Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. has covered the military and homeland security for National Journal since November 1997, writing on subjects as diverse as veterans' benefits, nuclear terrorism, military computer networks, and regional tensions between Pakistan and India. He wrote his first article about what became known as "homeland security" in 1998, his first article about what became known as "military transformation" in 1999, and his first article about "asymmetrical warfare" in 2000. Since 2004, he has been conducting in-depth interviews with military personnel about their experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq for a series of stories that combine oral history with policy analysis. One piece in this series, his January 2007 cover story on Marine Corporal Jason Dunham and other servicemembers decorated for valor, won the Atlantic Media Company's internal award for "best story of the year" across all of the company's seven periodical publications.
Before joining National Journal, Sydney Freedberg worked for the late Michael Kelly at The New Republic. He earned a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, from Harvard University and a master's from Cambridge University (United Kingdom), both in modern European history. He is the son of the late Sydney J. Freedberg Sr., a World War II veteran and historian of Italian Renaissance painting.
Freedberg lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, whom he met while they were both working at National Journal, and their daughter, who loves to sing and dance, especially when it is long past time for bed.
There's a clear consensus so far that the Nobel raises expectations for Obama in ways that are, at the very least, unhelpful. Dov Zakheim in particular argues that although Obama has pleased the Nobel committee and the international audience with fine words and inclusive gestures, there will be a time “when bitter reality sinks in,” and Washington will have to pursue its own interests and sacrifice some of the promises on human rights, democracy, and international cooperation that so give people hope. When that happens, Zakheim wrote, “popular resentment against the United States could rise to fever pitch." So I'd… Read more
Breaking news on this subject: Both the New York Times and the Washington Post are now reporting that the UN's Independent Election Commission has ordered widespread recounts of the Afghan vote.… Read more
A word from your moderator: With U.S. casualties rising in Afghanistan and President Obama promising to win the war Bush started, perhaps I should not be so startled that most of our contributors so far argue that U.S. national strategy is marked much more by continuity than by change, and that the differences between administrations are over means more than ends: "The unspoken consensus is surprising but clear enough to me: President Bush got the objectives more or less right, but he botched their pursuit," writes Daniel Serwer. Or, as Steven Metz puts it, "The strategies pursued by both Bushes,… Read more
Updated at 11:27 a.m. on Aug. 11 A note from your moderator: From time to time we at National Journal invite comment on the blog from a guest commentator with special expertise in the weekly topic under discussion. This week, we have the pleasure to share a post from Edward Luttwak, the influential and sometimes controversial author of such relevant works as Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century A.D. to the Third, and Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook. Dr. Luttwak’s comments follow below: Why did the United States… Read more
Secretary Gates just finished his speech outlining his budget recommendations for Fiscal Year 2010. Media attention will focus on winners and losers: Canceled were the F-22 fighter, the VH-71 "Marine One" presidential helicopter, the Air Force "CSAR" Combat Search and Rescue helicopter, the TSAT Transformational Satellite communications program, a number of missile defense initiatives, and the combat vehicles that make up most of the Army's Future Combat Systems program. Gates promised increases in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), existing models of helicopters, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and the LCS Littoral Combat Ship. But Gates also struck at the underlying issues… Read more
On this topic, from today's Christian Science Monitor : "....So when US troops withdraw to their bases next June under an agreement with the Iraqi government, there's a good chance they will stay put in Mosul...." The full story is available online at www.csmonitor.com/2008/1217/p01s01-wome.html… Read more
On this very subject, from this morning's Washington Post, some new poll results: "Americans are more upbeat about U.S. prospects in Iraq than at any time in the past five years, but nearly two-thirds continue to believe the war is not worth fighting and 70 percent say President-elect Barack Obama should fulfill his campaign promise to withdraw U.S. forces from the country within 16 months, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll....." The full story is online.… Read more
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