Pentagon

Stories 401 - 420 | << Prev   Next >>

US Intel Gathering Insanely Out of Control

 US Intel Gathering 
 Insanely Out of Control 

wapo Investigation
Jul 19, 2010 7:56 AM CDT

US Intel Gathering Insanely Out of Control

Post 9/11 buildup has left us with more info than we can handle

(Newser) - In the wake of 9/11, the US has built an unspeakably massive top-secret counter-terrorism apparatus that appears to be riddled with waste, according to a major investigative piece that some 20 journalists spent nearly two years working on for the Washington Post . The paper found that 1,271 government organizations,...

Gov't Still Buying Massive Amounts of Fuel From BP

Has contracts worth at least $980M with Pentagon

(Newser) - As BP puts billions of dollars into the Gulf, the US government continues to put millions into its pockets. The Defense Department has maintained its purchase of massive amounts of fuel from the company, even as the Justice Department has launched criminal and civil investigations into the Gulf oil spill....

Gates Clamps Down on Media/ Pentagon Relations

Worried the department has 'grown lax;' top brass will need clearance

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates is now requiring even top military brass to get Pentagon clearance for contact with reporters in an order issued yesterday to military and civilian personnel worldwide. The order tells officials to make sure they are not going out of bounds or unintentionally releasing information that the...

In Rare Move, Medal of Honor May Go to Living Soldier

He ran through enemy fire to save his fellow soldiers

(Newser) - A living soldier is being considered for the Medal of Honor for the first time since the Vietnam War, the Washington Post reports. The Pentagon's recommendation goes to an unidentified soldier who, in the words of the Post, "ran through a wall of enemy fire" to repel Taliban forces...

Pentagon Unleashes 'Transformer'

'Origami bot' first step in shape-shifting warfare

(Newser) - Pentagon designers working mightily to create their own brand of "Transformers"—vehicle-warriors that can morph from robot to boat or plane—have unveiled an origami-like model of a small, thin sheet of metal that can change itself itno a rudimentary boat shape to something resembling a paper airplane....

McChrystal Will Retire


 McChrystal 
 Will Retire 
Jun 28, 2010 6:00 PM CDT

McChrystal Will Retire

Disgraced general's formal rank at issue

(Newser) - Gen. Stanley McChrystal will retire from the Army after 34 years in uniform and one devastating Rolling Stone profile . " McChrystal informed the Army today that he intends to retire, " said a rep, but "we don’t have a date yet or anything like that." Whether he...

New Navy Device Uses Radio Waves to Blow Up IEDs

Secret technology offers high hopes

(Newser) - After using lasers, projectiles, and jammers in the fight against roadside bombs, the Pentagon last week unveiled a secret new weapon designed to defeat IEDs: radio waves. The new weapon, a beam of radio-frequency energy, can detonate IEDs from a distance and could potentially be used against other types of...

Is 'Wikileaker' Switching His Sex?

At a crossroads

(Newser) - The soldier arrested for allegedly providing secret Pentagon material to Wikileaks may be undergoing more than one crucial transition. Boing Boing has analyzed an IM dialogue between busted Army PFC Bradley Manning, 22, and a hacker who turned Bradley into the feds for signs that the soldier is about to...

US Buys Russian to Beef Up Afghan Forces

Pentagon has spent $650 million on Moscow's helicopters

(Newser) - Funny how the geopolitical world turns. Back in the day, the CIA gave Afghan rebels missiles to shoot down Soviet helicopters, notes the Washington Post . Now that the US is fighting its own war there, the Pentagon is beefing up the Afghan air corps—by buying Russian helicopters. The US...

Wikileaks Set to Release US Massacre Vid

Assange: 140 civilians killed in bloody tape

(Newser) - Wikileaks' founder has emerged from hiding from federal officials to announce plans to release a US troop massacre video leaked to the whistleblower website. The classified Pentagon video shows the Garani attack last year that resulted in the death of some 140 Afghanistan civilians, many of them children, Julian Assange...

Pentagon Hunts for Wikileaks Founder
Pentagon Hunts for Wikileaks Founder
Jun 11, 2010 10:26 AM CDT

Pentagon Hunts for Wikileaks Founder

DoD fears site will release classified US embassy cables

(Newser) - The Pentagon is frantically searching for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, hoping it can somehow convince him not to release hundreds of thousands of classified State Department cables it believes he has. The cables were pilfered by 22-year-old Army intelligence specialist Bradley Manning, according to the Daily Beast , and contain communiqué...

White House Backs Deal to Repeal 'Don't Ask'

Vote could come as early as this week

(Newser) - The White House has given its support to a deal that would lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military while giving the Pentagon plenty of time to implement changes. The compromise will allow lawmakers to vote on repealing the ban as early as this week. But the...

Military to Tape All Interrogations on Bases

That includes Gitmo and Bagram, where most CIA suspects are held

(Newser) - From now on, military personnel must tape any interrogations that take place on a major military base, and are aimed at gathering “strategic intelligence,” according to a new order from the Pentagon. The regulations would apply to Guantanamo Bay, and Bagram Air Base, where the CIA is holding...

Mental, Not Physical, Illness Hospitalizes Most US Troops

As mental illness increases, cost of care skyrockets

(Newser) - For the first time on record, more US troops were hospitalized for mental illness last year than for any other reason, according to new data from the Pentagon. The year saw 17,538 mental health hospitalizations, which narrowly topped childbirth (17,354) and far outstripped injuries or battle wounds (11,...

Russian Jailed as US Spy
 Russian Jailed as US Spy 
May 14, 2010 5:35 AM CDT

Russian Jailed as US Spy

Found guilty of sending classified maps to the Pentagon

(Newser) - A Russian national accused of spying for the US has been sentenced to 4 years in jail by a Moscow court. Security service officials say Gregory Sipachev sent classified military maps over the Internet to the Pentagon's in-house intelligence service, the BBC reports. The court said Sipachev, whose occupation was...

Military Handed Shady Kyrgyz Firms $1.4B

Companies possibly run by corrupt, deposed despots

(Newser) - The Pentagon has doled out $1.4 billion in no-bid contracts to a pair of mysterious foreign companies with alleged ties to Kyrgyzstan's corrupt ex-president, the military's main supply agency confirmed for Newsweek . The companies, Mina Corp. Ltd. and Red Star Enterprises, provided fuel for the US air base in...

Lieberman Subpoenas Pentagon Over Fort Hood

Senators accuse administration of stonewalling

(Newser) - Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins yesterday made good on their threat to subpoena the Pentagon and Justice Department for details relating to the Fort Hood shootings, setting the stage for the Obama administration's first legal battle with Congress. The Homeland Security committee chair and his Republican colleague accuse the...

Obama Doubles Special Ops in Afghanistan

Administration fears time is running out to stop Taliban

(Newser) - The Obama administration has more than doubled the number of special forces in Afghanistan, tasking them with hunting down Taliban leaders—in part because it’s worried that the US has a dwindling window to defang the insurgency before its scheduled 2011 withdrawal, senior officials tell the LA Times . They’...

Chopper Video Is Latest Fight in US-Wikileaks War

Internet leak operation, feds at each others' throats

(Newser) - A chilling video showing US troops shooting down unarmed journalists and other civilians in Iraq and joking about it represents the latest face-off between the government and internet challenger Wikileaks. Officials of the news operation have complained about heavy-handed surveillance and other tactics by the feds, while the Pentagon accuses...

US Uses Aid Dollars to Keep Allies in Afghanistan

Counterterror funds serve as tacit incentive to continue unpopular fight

(Newser) - The Pentagon is pouring millions of dollars into equipment and training for its smaller partner nations in the Afghanistan war, a new effort aimed at encouraging them not to abandon the increasingly unpopular conflict. While the funding cannot be openly used as an incentive for NATO nations to send troops...

Stories 401 - 420 | << Prev   Next >>