Pentagon

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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...

Pentagon Shooter a 'Brilliant' Engineering Student

John Patrick Bedell had a serious pot problem

(Newser) - John Patrick Bedell, who allegedly opened fire on the Pentagon last night before being shot and killed, was a “brilliant” engineering student with a “severe pot addiction,” according to a family friend. His mother “asked me to help,” says the former teacher. But “there...

Pentagon Locked Down After 3 Shot at Metro Station

2 cops have non-life-threatening wounds; suspect more serious

(Newser) - The Pentagon is locked down this evening after a man emerged from the adjoining subway station and opened fire on officers at the entrance to the Defense Department headquarters. Two officers received non-life-threatening injuries, a spokesman tells the Washington Post ; their return fire injured the shooter more seriously. The incident...

Military to Ease Off on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Gays outed by third parties won't be prosecuted

(Newser) - The military will no longer aggressively pursue disciplinary action against gay service members who are outed by a third party, the Pentagon will announce today. Under the new policy, gay personnel would face discharge only if they go public themselves on their sexual orientation. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm....

Pentagon Lawyer: Delay Dropping 'Don't Ask'

'Now is not the time," warns Adm. Mullen's counsel

(Newser) - The in-house lawyer for Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has urged him to delay moving towards dropping the military's ban on having serving gays serve openly. "Now is not the time," the lawyer wrote in a memo obtained by the AP , citing the...

Senate Passes Pentagon Spending, Jobless Bill

Now they can go back to bickering over health care

(Newser) - The Senate, meeting in the midst of a snow storm, this morning passed a critical budget bill that combines money for the Pentagon with additional help for the jobless. The 88-10 vote means the bill, passed by the House earlier this week, will go to President Obama, and the Senate...

Dems Block GOP War Bill Filibuster

Gates slams tactic to delay health bill

(Newser) - Senate Democrats beat back a Republican attempt to filibuster a huge Pentagon spending bill in a post-midnight session last night. Republican success would have forced the government to seek a new stopgap way to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, delaying health care legislation in the process. Three Republicans...

Next Hurdle for Afghan Surge: Paying for It

Dems don't want to pony up for Obama's plan

(Newser) - Getting Congress to fund Barack Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy might be as arduous a process as the strategic review that devised it. Democrats, cold to the idea of sending more troops, don’t want to foot the bill; some are proposing a war tax to cover it. “If...

Gitmo Inmate Policy Chief Bails
 Gitmo Inmate Policy Chief Bails 
Nov 25, 2009 6:46 AM CST

Gitmo Inmate Policy Chief Bails

Phillip Carter led search for prison replacement

(Newser) - The Pentagon official tasked with closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center has quit the Obama administration after seven months on the job. Phillip Carter, the chief official in charge of detainee policy, cited personal reasons. His resignation comes in the wake of the administration's announcement that it will miss its...

Feds Point Fingers in Hasan Missteps

Fort Hood blame game begins

(Newser) - The FBI and the Pentagon are fighting off accusations that someone dropped the ball on Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. Department of Defense officials say that the FBI never notified them that Hasan had been in contact with extremist imam Anwar al-Aulaqi, while the FBI's defenders say that his...

US Secretly Speeds Pakistan Military Aid

Washington funnels helicopters, arms, technology for Taliban fight

(Newser) - The Pakistani government keeps insisting that the US has little to no role in its offensive in Taliban-controlled border regions—but out of sight, Washington has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of arms and equipment to the country's forces this year. President Obama himself intervened at one point...

Brits Hold Up Hacker's Extradition

Asperger's sufferer accused of cracking Pentagon systems

(Newser) - American authorities keen to get their hands on a man accused of the biggest military hack in history are going to have to wait. British authorities have "stopped the clock" on the extradition of Gary McKinnon while lawyers examine new medical evidence, say officials. McKinnon, who has Asperger's...

Military Frustrated by 'Slow' Obama

Commanders irked by ongoing review of Afghanistan strategy

(Newser) - President Obama's ongoing review of Afghan strategy is frustrating military officers used to a different commander-in-chief's style, say past and present top brass. Some fear that the long deliberations over Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for more troops signal weakness and indecision to the enemy, while others fear the president is...

Pentagon Downplays 13K Surge in Afghan Support Troops

Extra thousands swell US numbers in Afghanistan

(Newser) - When does 21,000 equal 34,000? When the Pentagon is counting. The 21,000 additional troops President Obama approved for Afghanistan earlier this year have been accompanied by 13,000 extra support troops, bringing the total number in Afghanistan to nearly 68,000. Pentagon and White House officials have...

Let McChrystal Make His Case to Congress
 Let McChrystal 
 Make His Case 
 to Congress 
peggy noonan
Oct 9, 2009 1:39 AM CDT

Let McChrystal Make His Case to Congress

National debate is needed to build consensus

(Newser) - President Obama may not want to hear from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, but Congress certainly does, writes Peggy Noonan, and he should let them. Staying on in Afghanistan and withdrawing are both unappealing options that could have dire consequences, and even though the Pentagon doesn't want to do it, the country...

Sign of Change? Pentagon Essay Rebukes Ban on Gays

(Newser) - A persuasive essay arguing against the military's ban on gay soldiers is raising hope among activists that a watershed moment is near. It's not so much because of the essay's familiar arguments—that "Don't Ask Don't Tell" hurts morale and violates civil rights—but because of its publication in...

Who Leaked to Woodward? Good Luck
 Who Leaked 
 to Woodward? 
 Good Luck 
ANALYSIS
Sep 22, 2009 11:50 AM CDT

Who Leaked to Woodward? Good Luck

McChrystal report could help the Pentagon, or the White House, or...

(Newser) - The question du jour in Washington is who leaked Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s report advocating an increased troop presence in Afghanistan to Bob Woodward, Ben Smith writes on Politico. But the outcome of this tried and true “capital parlor game” is far from certain. Some Beltway insiders think the...

Pragmatic Style Makes Gates White House Heavyweight

Defense secretary helps dismantle missile shield program he backed under Bush

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has bridged the gap between the Bush and Obama administrations and become a major player in reshaping national security policy in the process, officials tell the New York Times. His pragmatic style—as seen in his decision to ditch the missile defense system he signed off...

Obama to Pentagon: Scale Back Nuke Arsenal

President rejects Defense review, plans international deal

(Newser) - Barack Obama rejected the first draft of a Pentagon report on the US nuclear arsenal and is demanding a radical review ahead of deep cuts, according to the Guardian. The president, whose stated goal is the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, wants to see a range of options: cutting the...

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