Barbara Starr

Walking along the sound in Duck, NC and doing some thinking on Iran … (as @mamapoly4 shops)….actually, she offered some of the following thoughts too (also as a former ops officer in NE)….Number one, deterrence does not work if your adversary does not believe you’re serious. Trump‘s bombast and bluster often times falls flat because he pulls back at the last minute, so adversaries actually don’t believe the threats. So it simply doesn’t work. Iran does not fear us. Number two, our allies are very confused and don’t believe us either. Witness Trump saying the Israelis too were behind this new pull back from military action, which of course is not true and probably gave Bibi a heart attack. Three, I don’t even know if we are sure of what our strategy is. So Trump‘s style of bombast, lack of real deterrence, confusing allies – perhaps we are even confused- the US national security apparatus does not have a strategy either. It’s obviously policy making by whim of one man, no interagency process. Finally, I think it’s worth noting that Trump‘s art of the deal often is when he tries to speak things into existence – saying things that obviously aren’t true over and over again to try to make them true. That just does not work in foreign policy and national security. More at 3 pm (new hit time) on @MSNOWNews . Back to watching my credit card get pummeled… there r very nice boutique stores here that my wife has conquered like a true Greek warrior! 😉

Great chat with @BBC about latest Middle East and risk of escalation with Iran

.@rcfp president Bruce Brown notes there were only three reporters subpoenaed over national security leaks in last 25 years. There have now been four since just the beginning of the year. Trump is either getting more vicious or DoJ is just getting lazier in investigating leaks

With all the controversy surrounding FIFA, world football is facing a clear cut crisis in leadership just before an upcoming election. As someone who has been through this process before, I believe one thing needs to be done immediately: remove a secret ballot for Presidential elections! Every other decision including hosting the World Cup is now done openly, except -of course- for presidential elections. With a President who we elect every four years and a council that makes all the decisions, a transparent ballot is the only way to hold us as MA Presidents accountable in front of our own football fans, officials and players who elected us. At the same time it is protection for each and every MA who might be pressured to make a decision based on coercion behind closed doors as has happened in the past. But most importantly it will empower each and every MA on the most critical vote we have, the leadership of the biggest and most popular sport in the world and the direction it takes in the future.

It takes a rare kind of confidence to spend months shrinking access to the press and then announce you’ve ushered in a golden age of public affairs. The Pentagon has discovered that transparency is much easier when it’s pre-recorded. Nobody interrupts a promotional video.

A Pentagon that hasn't briefed in months and rarely answers questions in straightforward fashion says here that the era of public affairs taking a "back seat" is over.

NEW: An update just pushed to the Defense Casualty Analysis System added 32 additional wounded troops in the “overseas operations” category, bringing total US casualties since Feb. 28 to 18 fatalities (11 due to hostile action) and 685 wounded.

And so ends yet another week with no routine news briefing at the Pentagon. Despite an active conflict with Iran, there have been zero briefings since May 5.

What a Reuters headline: "US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference"

JUST IN: The Pentagon disclosed an additional 9 servicemembers wounded via its DCAS database moments ago, bringing the US military's total casualties since the Iran war began on Feb. 28 to 18 dead, 653 wounded.

Has Hegseth, Vance or Trump visited any of the recently wounded troops?

Change, don’t cancel, the White House correspondents dinner, reporters won’t be driven out by Trump. open.substack.com/pub/barbarasta…

That’s a pretty strong indictment that our policy is not working. Both Cooper and Caine essentially advising to hold off. Wonder what Hegseth advised? Is Trump tiring of his shtick? That said…Diplomacy is not promising either, as Iran effectively controls the SOH. And that is their red line for any future agreement. So there are no good options in either military (understanding domestic constraints on ground troops) or diplomatic arenas. Wish I had something more positive to say. It’s easy to be a critic, but there’s no silver bullet out of this mess. Perhaps if we had a functioning national security process (and a NSC that works), some creative ideas could come out from the inter agency? Yet also a problem, as so many experts have left the USG (the State Dept is irrelevant, which is crazy to think about).

🇺🇸🇮🇷The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, Adm. Brad Cooper, recommended stopping the bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz because it has reached the limit of its effectiveness. My story on @axios axios.com/2026/07/26/hor…

VP JD Vance & Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine both raised concerns about the US munitions stockpile to Trump during a White House meeting on Friday as he weighed potentially escalating the war with Iran, a US official tells me.   Operations are “on a hold,” a Pentagon source told CNN Saturday. It’s currently unclear if the stockpile concern was the primary reason why the US paused strikes or whether it will continue to do so.   Speaking to reporters after Friday’s meeting with Cabinet members & top advisors, Trump stressed US officials were actively negotiating with Iran, though he also said it was possible the military could continue its bombing campaign or “make it a heavier dose.” He claimed Iran seemed to be getting “more serious” in ongoing talks.    As of Friday afternoon, the Trump admin was still deliberating over what a potential escalation would look like, per source familiar. Gulf countries have urged restraint in recent conversations with Trump officials.   Even after Trump said he was considering a massive attack against Iran this week, he had privately directed his negotiators to “keep talking,” per source familiar, underscoring how the president has been grappling with the reality of limited escalatory military operations short of putting US troops on the ground.   Few within Trump’s inner circle, or inside the Pentagon, believed the president's options for escalating would yield the results he was looking for, per multiple sources. New reporting w/ @jimsciutto

“Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has cautioned privately that resuming major combat operations against Iran was doable but that it would dangerously deplete interceptors available to the military’s Central Command,..the officials said.” nytimes.com/2026/07/25/us/…

Well done to @Weijia who gracefully articulated the irreplaceable value of the First Amendment to the American people. Journalists whose work has held the administration to account and informed the public were honored in the presence of the very president they cover. That is itself an expression of a free press for the public to see, for students scholars to witness and for government officials in the room to experience up close. Thank you @whca

Most important is that we all remember them and how and where they were killed. Does this mean their families will never receive a service medal if there is one related war against Iran? We will never forget even as Hegseth folks look for a way to brush over it.

@Tmgneff is the finest war correspondent of our generation. Read this and learn again what you already know….war is a forever space in your life and mind.

Donald Trump's Justice ‌Department will withdraw subpoenas issued to New York Times' journalists who reported on security concerns about the president flying on a Qatari-donated Air Force One, a prosecutor said at a court hearing on Thursday.