Kori Schake

@kschake.bsky.social

32K followers 900 following 860 posts

Leads AEI’s foreign and defense team, author of The State and the Soldier, contributing writer at The Atlantic. 2025-2026 Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress. Californian. https://www.aei.org/profile/kori-schake/

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Kori N. Schake is an American international relations scholar currently serving as Director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. She has held several high-level positions in the U.S. Defense and State Departments and on the National Security Council. She was a foreign policy adviser to the McCain-Palin 2008 presidential campaign. Schake is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. She serves on the board of advisors of Foreign Policy Research Institute and the Alexander Hamilton Society. Schake is a member of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee. .. more

Political science 84%

Economics 10%

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Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · Aug 27

I just received my first copy of the book!

Reposted by Kori Schake

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 9h

The US President’s goal of invading and occupying a NATO ally will destroy NATO.

The gift to the Put*n regime is immeasurable; the harm to both Conservative and Liberal Americans will be permanent.

Thorsten Benner @tbenner.bsky.social · 11h

It's wild that the PM of a NATO member feels compelled to put out a statement like this vis-à-vis the US government.

Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · 10h

Another smart assessment of civ-mil issues from @eustisbellusaf.bsky.social

Eustis Bell @eustisbellusaf.bsky.social · 10h

The US military doesn't exist to be a restraint on the civil government. The kinds of militaries that do aren't found in free societies. By starting with civilian control of the military, the onus for responsible control is always on those civilians. Those civilians must be held accountable. 14/x

Reposted by Kori Schake

Eustis Bell @eustisbellusaf.bsky.social · 10h

Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · 10h

Important thread from @uticaeric.bsky.social, who walked the walk.

Reposted by Kori Schake

Giled Pallaeon @giledpallaeon.bsky.social · 10h

In summary, status quo ante and status quo are sometimes victories because the only place to go from the top is down.

Thorsten Benner @tbenner.bsky.social · 11h

It's wild that the PM of a NATO member feels compelled to put out a statement like this vis-à-vis the US government.

Reposted by Kori Schake

Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome.bsky.social · 12h

🤷🤷🤷 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

China Social Media Hails Trump’s Maduro Move as Taiwan Template

President Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro sparked widespread discussion on Chinese social media, with many users saying the operation offered a template for how Beijing…

www.bloomberg.com

Reposted by Kori Schake, Tom Griffin

Shipwreck @shipwreck75.bsky.social · 13h

Germany’s foreign intelligence agency (BND) intercepted phone conversations of former President Barack Obama while he was aboard Air Force One over several years. The interceptions exploited vulnerabilities in the aircraft’s encryption and known frequencies.

www.zeit.de/politik/ausl...

Spionage: BND hörte jahrelang US-Präsident Barack Obama ab

Der deutsche Geheimdienst überwachte regelmäßig Telefonate des damaligen US-Präsidenten an Bord der Air Force One. Erlaubnis von Angela Merkel hatte der BND nicht.

www.zeit.de

Reposted by Kori Schake

B. A. Friedman @bafriedman.bsky.social · 15h

But they don’t know what orders are illegal and which aren’t. If everything flows from that fact, everything falls apart.

Reposted by Kori Schake

David Burbach 🇺🇸🌹 @dburbach.bsky.social · 17h

A problem is that if it's ok for Johnny Goodgeneral to overrule DOJ/POTUS on legality of orders, you also get Mike Flynn or Jerry Boykin rejecting orders on vaccines, allowing gay service, escorting kids in Little Rock, or saying Obama is Kenyan and not really President

Reposted by Kori Schake

B. A. Friedman @bafriedman.bsky.social · 1d

You can have democracy or you can have a military that fixes the mistakes of the electorate. You can’t have both.

Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · 1d

Seems strange President Trump used language almost identical to Teddy Roosevelt’s 1901 State of the Union address arguing the US would govern Cuba and the Philippines until they could govern themselves. Surely incompatible with aversion to regime change and long occupations in the NSS.

Reposted by Kori Schake

Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 1d

We expect tactical excellence of SF and more often than not get it.
The problem remains, however, how to integrate that tactical excellence into operational coherence and strategic effect.

Reposted by Kori Schake

John Ridge 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @johnridge.bsky.social · 1d

I am mostly reserving judgement on Venezuela while things develop. But my initial thoughts.

1) Maduro’s rendition probably doesn’t advance any U.S. foreign policy objectives, per se.
2) It invites significant reputational damage.
3) The WH doesn’t appear to have planned beyond this point.

Reposted by Kori Schake

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 1d

I believe this is the latest social media post from the US Director of National Intelligence, who hasn’t otherwise been heard from today.

Tulsi Gabbard @TulsiGabbard
X.com
My heart is filled with gratitude, aloha and peace
/ #2026
[various beach yoga and sunrise photos]

Reposted by Kori Schake

New Year New Pete @peterlucier.bsky.social · 1d

The worst boy band you know just dropped a new album

Reposted by Kori Schake, David R. Miller

Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social · 1d

The United States has now given Russia, China, and anyone else who wants to give it a try an even clearer road map for invading countries that displease them.

www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Maybe Russia and China Should Sit This One Out

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are just shocked—shocked!—by the American attack on Venezuela.

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Kori Schake, Ian Hall, Cullen S. Hendrix , and 3 more Kori Schake, Ian Hall, Cullen S. Hendrix, Simon Lester, Pádua Fernandes, David Darmofal

Seva @seva.bsky.social · 2d

an annoying thing about realists insisting they're the no-nonsense reality-based group is that few of their predictions have been based in reality

Reposted by Kori Schake

Defense News @defensenews.bsky.social · 2d

Production is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2026 and is envisioned to reach 10,000 units of Zoom and Linza drones per year later on.

Germany to host small-drones production line for Ukrainian forces

Production is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2026 and is envisioned to reach 10,000 units of Zoom and Linza drones per year later on.

www.defensenews.com

Reposted by Kori Schake

Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome.bsky.social · 2d

"In 2020, interest payments totaled $345 billion at the start of the COVID pandemic. Now that amount has just about tripled only six years later,... Since foreigners hold about one-third of all U.S. debt, it means a larger chunk of U.S. income will flow overseas." qz.com/us-national-...

U.S. national debt interest payments to top $1 trillion in 2026

In 2020, interest payments on the national debt totaled $345 billion. Now that amount has just about tripled

qz.com

Reposted by Kori Schake

The Economist @economist.com · 2d

The ruling narrows Donald Trump’s remaining legal paths to mobilise troops and send them to cities. Should he press on, he would probably have to rely on untested claims of presidential power

The Supreme Court has taken the National Guard away from Donald Trump

His remaining options for sending in the troops are legally fraught

econ.st

Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · 3d

Love this, hope to see more of this attitude from other politicians in 2026.

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 3d

Mamdani: I promise you this. If you are a New Yorker, I am your mayor. Regardless of whether we agree, I will protect you, celebrate with you, mourn alongside you, and never, not for a second, hide from you

Reposted by Kori Schake, David R. Miller, W. Andy Knight

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 3d

Reposted by Kori Schake, Robert C. Richards

Manisha Sinha @profmsinha.bsky.social · 3d

Historian of abolition here on this day Haiti became an independent republic in 1804, the African slave trade was abolished by the United States and Britain in 1808, and President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · 3d

An auspiciously foggy start to the new year in my California hometown.

Sonoma valley fogged in with trees in the foreground

Reposted by Kori Schake, Elizabeth Saunders, David Darmofal

Jim Goldgeier @jimgoldgeier.bsky.social · 4d

What happens when you sideline the experts, put incompetent people in charge, have no foreign policy process, and think you have a personal connection with Putin? You get this embarrassing mess. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The Separation: Inside the Unraveling U.S.-Ukraine Partnership

As President Trump sought a peace deal and Vladimir V. Putin sought victory, factions in the White House and Pentagon bled the Ukrainian war effort.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Kori Schake, Christian Odendahl

James Cameron @jjjcameron.bsky.social · 5d

Yet more evidence in the NYT long read on Ukraine that JD Vance, a heartbeat away from the US presidency and probable 2028 Republican presidential nominee, would be a disaster for European security. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Mr. Biden had left the Ukrainians a financial and weapons nest egg to cushion them for an uncertain future. Mr. Trump’s point man for peace negotiations presented him with a plan to maintain support for Ukraine and squeeze the Russian war machine.

But that strategy ran headlong into a phalanx of Ukraine skeptics led by the vice president, JD Vance, and like-minded officials he seeded at the Pentagon and elsewhere in the administration. In their view, instead of squandering America’s depleted military stocks on a sinking ship, they should be reapportioned to counter the greatest global threat: China.

A cold wind — what one senior military officer called “a de facto anti-Ukraine policy” — swept through the Pentagon. Time and again, Mr. Hegseth and his advisers undermined, sidelined or silenced front-line generals and administration officials sympathetic to Ukraine.

General Cavoli and others who had long worked to support Ukraine remained deeply devoted to the cause. Mr. Vance’s allies, people like Mr. Colby and Mr. Caldwell, were eager to start withholding munitions.

Their devotion was directed elsewhere — to Asia, to hedge against Chinese designs on Taiwan, and to the Middle East, where war was brewing with Iran and where Israel, fighting in Gaza, was asking for about 100,000 155-millimeter shells, a large proportion of the U.S. military’s depleted stocks.

For three years, even as the Pentagon struggled to increase production of critical weaponry, the Biden administration had poured munitions into Ukraine. Mr. Vance’s allies were unwilling to take that risk.

As a senior U.S. military officer put it: “They believed that Ukraine was on the verge of failing. The fact that empirical evidence indicated the opposite didn’t seem to bother them; if anything, they seemed to think it meant that they should help Ukraine fail faster to get it over with.”

Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · 6d

And doesn’t the privilege of acting as the US government require nomination to a post and Senate confirmation?

Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 6d

Just would like to remind everyone a private citizen with massive foreign financial exposure was brought in to handle sensitive diplomatic negotiations and no indication anyone questioned giving him a clearance again.

Life of nepo baby Jared at its finest.

Reposted by Kori Schake

Jack Goldsmith @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social · 6d

May have sent bad link earlier on my discussion with Chris Mirasola about the president's protective power and its relevance to Trump's domestic military deployments--a potentially big issue going forward. Now fixed.

www.execfunctions.org/p/the-presid...

The President's Protective Power

The relevance and limits of the Article II doctrine in domestic military deployments after Trump v. Illinois

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