

Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, a Washington, D.C.-based freelance writer, is a longtime political reporter for FoxNews.com and a contributing editor at The American Conservative. She is also a Washington correspondent for Homeland Security Today magazine. Her Twitter account is @KelleyBVlahos.

The Hive and the Heterodoxy

Last month in this space we discussed the role of top foreign policy/national security think tanks as standard-bearers for the military establishment and political status quo in Washington. It’s a dizzy game that is no doubt taken seriously by many scholars who are quite earnest and impassioned about their respective fields of research, but it … Continue reading “The Hive and the Heterodoxy”

Waking Up to the Drones

Look at these photographs. See the eager faces among the children at the school — they could be anyone’s kids at any moment in America. And the baby, so precious and new, reflecting the light of his proud parents, the hope of everyone around him. Now imagine that the school is attacked by Predator drones … Continue reading “Waking Up to the Drones”

How Think Tanks Think

When liberal Americans find themselves at a loss as to why Democrats appear to walk, talk and gurgle like Republicans on national security issues — especially during election season — they honestly need to look no further than the powerful think tank apparatus in Washington for the culprit. First of all, it is important to … Continue reading “How Think Tanks Think”

The Freedom 7 and You

Bradley Manning Support Network member David House was returning to the country from a vacation last year when he was detained by agents from the Department of Homeland Security. They confiscated his laptop, camera and USB drive (all of which they kept for seven weeks), and questioned House about his political beliefs before sending him … Continue reading “The Freedom 7 and You”

The Passion of Bradley Manning

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning — the man accused of blowing a whistle so loud it’s still reverberating through the world two years after the fact — will return before a judge for his court-martial proceedings this month. Manning, 24, faces 22 charges, including “aiding the enemy” and violating the 1917 Espionage Act, for allegedly transferring … Continue reading “The Passion of Bradley Manning“

Get Ready for the Crackdowns

The show of paramilitary force at the national party conventions held since the 9/11 attacks has been nothing less than shocking, though the vast majority of America doesn’t know it because they weren’t there, or they simply don’t care. Still, since the Occupy movement has brought on new and creative crackdowns on Constitutionally-protected protest activity … Continue reading “Get Ready for the Crackdowns”

A Turn Right at the Left Forum

“It’s like the CPAC of the Left.” Someone told me that as I was making my way to the Left Forum at Pace University in lower Manhattan Saturday morning. Since I’ve been a virtual connoisseur of the legendary Conservative Political Action Conference, that annual running of right-wing Republican leaders and lemmings, this didn’t seem to … Continue reading “A Turn Right at the Left Forum”

Remembering Jeff Huber

“The longer we as a nation stay on this neoconservative, post-modern imperialist crazy-train joy ride, the further we’re going to fall when China calls in our debt or the tea baggers turn the country into Zombieland or a space ship lands and a guy who looks like Michael Rennie steps out of it and tells … Continue reading “Remembering Jeff Huber”

Tell the Truth Already!

“Dismounted complex blast injuries” caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Afghanistan are felling our soldiers and Marines so frequently today that men are routinely banking their sperm as another item on the checklist before they deploy for the war. They’re doing that because a dismounted complex blast injury — now being called the “new … Continue reading “Tell the Truth Already!”