Craig Whiteside
teach for the Naval War College resident program at NPS in Monterey, CA; The ISIS Reader (Hurst 2020) and Non-state Special Operations (Routledge, 2025); dad, scout, sports fan, and Geronimo
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideThe special issue includes 11 articles from 21 researchers who explore issues of participant trauma, how IRBs should be used effectively, and the importance of reflexivity in research on armed actors. Please listen and spread the word! #polisky #conflictsky podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideIn an interview with NPR, Melinda French Gates confirmed that she ended her marriage with Bill Gates because of allegations contained in the Epstein files.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideHouse passes a spending package to end the partial government shutdown and keep DHS running while Democrats and Trump negotiate over restrictions on the administration’s immigration crackdown. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/u...
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideI know this is just background noise now, but the government is in (partial) shutdown again www.cbsnews.com/live-updates...
- Reposted by Craig Whiteside"Both elected branches seem to have grown uninterested in making political...arguments to the American people, & rely on both active-duty & retired officers to do it for them. Ms. Schake rightly warns that this practice undermines their long-term interest in political supremacy over the military."
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideThe Beatitudes hit different coming from a guy with a black eye, gotta be honest.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideSenate Democrats and Republicans strike a deal to pass five spending bills to fund a large portion of the government for the rest of the fiscal year, plus a stopgap measure funding DHS for two weeks to allow talks on reining jn ICE. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
- Excited to dig into one of the most astounding stories of 2024 @hurstpublishers.bsky.social www.hurstpublishers.com/book/transfo...
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideJapanese authorities have been discreetly urging the country’s fishermen to steer clear of islands claimed by both Japan and China, to avoid escalating a diplomatic clash with Beijing reut.rs/3LY2pMB
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideA walk through the tall ones at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. #ForestFriday #Photography #Trees #California 📷
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideDHS blames Minnesota family driving home from kids’ athletic event for their family (including 6-month old baby) being tear-gassed, then deletes tweet. www.cnn.com/politics/liv...
- Reposted by Craig Whiteside
- New from me: I write about what we can learn from the remarkable leaked trial video of a Chinese general punished for his behavior before the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown @warontherocks.bsky.social warontherocks.com/2026/01/obed...
- Reposted by Craig Whiteside🚨 51-50, Senate votes to block Venezuela war powers resolution after 2 Republicans succumb to Trump's pressure tactics Josh Hawley & Todd Young flip, vote to sink it. All Dems + Paul, Murkowski & Collins vote to advance. Vance breaks tie, blocking it. www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideMight be a tad bit late once the U.S. has attacked a NATO ally. The War Powers Resolution is notable because it provides the *minority* a mechanism for forcing votes on unauthorized military actions. Senator Tillis is in the majority which has many more tools available—and available now.
- Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), to Bloomberg TV: “If there is military action against #Greenland, I will be one of the first people to file and co-sponsor a War Powers Resolution. It will pass.”
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideAs the White House hosts Greenland Summit day, read 'the textual equivalent of sitting down for a beer w/someone who just happens to be an expert on Arctic security & wants to fill you in on the backstory to Trump’s recent overtures.' @newstatesman1913.bsky.social ➡️ tinyurl.com/4ezeesk4
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideThe use of special operations forces requires coherent strategy from civilian decision makers. My latest for @fpri.bsky.social www.fpri.org/article/2026...
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideOn the killing of Renee Nicole Good, I just published a piece in @foreignpolicy.com arguing the Trump administration is weaponizing the narrative of “vehicular terrorism” as a shortcut to justify an unlawful killing: “death squad logic, adapted to American streets” foreignpolicy.com/2026/01/13/v...
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideIf you’re in DC tomorrow, or want to participate online for a 4 to 5 pm event on civil-military relations, we’d love to have you in the conversation! Here’s how to rsvp:
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideIR Realists saying farewell to the Rational Actor Assumption
- Hessy Levinsons Taft, Jewish Baby on Cover of Nazi Magazine, Dies at 91 www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/w...
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideDelivering his first annual foreign policy speech, Pope Leo did not hold back in his criticism for the might-makes-right mentality of world leaders.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideLloyd Burke's 13-month tour in Korea was at an end when he decided to turn back — and received the Medal of Honor in the process.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideThe thing that’s so dumb about this is that there’s nothing legitimate about the strategic importance of Greenland that the US doesn’t get through existing alliances. Denmark isn’t impeding US strategic interests. It’s about them wanting to increase US land area by 20%.
- Reposted by Craig Whiteside“Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois and Colorado will be cut off from around $7 billion in funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance to households with children, according to two people familiar with the matter.” Monstrously cruel.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideThucydides did not write the Melian Dialogue for people to forget Athens lost the Peloponnesian War.
- Reposted by Craig Whiteside2/ The "Panama precedent" of 1989 US operation to capture Noriega counts against, not in favor, of US operation in Venezuela. a) UN General Assembly "strongly deplored" US 1989 operation b) HW Bush, James Baker, Ambassador Pickering cited justifications that are nowhere in Venezuela case Excerpt⤵️
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideI joined two great legal experts, @mikeschmitt.bsky.social @tessbridgeman.bsky.social, on this analysis In this thread, I highlight 3 items you may not see covered in same way, if at all, elsewhere. Panama 'precedent,' safeguards for Heads of State, Venezuelan nationals new legal protections in US
- Reposted by Craig Whitesidean annoying thing about realists insisting they're the no-nonsense reality-based group is that few of their predictions have been based in reality
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideBefore America became the arsenal, it had to admit it was behind schedule.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideA really cool exaggerated elevation map of California. The Central Valley produces a lot of expensive items, such as nuts and culinary fruits. It's a very lucrative source of agricultural wealth. Source: buff.ly/y5sWcKW
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideThe standard the Court has set is that the President must (1) have a Constitutional or statutory basis for using the military in law enforcement, and (2) be unable to enforce the law using the regular military before calling up National Guard. An admirable restraint.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideThe paperback version just arrived!
- Reposted by Craig Whiteside100% true for legal work
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideI wrote a paper tracing this process for one especially well-documented movement some years back, but there are plenty of examples icct.nl/publication/...
- @queenofthinair.bsky.social How bout that Sam Darnold? Fight on!
- So sad
- Officials say the suspected Brown University shooter was also responsible for the killing of an MIT professor at his Massachusetts home this week. Follow live updates: cnn.it/4s2xLSq
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideDenmark controls some of Europe’s most strategically important maritime choke points, including access to the Baltic Sea via the Danish Straits.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideAs I was grading the final essays for my class yesterday, I thought it was time to build “check if references exist” into Canvas. But that won’t help much if Google Scholar is going to be indexing hallucitations.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideNEW: Trump's mysterious commutation of David Gentile has upset & confused his victims. Several of the businesses in which their life savings were invested had Scientology links. Gentile is a Scientologist himself, but the church says it had nothing to do with the commutation.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideEarlier this year, the director of CalTrans presented this chart to members of the state Senate’s Transportation Committee, showing a dramatic rise in deaths on California's roads. No lawmakers asked about the chart. Or what CalTrans was doing about it. 1/9
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideSeven German journalism students tracked Russian-crewed freighters lurking off the Dutch and German coast—and connected them to drone swarms over military bases. (Hank Van Ess)
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideCongress, too, is Constitutional civilian control of the military. Every senior officer is required before confirmation to commit they will tell Congress of any concerns about Administration policies or actions.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideThe Commandant listed two of our books on his professional reading list! www.marines.mil/News/Message...
- Reposted by Craig Whiteside“The cartoon turtle is just one example in an avalanche of juvenile public messaging about those we kill.” Always read @philklay.bsky.social What Trump Is Really Doing With His Boat Strikes www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/o...
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideGood news: my bipartisan legislation repealing the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for war against Iraq is in this year’s defense bill. When the President signs this bill into law, finally closing the book on this forever war, it will be a historic victory for the American people.
- Reposted by Craig Whitesidecimsec.org/on-obedience... The interview.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideDefinitely worth reading.
- I thoroughly recommend reading all of Cory Doctorow's recent speech on AI skepticism, it's crammed with new arguments and interesting new ways of thinking about these problems pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideOne cannot go to Hannah Arendt’s work for comfort, Jennifer Szalai writes of the German-born political thinker. What she offers instead is “the company of someone who had direct experience of the horrors of the 20th century yet never relinquished what she called amor mundi, or ‘love of the world.’”
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideDonald Trump, who I do not support, may be wrong to kill Venezuelan drug runners, but at least he's not as bad as Obama, who killed the Arab world's most progressive leader, Osama bin Laden, who I also do not support by Glenn Greenwald
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideDon’t get excited until the first three are built. The Navy and industry’s ability to screw up shipbuilding is nearly boundless. And once they’re built, maybe we’ll lose one or two to a catastrophic fire that will be nobody’s fault.
- Reposted by Craig Whiteside"Many countries post–civil war fall back into conflict, and it can be counted as a success that Syria has not yet done so, despite flare-ups of violence and vigilantism," writes @azelin.bsky.social.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesidePresident Donald Trump has issued a “full and unconditional pardon” for Oak View Group co-founder Tim Leiweke, who was indicted by the president’s own Justice Department earlier this year, according to a document released online.
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideIR Scholars: In addition to USIP being renamed the Donald J Trump Institute of Peace, ALL of its publications have been taken offline. I learned this because I assign a USIP report in my next class, and students emailed tonight saying the link didn't work 🤦♂️
- Reposted by Craig WhitesideU.S. Central Command has opened a new combined air defense post with Bahraini forces, highlighting its relationship with a longtime ally and shoring up regional security amid ongoing tensions between Iran and Israel.
