For the moment, all of America's enemies prefer to fight through unconventional or irregular warfare rather than through traditional force-on-force engagements.

Perhaps the most eventful news of the Obama administration’s shuffling of its national security deck chairs is the fact that General David Petraeus--commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, architect of the Iraq surge, and the driving force behind the Army’s willingness to adapt to the persistent irregular wars it’s been asked to fight rather than wait for the conventional conflict it would prefer to fight--will not become the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but be asked to run the CIA.

Ever since its founding in 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has maintained an aggressive and bellicose international security posture. Today, fully two decades after the end of the Cold War, North Korea's external defense and security policies look arguably more extreme and anomalous than ever.

Rep. Paul Ryan calls his budget plan the “Path to Prosperity,” but it could be termed as well a “Path to Security.” In reclaiming more than $200 billion of the nearly $500 billion in military cuts made in last year’s Budget Control Act (BCA), the House Budget Committee chairman takes national security more seriously than does our commander in chief.

Last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration abruptly revoked the narcotics license held by the distributor Cardinal Health, preventing that firm from shipping prescription pain drugs to thousands of Florida pharmacies and hospitals. It's the latest tactic in the DEA's struggle to stem the illicit use of prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin.

Since the end of the Cold War, administrations of both political parties have underfunded the military, but now come new calls to cut the Defense Department's budget.

Given the large-scale cutbacks directed by President Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates's rhetoric is fast becoming an excuse for budget cuts.

The career of Iraj Masjedi, including his service at Base Ramezan and his promotion to senior adviser to Qassem Suleimani, highlights a cycle of generational change within the IRGC QF, and offers an indication of where to find Iran's future Quds Force leaders.