The admiral had abruptly announced that he would step down as the head of the U.S. Southern Command. His departure leaves several issues about the strikes unanswered.

© Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press

Troops who play a part in deadly missions that they see as wrong or unjustified may suffer deep psychological harm as a result, research has shown.

© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

The benefits of serving have never been more appealing, but the Pentagon needs a better approach to recruiting new talent.

The legislation codifies President Trump’s agenda but includes a few measures challenging his policies and insisting on more consultation with Congress.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Democratic lawmakers said in a report that shifting Defense Department funding to support the Trump administration’s immigration agenda has hurt military readiness.

© Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times

Wasteful spending and byzantine regulations keep the U.S. military stuck in a failing status quo.

Officials initially weighed sending survivors of U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling to a notorious prison in El Salvador, to keep them away from American courts.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

The nature of war has drastically changed. The editorial board argues that the U.S. must reform its military.

Investing in the old ways of war leaves America at risk.

Investing in the old ways of war leaves America at risk.

A former secretary of homeland security on the illegality of Trump’s boat strikes.

Not too much religious moralism in the administration, but too little.

Did Pete Hegseth break the law after authorizing Venezuelan boat strikes? The Times Opinion editor, Kathleen Kingsbury, argues that there are multiple reasons the strikes were legally dubious.

Will the president soon wish he hadn’t run for a second term?

We need to question the strikes’ legality. But we also need to see how they fit into the Trump administration’s larger effort to change America.

Trump and Hegseth are attacking the very character and identity of the American military.

Rare pushback from his party and troubling poll numbers reflect the newly precarious situation in which Trump finds himself.

Bret Stephens, Frank Bruni and Aaron Retica on the gap between the president’s interests and what matters to Americans.

Federal lawmakers have ample powers to uncover and end administration abuse.

Readers discuss the aftermath of a U.S. attack on a boat in the Caribbean. Also: Fixing Penn Station; Trumpism after Trump.

Many affluent Americans no longer believe in civic institutions or community groups.

Who wants to silence a senator? I’ll give you one guess.

A Pentagon intelligence report says China could try to acquire advanced F-35 technology in Saudi Arabia if the Trump administration sells jets to the kingdom.

The shake-up in China’s armed forces comes as both Beijing and Washington are pushing through major changes in their country’s militaries, in different ways.