The term itself makes ones stomach drop. It conjures up dark historical memories of massacres and disasters, hurried group burials, and comingled corpses under mounds of cold dirt. The twentieth century alone bears witness to mass graves of millions: tragic reminders of man’s inhumanity to man. In recent days we have shuddered at the discovery of mass graves in civil war-torn regions of South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Mother Earth...

While researching the postwar Wake era I came upon some interesting information about Wake Island’s role in missile defense programs over the years. Of the unclassified missions and operations that are open to public inquiry, the one called Brilliant Pebbles caught my attention. The oddly festive and evocative name seems reason enough to use it for a December blog post. Sadly, history has not recorded who in the Reagan Administration came up...