Tag Archives: Pentagon

The Daily Beast reports: Crisis-hit Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at demands to quit over revelations he shared war secrets with his wife. In a late-night tweet Sunday, Hegseth rejected a call for his resignation that came only hours after The New York Times reported how he had a second Signal chat called “Defense Huddle” that included his third …

Politico reports: The Pentagon is in “total chaos” and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is unlikely to remain in his role, according to its former top spokesperson, who painted a scene of dysfunction, backstabbing and continuous missteps at the highest levels of the department. “The building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership,” John Ullyot wrote Sunday in a POLITICO Magazine opinion …

The New York Times reports: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, according to four people with knowledge of the chat. Hegseth shared on the Signal chat included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis …

The Associated Press reports: Three former senior advisers to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decried on Saturday what they called “baseless attacks” after each was escorted from the Pentagon in an expanding probe on information leaks. Dan Caldwell, a Hegseth aide; Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg; and Darin Selnick, Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff were …

Politico reports: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, will leave his role in the coming days for a new position at the agency, according to a senior administration official, amid a week of turmoil for the Pentagon. Senior adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg’s chief of …

Politico reports: John Ullyot, the former top Pentagon spokesperson who found himself at the center of several controversies in the first months of the Trump administration, said he will resign this week. Ullyot’s departure comes in the midst of a tumultuous week for the Pentagon. Three political appointees were put on administrative leave on Tuesday and Wednesday during an investigation …

The Hill reports: Suspensions at the Defense Department have continued, with a third top Pentagon official being placed on administrative leave amid an ongoing investigation into information leaks at the department. Colin Carroll, chief of staff to deputy secretary of Defense Steve A. Feinberg, was placed on administrative leave on Wednesday, a U.S. defense official told The Hill. The department …

Politico reports: The Pentagon placed two top political appointees under administrative leave on Tuesday after a probe into potential leaks of sensitive information, according to three defense officials. Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was escorted out of the Pentagon by security officers and had his building access suspended pending further investigation, said two of the …

The Guardian reports: Twelve students studying in Pentagon schools in the US and around the world are suing the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, over the book bans he has instigated to remove titles on race and gender from their libraries. A lawsuit lodged on the students’ behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday argues that their first …

Reuters reports: One of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s top advisors, Dan Caldwell, was escorted out of the Pentagon on Tuesday after being identified during an investigation into leaks at the Department of Defense, a US official told Reuters. Caldwell, a senior advisor to Pete Hegseth, was placed on administrative leave for “an unauthorized disclosure,” the official said, speaking on …

Politico reports: The Senate confirmed retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to lead the Joint Chiefs early Friday morning — elevating a little-known three-star general just seven weeks after President Donald Trump fired Gen. C.Q. Brown from the post. Caine overcame doubts about his qualifications and ability to remain apolitical, and was confirmed in a bipartisan 60-25 vote to serve …

Via press release from the Pentagon: We’re committed to doing right by those who were affected by the Department’s former COVID-19 vaccination policy. For the roughly 8,700 service members who were separated solely for refusing the vaccine, this is an opportunity to return to service — and we want them to know the door is open. Starting today, the Department …

Ars Technica reports: The US Space Force announced Friday it selected SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin for $13.7 billion in contracts to deliver the Pentagon’s most critical military to orbit into the early 2030s. These missions will launch the government’s heaviest national security satellites, like the National Reconnaissance Office’s large bus-sized spy platforms, and deploy them into bespoke …

Military.com reports: The Army is quietly considering a sweeping reduction of up to 90,000 active-duty troops, a move that underscores mounting fiscal pressures at the Pentagon and a broader shift in military strategy away from Europe and counterterrorism, according to three defense officials familiar with the deliberations. Internal discussions are exploring trimming the force to between 360,000 and 420,000 troops …

The Associated Press reports: The Pentagon’s acting inspector general announced Thursday that he would review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to convey plans for a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen. The review will also look at other defense officials’ use of the publicly available encrypted app, which is not able to handle classified …

Military.com reports: The U.S. Naval Academy has confirmed that officials there removed items commemorating female Jewish graduates from a historic display ahead of a visit to the school by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, or MRFF, a nonprofit group that advocates for religious freedom, first reported on the move after its members noticed the …

The Daily Beast reports: Trump’s pick to be chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff refused to lie for the president and instead threw his prospective boss under the bus at a confirmation hearing. Retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine told a Senate committee on Tuesday morning that he was not wearing a red MAGA hat when he first met …

The Washington Post reports: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reoriented the U.S. military to prioritize deterring China’s seizure of Taiwan and shoring up homeland defense by “assuming risk” in Europe and other parts of the world, according to a secret internal guidance memo that bears the fingerprints of the conservative Heritage Foundation, including some passages that are nearly word-for-word duplications …

The New York Times reports: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office has ordered the Naval Academy to identify books related to so-called diversity, equity and inclusion themes that are housed in the school’s Nimitz Library, and to remove them from circulation. This week, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss policy decisions, Mr. Hegseth’s …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is facing scrutiny over his handling of details of a military strike, brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, according to multiple people who were present or had knowledge of the discussions. One of the meetings, a …