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Richard Beck, Homeland: The War on Terror in American Life (Penguin, 2024). Almost a quarter-century after 9/11, the War on Terror no longer dominates U.S. foreign policy and is less central to our politics and culture. While this conflict has few defenders today, the questions of why it was fought, how it went awry, and what this history means for the future of U.S. policy are still up in the air. For the restraint movement, associated with organizations like the Quincy Institute, the Cato Institute, and Defense Priorities, the War on Terror was a string of unmitigated disasters.

Defense technology firm Anduril announced Thursday that it has developed a new line of air-breathing, software-defined, autonomous cruise missiles — one of which is the company’s offering for the Air Force’s ongoing Enterprise Test Vehicle program.
The Barracuda family of weapons leverage a modular design that enables the missiles to be mass-produced at low cost and high volume in order to meet the Defense Department’s growing demand for munitions.

A New Mexico National Guard unit that lost half of its soldiers in the Philippines and Alaska Natives who endured the only Japanese occupation of U.S. soil in World War II may soon be honored with a Congressional Gold Medal, if two New Mexico lawmakers get their way.
New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich and Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández reintroduced a bill that would award Congressional Gold Medals to American veterans who fought in often-doomed early World War II battles, including Bataan, Corregidor, and Mindanao in the Philippines, Midway Island, Wake Island, Guam and Java.

Inspectors general from the Defense Department and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency launched a new, joint evaluation that will comprehensively gauge how Maven — the U.S. military’s pioneering and still-evolving computer vision program — is being integrated into real-world GEOINT operations.
Senior leaders from the watchdogs unveiled their plans to open this new review in a memorandum issued Sept. 9.

In the 21st century, the Boeing VC-25 based on the Boeing 747 is what comes to mind when people think of Air Force One. The Presidential aircraft was famously depicted in the 1997 Harrison Ford film Air Force One and other media. Although the VC-25 flew its maiden flight in 1987 and was introduced three years later, it did not completely replace the older VC-137 derived from the Boeing 707. In fact, the VC-137 flew its last mission as Air Force One just under two weeks before the terror attacks on September 11, 2001.
President George W. Bush arrives Tuesday, Sept.

If you’ve watched firearms videos on YouTube, you’ve probably seen one by Paul Harrell. A Marine and Army National Guard veteran, Paul trained as a firearms instructor and shared his knowledge on his YouTube channel that bears his name. Doing without the cinematic post-production editing of other popular content creators, Harrell instead focused on educational content that promoted practical information and safety. He often noted in his videos, “As always, don’t try this at home.” In this way, he can be likened to the Bob Ross of “GunTube.

The terror attacks on September 11, 2001, saw four commercial airliners hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists and used to attack strategic targets in the United States. American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center while United Airlines Flight 93 was prevented from crashing into either the U.S. Capitol Building or the White House by a passenger revolt, and instead crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Between the crashes in New York and Pennsylvania, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the west wall of the Pentagon.

Soldiers will soldier, and in a video that hit Instagram last week, a duo of grunts had fun with putting out a brush fire in the training area. Two 1st Calvary Division soldiers lay prone at the start of the video, with full kit on. No rifle in hand, but a fire flapper.  
“Enemy 12 o’clock. 25 meters!” calls the first soldier. 
A part of Battle Drill 1: React to Direct Fire Contact, one of the first things soldiers are trained to do as you return fire is call out direction, distance, and description – otherwise known as the 3Ds.

A lot happens every day. Alliances shift, leaders change, and conflicts erupt. With In Brief, we’ll help you make sense of it all. Each week, experts will dig deep on a single issue happening in the world to help you better understand it. Since Hamas invaded Israel, sparking the war in Gaza, on Oct. 7, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched attacks on over 70 vessels in the Red Sea. These attacks have created a crisis for the global shipping industry – the Red Sea is a key international trade route and a conduit for nearly a third of the world’s container traffic.

As inspirational plaques go, the one that hangs inside the 354th Fighter Squadron isn’t pretty. Just a rough slab of plywood, cracked in the corner, with some hand-drawn letters. 
But its message is simple:
Our mission is an 18-year-old with a rifle. ATTACK!
It’s a slogan the 354th’s wing commander at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base wants the pilots who fly the 354th’s A-10C Thunderbolt IIs — attack pilots, they call themselves — to think about every time they step up to their jet.
A hand-lettered sign in the 354th Fighter Squadron. Air Force photo.