Pentagon Complied with COVID-19 Waiver Rules According to Watchdog But Services Moved Slowly
A Pentagon watchdog review of the military’s COVID-19 vaccine exemption process found that each of the branches largely complied with policies and, in some cases, even went beyond what was required to consider service members’ requests for religious accommodation. While rejecting a number of accusations that the services hadn’t properly reviewed waiver requests, the Pentagon’s […]
Pentagon Identifies 3 Army Reserve Soldiers Killed in Jordan When Iran-Backed Militants Flew Drone into Living Quarters
The Pentagon said Monday that the three service members killed in an Iranian-backed militia drone attack on their living quarters at a small logistics base in Jordan on Sunday were Army Reserve soldiers from the same unit. The soldiers who lost their lives were Sgt. William Rivers, 46; Spc. Kennedy Sanders, 24; and Spc. Breonna […]
Pentagon Effort on Extremism Snarled by Confusion, Guard Divisions, Gaps in Security Clearance Screening
Military leaders were confused about how to define and root out extremist behavior, even as they acknowledged a stream of racist or bigoted recruits, in the wake of the U.S. Capitol insurrection, according to a long-awaited independent report commissioned by the Pentagon that provides a snapshot of the effort. The report released this week — […]
An Unlikely Alliance: How Mitch McConnell and I Took on the Pentagon and Finally Won
If you watch cable news, you may feel dispirited by the current state of our political affairs. We are constantly told we’re too left, too right, too this and that. Partisanship exists, but seeing eye to eye isn’t a condition for finding common ground. Take, for example, my 30-year friendship with Senator Mitch McConnell. The […]
Army, Navy and Marine Corps Sexual Harassment, Bullying, Hazing Response Under Investigation by Pentagon Watchdog
The Defense Department’s inspector general has launched reviews of the Navy and Marine Corps’ sexual harassment complaint process, as well as the Army’s handling of harassment prevention and response to determine whether the services are effectively managing their efforts to protect service members. While it is unclear why the Pentagon’s top watchdog is looking into […]
Pentagon Activates National Guard, Sends Helicopters to Aid in Deadly Hawaii Fires
The Pentagon announced that it has sent a number of troops and military helicopters to Hawaii to assist in rescue-and-recovery efforts in the wake of devastating wildfires that swept through the island of Maui. “As of this morning, the National Guard has activated 134 National Guard personnel — 99 from the Army National Guard and […]
The Pentagon Is Pulling 1,100 Troops from the US-Mexico Border Mission
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is pulling 1,100 active duty troops from the U.S.-Mexico border it deployed earlier this year as the government prepared for the end of asylum restrictions linked to the pandemic. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the deployment of a total of 1,500 active duty troops for a temporary 90-day military presence surge […]
Academy Cadets with Kids Could Still Be Kicked Out as Pentagon Lags on Rule Change
Military students remain in limbo as final Pentagon guidance for a new policy allowing cadets at America’s service academies who have a child to continue their education has been past due for months. The Pentagon was supposed to make the changes to service academy policies by the end of December, a year after the Candidates […]
Pentagon Sends 1,500 Active-Duty Troops to Border as Pandemic Immigration Restrictions End
The Pentagon is sending 1,500 active-duty troops to the southwest border as federal immigration agencies and local communities brace for the expiration of pandemic-era restrictions used to quickly send migrants back to Mexico. The troop deployment was authorized Tuesday by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for 90 days. They will work monitoring the area, doing data […]