Posts Tagged pentagon

No Easy Day Author Singled Out For Prosecution By Obama Adminstration

Then pentagon has decided to prosecute “Mark Owen” over information in his book No Easy Day. The same information that is in the movie Zero Dark Thirty and Mark Bowden’s book The Finish.

From 60 Minutes:

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Navy SEAL Who Shot bin Laden Being Pressured To Not Reveal Himself

The former SEAL is set to do an interview with Fox News on Nov. 11.

From Business Insider:

… in a statement issued to Business Insider the Pentagon stressed that anyone who participated in the 2011 operation that left the Al Qaeda leader dead was “still bound” by a “non-disclosure agreement to not discuss classified information, especially in a nationally televised interview.”

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Secretary of Defense: “ISIS beyond anything we have seen”

From Reuters:

“They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it’s in Iraq or anywhere else,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

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“The F-35 Is A Turkey” Says Designer Of The F-15

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Proposed Bill Would Mandate Better Accounting at the Pentagon for Ammunition

From USA Today:

The Pentagon would be required to modernize its accounting system for ammunition under an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that passed the House on Thursday.

The amendment, co-sponsored by Democrats Jackie Speier of California and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, would require an authoritative source of data on the Pentagon’s $70 billion stockpile of conventional ammunition as recommended by the Government Accountability Office.

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UAV Copter Likely To Be Cancelled

From Wired’s Danger Room:

…earlier this month, the Army issued a stop-work order — one step away from termination — to the drone’s developer Boeing. The reason? A high “probability of continued technical and schedule delays,” costs and risks that have “increased so significantly that program continuation is no longer in the best interest of the government,” said Donna Hightower, the Army’s acting product manager for unmanned aerial systems modernization.

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Military Abandons MRAP

The military has decided to cancel any additional purchases of the IED resistant MRAPs. Military.com reports on why the military no longer needs the MRAP:

President Obama’s military strategy, announced in January, envisions a lighter, more agile military focused on action in the Pacific. The heavy, lumbering Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) truck — the principal troop carrier in combat for the last five years — is a poor fit for that future.

…the military no longer intends to fight long-term occupations that it was designed for after the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan ends in 2014.

In a prime example of not learning from history, these are the things people were saying before 9/11 and the invasion of both those countries. Our military was supposed to be fast, nimble, and overwhelming, then we got bogged down in two countries and had to develop an ad hoc program to up-armor humvees and develop new vehicles. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link.

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PMAGs OKed For Army

From Military.com:

The Pentagon has clarified the Army’s stance on a recent safety message that effectively banned a certain high-performance, commercial M4 magazine, which means soldiers can keep using their PMAGs.

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New Spy Program at Pentagon

The Pentagon is taking some of its personnel from the Defense Intelligence Agency and creating a new department that will be known as the Defense Clandestine Service.

From MilitaryTimes.com:

The new service is intended to curb personnel losses, making clandestine work part of the Pentagon’s professional career track and rewarding those who prove successful at operating covertly overseas with further tours and promotions, like their CIA colleagues.

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Airforce One Upgrades in Defense Budget

From Military Times:

The two aircraft that serve as Air Force One began flying in 1990 and 1991, respectively, according to a service fact sheet.

The inclusion of a VC-25 replacement in the aviation plan comes at an interesting time, since recapitalization of Air Force One is typically directed by a president in a second term.

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MEDEVAC/CASEVAC Problems in Afghanistan

From Micheal Yon:

The highest ranking officers in the US Army continue to deceive Senators and Representatives about the ongoing MEDEVAC failures in Afghanistan.  There are telltale signs that reveal deceptive Generals.  If a General says or implies that Dustoff must wear Red Crosses due to Geneva Conventions, he is lying.  Full stop.

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New Defense Strategy Includes Big Cuts

From Military Times:

President Barack Obama joined Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and senior military and civilian leaders at the Pentagon on Thursday to introduce the strategy, which emphasizes a shift in focus from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Asia-Pacific region.

The strategy document also states that the U.S. will have to rely on a smaller military force.

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Pentagon’s New China Plan

From The Washington Times:

The plan calls for preparing the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps to defeat China’s “anti-access, area denial weapons,” including anti-satellite weapons, cyberweapons, submarines, stealth aircraft and long-range missiles that can hit aircraft carriers at sea.

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Panetta Warns Of Defense Cuts

From National Journal:

He went even further on Thursday, using arguably the strongest rhetorical weapon in his arsenal. Mandatory defense cuts, he warned, would weaken the armed forces to the point that enemies would be emboldened to attack the U.S.

“In effect, it invites aggression,” Panetta said during the new conference, just his second since taking office in July.

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Defense Department: Book Burner

From CNN:

In a statement to CNN, Cunningham said defense officials observed the September 20 destruction of about 9,500 copies of Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer’s new memoir “Operation Dark Heart.”

In the memoir, Shaffer recalls his time in Afghanistan leading a black-ops team during the Bush administration. The Bronze Star medal recipient told CNN he believes the Bush administraton’s biggest mistake during that time was misunderstanding the culture there.

Not long ago I finished reading Jawbreaker by Gary Berntsen, which was heavily redacted by the CIA. The redactions are so thick in parts that is is almost comical.

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