Stevenson’s army, August 25

– Congress makes deals that both sides can brag about.

– They take trips to war zones to dramatize their views. But they face a September when they have to fund government and change the debt ceiling.

– WaPo says intelligence report on origins of the coronavirus is inconclusive.

– WaPo says Biden, while keeping August 31 withdrawal date, has ordered contingency plans.

– Dan Drezner summarizes his views on US over-reliance on sanctions in his column, but includes link to excellent new Foreign Affairs article.

– Another good piece in new FA is 3-way debate on US civil-military relations.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).