US military

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Colonel Gave Nuke Secrets to Chinese Girlfriend: Feds

Defense contractor charged; hid relationship from military

(Newser) - A 59-year-old defense contractor's 27-year-old girlfriend from China may have had some ulterior motives, federal authorities say. Benjamin Bishop, a lieutenant colonel in the US Army Reserve who works in intelligence at Pacific Command, has been charged with passing "national defense information regarding existing war plans, information regarding...

Navy: Want to Fly to Gitmo? That'll Be $17K

Military axes only commercial service to base

(Newser) - A flight to Guantanamo Bay will now cost journalists, lawyers, and Red Cross delegates a hefty $17,000 after the base's commander ordered a halt to the only commercial air service between Florida and the Cuba outpost, the Miami Herald reports. IBC Travel says the commander invoked a federal...

US Jets Shoo Away Iran Plane Chasing Drone

Pentagon says craft was in international airspace

(Newser) - US and Iranian fighter pilots have had another close encounter. The Pentagon says an Iranian jet began following an unmanned surveillance drone in international airspace earlier this week, reports the Wall Street Journal . It didn't break off pursuit until two US jets approached within two miles of the Iranian...

Rape in Military 'Even Starts at Recruitment': Testimony

Senate looks at sexual assault in military for 1st time in nearly a decade

(Newser) - Four victims of sexual assault in the military testified before Congress yesterday, in the Senate's first look at the topic in nearly a decade, reports the Los Angeles Times . BriGette McCoy described being sexually harassed—after being raped twice, by two different soldiers in her unit. "It even...

North Korea Scraps Armistice, Cuts Hotline as War Games Begin

UN will today look at North Korea's appalling human rights record

(Newser) - North Korea today "completely scrapped" the armistice that held a tenuous peace on the peninsula for six decades, reports the Washington Post , even as American and South Korean troops began the large-scale military drills Pyongyang had warned them to abandon. The North is playing up its unpredictability, saying in...

Air Force Pulls Data on Drone Strikes From Website

'Air Force Times' says numbers were removed last month

(Newser) - With all this talk of drones lately, it might be interesting to know just how many airstrikes the military is unleashing with them in Afghanistan. The Air Force Times would love to tell you, and it should be able to tell you, because the Air Force makes the info public...

US Can Fend Off N. Korea Attack: White House

But South Korea, Japan may have more to worry about

(Newser) - The White House's take on North Korea's threats against the US? Pshaw. The US is "fully capable of defending against" a North Korean ballistic missile attack, said press secretary Jay Carney yesterday. Though it's still in development, a US missile defense system known as the Ground-Based...

Holder: US Can Kill an American on Home Soil

But in response to hypothetical query, he stresses it's unlikely

(Newser) - Eric Holder says President Obama would be in his rights to order the killing of a US citizen on American soil under rare circumstances, reports Mother Jones . But in a letter to Rand Paul answering Paul's question on the matter, the attorney general stressed it would have to a...

Banks Admit Wrongly Foreclosing on US Troops

At least 700 active-duty troops lost homes during crisis

(Newser) - America's biggest banks have admitted that they wrongfully foreclosed on the homes of at least 700 military personnel, in some cases evicting families while troops were serving in war zones, the New York Times reports. The wrongful foreclosures by banks including Citigroup and Wells Fargo surfaced as part of...

2 US Sailors Found Guilty in Japan Rape

Christopher Browning sentenced to decade in prison

(Newser) - A Japanese court today convicted a pair of US Navy sailors in the rape and robbery of a young woman in an Okinawa parking lot, the AP reports. Seaman Christopher Browning, 24, accused of robbery after the rape, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Petty Officer 3rd Class...

Woodward: White House Said I'd 'Regret' Sequester Stance

Calls Obama's approach 'madness'

(Newser) - Bob Woodward's standoff with the White House is heating up: Now the journalist says a top administration official warned him to stop blaming President Obama for the sequester, Business Insider reports. In an email, "it was said very clearly: You will regret doing this," Woodward told CNN...

USAF Recruit: I Was Supposed to Report Rape to My Rapist
 USAF Recruit: 
 I Was Supposed 
 to Report Rape 
 to My Rapist 
LACKLAND SEX ASSAULT SCANDAL

USAF Recruit: I Was Supposed to Report Rape to My Rapist

Virginia Messick speaks about attack by her superior as scandal breaks open

(Newser) - Soon after Virginia Messick reported to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in March 2011, her training instructor, Staff Sgt. Luis Walker , started giving her special treatment. One day, while she was in his office using his computer—a rule violation that he allowed—he started groping her. Though...

We Waste $24M a Year on the Draft: Lawmakers

Representatives push to do away with it—as women may have to join in

(Newser) - Two lawmakers are battling against what they deem an unnecessary tool of war: the Selective Service System—the organization that keeps records for any future draft. Reps. Peter DeFazio (a Democrat) and Mike Coffman (a Republican) say the success of the all-volunteer force has rendered the agency moot, and that...

Drones Reduce Civilian Deaths

 Drones Reduce Civilian Deaths 
OPINION

Drones Reduce Civilian Deaths

They're far better at that than any other military weapon: William Saletan

(Newser) - Critics of the growing use of drone strikes by the Pentagon often point to civilian casualties as an argument against them. Sorry, writes William Saletan at Slate , but drones are far better than any other weapon of war at minimizing the deaths of innocents. What's more, they've gotten...

New Drone Medal's Rank 'Degrading', Say Veterans

Award for remote control operators outranks combat medals like Bronze Star

(Newser) - The Pentagon's new medal for drone operators has sparked a backlash from veterans whose medals were earned on the battlefield but are ranked lower than the Distinguished Warfare Medal, the Military Times reports. The new medal is higher in the military's "order of precedence" than the Bronze...

Drone Pilots Eligible for New Military Medal

New Pentagon honor doesn't require being on battlefield

(Newser) - They fight the war from computer consoles and video screens. The troops that launch the drone strikes and direct the cyberattacks that can kill or disable an enemy may never set foot in the combat zone, but now their battlefield contributions can be recognized. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced today...

Afghanistan Vet to Receive Medal of Honor

Clinton Romesha will join Michelle Obama at State of the Union

(Newser) - Today, President Obama will award Clinton Romesha the Medal of Honor, making the former Army staff sergeant just "the fourth living recipient to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan," the White House notes, per USA Today . Romesha was among 53 soldiers at...

Panetta: Curb Military Pay


 Panetta: Curb 
 Military Pay 

Panetta: Curb Military Pay

Defense secretary also fears 'readiness crisis' ahead of sequestration

(Newser) - Leon Panetta is poised to recommend that military salaries increase just 1% in 2014, thanks to "budget uncertainties," insiders tell CNN . This year, military pay was increased 1.7%, and last year, President Obama took military pay cuts off the table—so Panetta's recommendation will be interpreted...

Pentagon to Extend Benefits to Same-Sex Spouses

Panetta announcement expected this week

(Newser) - In another big step forward for gay rights in the military, the Pentagon is planning to extend certain benefits to the same-sex partners of military personnel. The new benefits are expected to include housing benefits and access to facilities like spouses' clubs, but many more benefits will be out of...

Charlottesville First City to Take Stand Against Drones

Virginia lawmakers make mostly symbolic gesture

(Newser) - The city council in Charlottesville, Virginia, has approved what is thought to be the first anti-drone legislation in the country, reports US News & World Report . The measure asks the state and the US Congress to make it illegal to use "information obtained from the domestic use of drones"...

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