Pentagon

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Pentagon Fantasy War Sparks China, Military Gripes

Does it have to be so expensive, wonder bosses

(Newser) - China's relationship with the US is taking a hit thanks to a fantasy war cooked up by the Pentagon. "Futurist" Andrew Marshall, 91, has spent 20 years carefully plotting a war—dubbed the "Air-Sea Battle"—against an imagined aggressive China using stealth US bombers and submarines,...

Pentagon Could Lay Off Tens of Thousands

Workers could get layoff warning just days before November election

(Newser) - Tens of thousands of civilian employees in the Defense Department could receive warnings about potential layoffs just four days before the November election if impending spending cuts aren't averted. That could hit presidential battleground states such as Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida hard, a prospect that is unnerving the...

Pentagon Should Hire Google, Apple
 Pentagon 
 Should Hire 
 Google, Apple 
OPINION

Pentagon Should Hire Google, Apple

Arthur Herman says we need to look to WWII to modernize our military

(Newser) - The US spends billions on weapons, yet its fighters, helicopters, and ships date back to the '80s and '90s. Luckily, there's a precedent for the US overhauling its forces while cutting costs at the same time, writes Arthur Herman of the Wall Street Journal : World War II....

Eyes on Iran, US Beefs Up Persian Gulf Presence

Secret missile defense site in Qatar, extra aircraft carrier ready for conflict

(Newser) - The US military is building a missile-defense radar station at a secret site in Qatar, as it quietly prepares for a possible military confrontation with Iran, US officials tell the Wall Street Journal . The Pentagon fears that when this summer's oil sanctions fully kick in, Iran will lash out,...

Military Makes Straight-Laced Reddit Knockoff

Only posts that improve training or solve problems get promoted

(Newser) - The Pentagon thinks it's found a tool that will solve many of its most intractable problems: Reddit. OK, not actually Reddit, but a wannabe Defense Department-approved, servicepeople-only Reddit wannabe called "Eureka," Defense News reports. The site, which will launch next month, will encourage soldiers to post and...

US May Send Jets to Yemen
 US May Send Jets to Yemen 

US May Send Jets to Yemen

But some are worried about a backlash

(Newser) - The US military is considering sending military aircraft, vehicles, and other supplies to Yemen to help the government in its fight against terrorists. Yemen currently relies on beat-up Soviet-era helicopters and trucks, and some commanders tell the LA Times that upgrading those capabilities will allow them to capitalize on recent...

US: Yes, We're Fighting in Somalia, Yemen

Obama acknowledges battles against extremists there

(Newser) - For the first time, President Obama has publicly acknowledged the United States has engaged in "direct action" against al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in Somalia and Yemen, telling Congress in a letter that the militants pose terrorist threats to "the United States and our interests," reports the New York Times...

Pentagon Saluting Gay Pride Month

Military planning event to honor gay service members

(Newser) - Don't Ask, Don't Tell must be spinning in its grave: This is gay pride month at the Pentagon. With gays and lesbians now allowed to serve openly, the military has decided to mark the month just as it marks celebrations honoring other groups, reports AP . Defense Department officials...

Female Soldiers Sue Over Combat Ban

With 130 women killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, combat roles evolving

(Newser) - Two female army reservists filed suit against the US military yesterday, claiming the policy preventing women from serving in combat is unconstitutional, reports Reuters . Being banned from combat "solely on the basis of sex" violates their Fifth Amendment rights and "restricts their current and future earnings, their potential...

Hollywood Got Inside Scoop on bin Laden Raid
Hollywood Got Inside Scoop on bin Laden Raid
DOCUMENT LEAK

Hollywood Got Inside Scoop on bin Laden Raid

Despite leak warnings, CIA, Pentagon and White House rolled out the red carpet

(Newser) - The White House, CIA, and Pentagon all gave special access to Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow to help with her movie about Osama bin Laden's death, according to documents obtained by the conservative Judicial Watch . In one interview , Undersecretary of Defense Mike Vickers tells Bigelow that top admirals can'...

Special Ops Are the Future: Top Admiral

William McRaven calls for bigger focus on secret missions

(Newser) - Today's international threats call for a shift in military strategy, and the US must focus increasingly on secret operations, says the US special operations chief. William McRaven, who headed the Osama bin Laden raid, wants more power for the Special Operations Command—including Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and other...

Terry Jones Burns Korans
 Terry Jones Again Burns Korans

Terry Jones Again Burns Korans

He's slapped with $300 fire fine

(Newser) - Controversial right-wing pastor Terry Jones has defiantly torched copies of the Koran outside his Florida church. Jones also set aflame an image of the prophet Muhammad in front of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville. Pentagon officials had urged Jones to refrain from the action out of fear it...

Army Puts Out Call for 'Magic' Hovering Bullet

...bullet would be non-lethal

(Newser) - The Pentagon certainly has imagination when it comes to making up dream weapons. It's put out a new list of weapons small businesses should try to design for it, and one of them is a "Nonlethal Warhead of Miniature Organic Precision Munitions," or what Wired describes as,...

Pentagon Gets Its Own Global Spy Agency

Defense Clandestine Service will snoop beyond battlefields

(Newser) - The Pentagon has created a new spy agency that will expand its intelligence gathering operations outside of current war zones. The new Defense Clandestine Service will work closely with the CIA, investigating targets unrelated to its current battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, officials tell the Washington Post ; the paper speculates...

Pentagon Finally Pulls Captain&#39;s Prank Portrait
Pentagon Finally Pulls
Captain's Prank Portrait 
in case you missed it

Pentagon Finally Pulls Captain's Prank Portrait

Fake painting was smuggled in, hung on wall for a year

(Newser) - For almost a year, a portrait hung on the Pentagon wall commemorating Ensign Chuck Hord, "lost at sea" in 1908. Seems that no one noticed that the turn-of-the-century sailor had blow-dried hair, or that what appeared to be an oil painting was actually a stylized photograph. Indeed, "Chuck...

Panetta Feels Bad About $800K in Flights He's Taken

Defense secretary is open to 'alternatives'

(Newser) - Leon Panetta has taken at least 27 trips home to California since becoming secretary of defense in July, which have cost taxpayers more than $800,000 in all—but he does feel bad about it. The Pentagon chief expressed his regrets at a Pentagon briefing yesterday and said he is...

&#39;Tea Party&#39; Marine Faces Boot
 Anti-Obama Marine Faces Boot 

Anti-Obama Marine Faces Boot

Facebook page, Obama digs risking Gary Stein's job: Corps

(Newser) - A Marine is being threatened with dismissal for criticizing President Obama and launching an Armed Forces Tea Party Facebook page, encouraging service members to speak out. Camp Pendleton Sergeant Gary Stein, who also declared weeks ago that he wouldn't follow the "unlawful" orders of his commander in chief,...

US Could Destroy Iran's Nuclear Bunker: Experts

Facility not as 'impregnable' as Iran seems to believe

(Newser) - The Obama administration reportedly has little desire to launch a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, but just in case it ever did, US weaponry is capable of destroying even Iran's most protected site, experts tell the Washington Post . Iran's Fordow facility—which, until recently, the country...

Remains of 9/11 Victims Dumped in Landfill

Dover Air Force Base under fire for treatment of cremated remains

(Newser) - Small, incinerated portions of the remains of 9/11 victims ended up in a landfill, the Pentagon has acknowledged for the first time. The remains of victims of the attacks in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon, too small to identify, were brought to the Dover Air Force Base mortuary, where they...

Pentagon Opens More Jobs to Women

Females will still not be able to serve as infantry, however: sources

(Newser) - Defense Department rules are entering the 21st century. The Pentagon will recommend to Congress today that women in the military should be allowed to serve in a greater number of positions close to front lines. The AP notes that the rule shift would formalize a practice that has already been...

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