Travis Allen

About the author

is a former US Army Infantry Officer. While a Platoon Leader in Afghanistan, he was part of a joint Special Forces/Infantry team conducting Village Stability Operations in Kandahar Province. Travis graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 2010.

Italy looks to shut down ports to foreign aid groups carrying migrants

Italy has threatened to close its ports to foreign aid groups looking to offload migrants on its shores, citing the ongoing migrant crisis as having reached a “saturation point.” In just the past week, over 10,000 migrants arrived in Italy on foreign vessels belonging to international aid groups like Doctors Without Borders. Italy has been […]

OP-ED: Tennis star John McEnroe, hurt feelings, and why that’s bad for the military

For those of you who aren’t closely following the daily ebbs and flows in the ongoing culture wars, I envy you. Unfortunately, I regularly find myself analyzing the tit for tat engagements that are defining our cultural landscape and politics. If you haven’t seen it, tennis great John McEnroe has recently stirred controversy after an […]

Police officers flying helicopter drop grenades, fire shots on Venezuelan Supreme Court

Grenades were dropped and shots were fired on Venezuela’s Supreme Court from a helicopter on Tuesday, allegedly stolen and piloted by a police officer who remains at large, according to authorities. The dramatic scene was captured and disseminated widely on social media, showing a helicopter circling overhead in Caracas while shots and explosions are heard. […]

World food supplies vulnerable at critical ‘choke-points’: report

A large percentage of the world’s food supply is traded through 14 international trade “choke-points,” and are increasingly vulnerable to a variety of threats, a U.K.-based think-tank says in a report released today. According to the report issued by Chatham House, 25% of the world’s food is traded internationally, with some countries so reliant on […]

White House warns Syria’s Assad ahead of potential chemical attack

The Assad regime in Syria appears to be taking the initial steps necessary to launch a chemical weapons attack, the White House said in a statement late on Monday. The actions, if taken, would mean Assad and his government would “pay a heavy price,” the statement issued by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer reads. […]

U.S. concludes at least 105 civilians killed in Mosul airstrike

U.S. forces were responsible for the deaths of at least 105 Iraqi civilians in an airstrike against snipers from the Islamic State in March, according to a report released by Central Command on Thursday. The airstrike brought considerable international attention back to the Battle of Mosul, which at that point had been raging for five […]

After leaks to press, Britain will no longer share Manchester intelligence with U.S.

Prime Minister Theresa May says she will confront President Donald Trump over the multiple leaks of British law enforcement intelligence related to the Manchester suicide bomb attack, and will reportedly cease sharing information with U.S. government agencies related to the case. I will make clear to President Trump that intelligence that is shared between our […]

U.N. official: Trump budget will make peacekeeping, other work ‘impossible’

The United Nations sounded the alarm over the U.S. Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposed by the Trump Administration on Wednesday, declaring that if approved, the budget would render key United Nations operations ‘impossible’. The budget proposal, part of a sweeping plan to balance the budget within 10 years, has ‘targeted reductions’ across the federal government, […]

French president seeks to extend state of emergency after Manchester attack

French President Emmanuel Macron will seek to extend the current state of emergency in France until November, in a response to the terrorist attack in Manchester on Monday. Macron made the announcement after conferring with French security officials. The state of emergency, which grants police and law enforcement authorities greater powers to search and arrest […]

2018 budget proposal includes $1.6 billion request for border wall

The 2018 budget proposal as presented by the Trump administration today calls for significant cuts to federal spending across the board, and features only a modest request to begin construction on the controversial “Trump border wall” along America’s southern border. The wall, which became a source of controversy during the campaign, has long been a […]

Ex-CIA director testifies before House Intel Committee on Russia

Former CIA Director John Brennan spoke before the House Intelligence Committee today, sharing information and his own assessments mostly concerned with Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Notably, Brennan revealed he had directly confronted the head of the FSB, Russia’s rough equivalent to an internal intelligence and law enforcement agency like the […]