Adam Weinstein

Engagement Editor

I'm Mother Jones' engagement editor and Tumblrizer, specializing in explanatory journalism and new-media reporting. As a Navy vet and ex-Iraq contractor, I'm also committed to articulating all things martial—good, bad, and weird—to new audiences.

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Adam Weinstein is Mother Jones' engagement editor, having previously served the magazine as its national security reporter and copy editor. Before that, he worked at the Wall Street Journal, the Village Voice, and the Tallahassee Democrat. He's written for the New York Times, New York magazine, GQ, and Newsweek. A Navy veteran, two-day Jeopardy champion and ex-political scientist, he also did a recession-fueled stint as a military contractor in Iraq. For more about Adam and his writing, click here.

Why the Debt Deal Won't Hurt the Pentagon

—By Adam Weinstein

| Tue Aug. 2, 2011 11:34 AM PDT

Will the just-passed debt-ceiling deal put the United States on a path to national security ruin? That's what defense hawks are saying. "Our senior military commanders have been unanimous in their concerns that deeper cuts could break the force," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said yesterday, predicting that the proposal would "turn a debt crisis into a national security crisis." Tom Donnelly, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, ominously told the USA Today that the Pentagon cuts embedded in the compromise wouldn't call for "long knives so much as chain saws." And Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that President Obama had used the debt bill to "not just promote, but insist on the knowing destruction of the US military." He added, "We will need to work very hard to restore spending necessary for our national security and commit to reject the threat of Armageddon inserted into this bill by the White House." (McKeon and Kyl voted for the plan nonetheless.)

Yet the Department of Defense might make out surprisingly well in the deal. It's long been prepared for deep cuts and has already started focusing on doing more with less. But it may not even come to that: Its congressional allies will have plenty of time to water down any potential reductions. According an assessment by Winslow Wheeler, director of the Center for Defense Information, "The debt deal kicks the defense budget can down the road for this and future Congresses."

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

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HASC Chairman: Debt Bill Will Cause War

—By Adam Weinstein

| Mon Aug. 1, 2011 4:38 PM PDT

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, whose panel oversees a lot of defense pork, has spent much of the debt-ceiling debate fending off attacks on military spending. When the compromise bill emerged Wednesday, he put out another blistering press release that raged against its Pentagon-paring provisions:

Our senior military commanders have been unanimous in their concerns that deeper cuts could break the force. I take their position seriously and the funding levels in this bill won’t make their job easier... There is no scenario in the second phase of this proposal that does not turn a debt crisis into a national security crisis. Defense cannot sustain any additional cuts either from the joint committee or the sequestration trigger.

McKeon then proceeded to vote "Yes" on the debt-ceiling compromise bill, calling it "the least bad proposal before us."

So, if you think a bill is certain to make America less safe, why would you vote for it? I asked an Armed Services GOP staffer that question on Twitter.

His full reply: "you get the press release?"

I'll have more tomorrow on the impact this debt deal will actually have on US defense. Assuming no one attacks us in the meantime, of course.

This Week in National Insecurity: Debtageddon Edition

—By Adam Weinstein

| Fri Jul. 29, 2011 3:00 AM PDT

While you were watching The Town on Blu-Ray the DC debt-ceiling drama, a lot happened in the national security sphere. In this installment: We're defenseless against default, would-be domestic terrorists do it wrong, a Russian diplomat rips red-staters, a Vets' Hall of Fame inducts...Rick Scott, a fighter jet has gremlins, and the DOD outputs an epic cyber fail.

The sitrep:

• Yes, going into a debt default could make America less safe. Kind of a dilemma for conservative hawks.

• A Planned Parenthood clinic was firebombed in Texas. Terrorism? Perhaps. Al Qaeda? No, because they probably know better than to use diesel in a Molotov cocktail.

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

Rick Scott, Military Hero for a Day

—By Adam Weinstein

| Fri Jul. 29, 2011 2:59 AM PDT

Embattled Florida governor Rick Scott had to scuttle another one of his big plans yesterday. The plan was to create a Hall of Fame for the state's prominent military veterans—with him as an inaugural inductee.

Scott, a Navy vet (more on his service record in a sec), was joined on the list of inductees by exactly zero Medal of Honor recipients. Not Fort Lauderdale's local hero, Sandy Nininger, who died in hand-to-hand combat trying to keep the Japanese from overrunning the Philippines in 1942. Not Bud Day of Ft. Walton Beach, the "most decorated US service member since General Douglas MacArthur," who was a POW in Vietnam (and a Swift Boater during the 2004 election). Not Paul R. Smith of Tampa, who manned a machine gun to protect his company of 100 soldiers in the 2003 battle for Baghdad's airport—and who posthumously received the first Medal of Honor awarded in the Iraq war.

Who else was on the VIP list of Florida military heroes? Six former state governors who fought in the Civil War on the losing side. One, Abraham Allison, assumed office in 1865 when his predecessor realized the Confederate cause was lost and committed suicide. Allison then went into hiding, was arrested by federal troops, and served six months in prison for his role in oppressing the Sunshine State's slave population.

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

The Ft. Hood Suspect's Alleged Antiwar Links

—By Adam Weinstein

| Thu Jul. 28, 2011 11:48 AM PDT

This story has been updated. Please scroll down for the latest.

Last night an Army private was apprehended last night near Fort Hood, Texas, allegedly in possession of bombmaking materials. Early reports say Pvt. Nasser Abdo, a Muslim-American, was slated for discharge as a conscientious objector (CO). But his separation was held up because of child pornography charges, and he'd gone AWOL from his base in Kentucky. He appears to be the same soldier interviewed by Headline News in this clip:

And according to a right-wing military blog, Abdo also may have connections to a prominent antiwar advocacy group. John Lilyea of This Ain't Hell says he's written about Abdo before as well as an attorney connected with Iraq Veterans Against the War who worked with Abdo on his bid for CO status, which included a now-defunct fundraising website, Freenasserabdo.org. (The video above was posted by a YouTube user freenasserabdo.)

Additionally, IVAW appears to have featured Abdo on its website and used his writing about about Islamophobia in the military in a press release. One commenter on This Aint Hell has identified himself as an IVAW member who "read Abdo's statement" at a public event put on by the antiwar group. "I have never met him and don't know him," the commenter—who calls himself Army Sergeant—writes. "I don't remember how the statement came to us. He is not an IVAW member, and I did not know him—he was at that point just a random Muslim CO. Maybe there's a good lesson there not to promote people you don’t actually know, and I’ll be thinking about that one."

The full story isn't clear yet. The "bombmaking devices" Abdo possessed apparently amount to "firearms and smokeless powder," which aren't all that uncommon among folks in Texas (no, seriously). And This Ain't Hell certainly has an axe to grind when it comes to Muslims, the military, and antiwar groups. Nevertheless, if Abdo had bad intentions, the pacifist left will likely be the subject of some serious attacks from the right. Or perhaps even Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.).

[Read more in the MoJo blog]