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Kevin Baron

Executive Editor, Defense One Kevin Baron is executive editor of Defense One. A 15-year veteran of Washington’s defense, national security and foreign affairs scene, Baron has covered the military, the Pentagon, Congress and politics for Foreign Policy, National Journal, Stars and Stripes, the Boston Globe’s Washington bureau, and the Center for Public Integrity. Baron is vice president of the Pentagon Press Association.
Results 1-10 of 45

Obama to Military: Blame Congress

2:05 AM ET President Obama ordered the military to continue on normal duty status in a rare video message to the troops delivered immediately following the federal government shutdown that was as much a political shot at House Republicans as it was any reassurance to U.S. troops. “Unfortunately, Congress has not fulfilled its ...

The Other Half of ‘This Town’

September 18, 2013 A decorated Naval officer and graduate of Annapolis. A father of three who spent three years in Iraq, voluntarily. A shipbuilder living his dream. This town? This is our town. This is a glimpse of the defense and national security community’s town. It’s the side of this town that is ...

Joint Chief Adm. Greenert Evacuated From Navy Yard During Shooting

September 16, 2013 Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the top U.S. Navy officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was at the Navy Yard during Monday morning’s shooting and was evacuated safely, Defense One learned as the melee unfolded. Greenert is chief of naval operations, known in the military as the CNO. ...

National Security for Dummies: Syria Exposes D.C.’s Chasm Between War and Politics

September 10, 2013 The politics of national security in Washington rarely are on display as they have been during the Syria war watch of the past few weeks. Like a beach town waiting in eerie angst for a hurricane three days away, its a time where seemingly everyone has something to say and ...

Hagel Dodged the Kerry Question Two Weeks Ago

September 10, 2013 Two weeks ago in the Philippines, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was asked the same question put to Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday in London. Was there anything left that Syria could do to avoid a U.S. military strike for using chemical weapons? Hagel dodged, nobody noticed, and the U.S. ...

Hagel the Grunt, McCain the Pilot, and Vietnam’s Effect on Syria

September 3, 2013 Why has Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., clamored for air strikes on Syria for years, while Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, until now, has urged caution against using military forces? One likely reason: Vietnam. Hagel and McCain were two of several combat veterans on stage during Tuesday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing ...

Ambition vs. Ability

September 1, 2013 After his first two-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey is feeling freer to lean forward and speak up with a new warning: the United States must balance its global ambition with reality. Dempsey, President Obama’s senior military adviser, is tasked with confronting a ...

Pentagon Pivots Within the Pivot, to Southeast Asia

August 28, 2013 BANDER SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei -- As the Obama administration shifts its national security resources and leadership focus toward Asia, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel this week announced the United States would begin to hone particularly on Southeast Asia. Hagel has leapfrogged around the Pacific for five days through Hawaii, Malaysia and ...

U.S. No Longer Seeking U.N., NATO Permission to Strike Syria

August 27, 2013 BANDER SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei -- With its military ready to attack Syria on President Obama’s command, the United States is no longer pursuing a United Nations or NATO stamp of approval to respond with force to the purported deployment of chemical weapons. Instead, the U.S. has focused on building a ...

Whatever Comes Next, Syria Is Forcing a New U.S. Strategy for the Middle East

August 25, 2013 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Somehow, despite their best efforts to stay out of Syria, President Obama’s new team of national security leaders, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry, have found themselves on the precipice of yet another war. Just a few months since taking office, the ...