Department of Defense

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Gates Plans to Retire in 2011
 Gates Plans to 
 Retire in 2011 
Aug 16, 2010 11:12 AM CDT

Gates Plans to Retire in 2011

Unless he changes his mind again

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has always hated Washington, and he plans to get the heck out sometime next year, he revealed today in a lengthy interview with Fred Kaplan for Foreign Policy . “I think that it would be a mistake to wait until January 2012,” he reasons. “...

Pentagon Slashing Thousands of Jobs

Gates to ax Joint Forces Command

(Newser) - "No sacred cows" are safe from the budget ax as the Pentagon seeks to trim spending, Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned yesterday as he announced massive cuts. Reductions include the closure of Joint Forces Command, which employs some 5,000 people, and a 10% reduction in the budget for...

WikiLeaks Wants Pentagon Help Scrubbing Docs

Site asks for military help in making documents safe to publish

(Newser) - WikiLeaks—apparently heeding warnings it may have blood on its hands because of leaked Afghan documents—wants the Pentagon's help in scrubbing names from its next batch. The site has held back 15,000 more classified reports and it wants defense officials to help review them so they can be...

Pentagon Workers Accused of Downloading Child Porn

Some Defense Department employees had top-secret security clearances

(Newser) - Several dozen Pentagon officials and contractors with high-level security clearances have allegedly been caught buying or downloading child pornography. Federal investigators identified alleged perverts everywhere from the NSA to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and some of them even used their work computers to download the material, the Boston ...

Angry Spy Crew Hits Back at WaPo Probe

Boast they've thwarted attacks

(Newser) - The intel community has struck back fast at a scathing Washington Post investigation that portrayed post-9/11 intelligence gathering as wastefully massive and out of control. "The fact is, the men and women of the intelligence community have improved our operations, thwarted attacks, and are achieving untold successes every day,...

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,...

Did Pentagon Use the Times to Hype its Afghan Auction?

Timing of miracle minerals story fishy

(Newser) - There has been much grousing about the New York Times’ non-scoop on Afghanistan’s trillion-dollar mineral deposits. Most people figured the Pentagon spoon-fed the paper the story to drum up public support for the war. But now it looks like it may have been trying to drum up customers, says...

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...

Gates: US Lacks Cohesive Strategy in Iran

White House downplays defense secretary's missive to Jones

(Newser) - The US lacks a viable long-term plan for dealing with Iran's nuclear program, Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in a January memo that one anonymous White House official called a "wake-up call." As the New York Times reports, the missive came amid an administration push to develop a...

What Is the Air Force Doing With This Spaceship?

Unmanned X-37 will be launched this month for indefinite time in orbit

(Newser) - This month the Air Force will send the X-37—a sort of unmanned mini-space shuttle salvaged from a scrapped NASA project—into orbit, but its intentions, what the X-37 is designed to do, and why it rescued a project NASA planned to ax in 2006 remain mysteriously unclear. The Air...

Pentagon Official Ran Private Assassin Support Crew

Honcho probed over secret 'Jason Bourne' crew

(Newser) - A senior Pentagon official secretly set up a private network of contractors to help track and kill militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan, military officials say. Michael D. Furlong may have diverted money from other programs to fund his own network of former CIA and Special Forces operatives, officials tell the...

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....

Officers May Be Punished for Ft. Hood Tragedy

Review finds Hasan's shortcomings ignored

(Newser) - Up to eight army officers may be disciplined for errors of judgment ahead of the deadly Fort Hood shooting rampage, according to an official familiar with a Pentagon review of the incident. The review found that officers allowed accused shooter Nidal Malik Hasan's career to advance despite his erratic behavior...

Military Stymies Obama Nuke Reduction Plan

Catches lurk everywhere, from stockpile to strategy

(Newser) - A truculent military and national security apparatus has bogged down President Obama’s push to reconsider the size and mission of the US nuclear arsenal, just as it did during the Clinton administration. Insiders tell the Los Angeles Times that there are multiple areas of concern, including how much of...

Army Historians Fault Early Afghan War Strategy

Forces were undermanned, and planning was shoddy

(Newser) - The US missed out on chances to stabilize Afghanistan early in the war because it devoted too few troops and too little planning to the conflict, write Army historians in an official chronicle of the conflict. "It should have become clear” in late 2003 “that the coalition presence...

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...

Defense Dept. Opposed Anti-Rape Rule for Contractors

But lefties ripped GOP senators for nay votes

(Newser) - When 30 Republicans voted against an Al Franken amendment prohibiting defense contractors from forcing their employees to agree not to sue if they’re raped, Jon Stewart and liberals everywhere went ballistic. But those 30 Republicans weren’t alone, the Huffington Post reports; the Defense Department opposed the amendment as...

Top US Scientist Busted for Spying

Space researcher accused of trying to sell secrets to Israel

(Newser) - A leading American space scientist has been charged with attempted espionage after being busted in an FBI sting operation. Stewart Nozette, who worked on classified aerospace projects for agencies including NASA and the Department of Defense, was arrested when he attempted to pass secrets to an FBI agent posing as...

Post Held Off Afghan Story at DoD Request

Pentagon got one-day delay, and redacted McChrystal report

(Newser) - When Bob Woodward obtained Gen. Stanley McChrystal's classified report on Afghanistan, the Obama administration asked for and got a one-day delay in publication from the Washington Post, the paper reports. Woodward and the Post’s editor met with Pentagon officials Sunday and agreed to remove some sensitive information from the...

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