Inside DC| More...
 

Department of Defense

It's Official: Bush Admin Saw Iraq As Religious War

Jon Soltz | Posted 06.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: Islam, Religion, Bush Administration, Department of Defense, Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, Colin Powell, Judaism, President Obama, Holy-Wars, Donald Rumsfeld, Religious Freedom, Christianity, President Bush, Politics News
Jon Soltz

As someone who still has friends over in Iraq and Afghanistan, it boils my blood to think that insurgents and terrorists now have something else to show around as "proof" that America is "fighting a war on Islam."

Read Post

MRFF's Response to Rumsfeld Crusade Memos: We Told You So!

Chris Rodda | Posted 06.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Religion and the Military, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Department of Defense, Military, Afghanistan, Donald Rumsfeld, Pete Geren, Iraq, Mikey Weinstein, Politics News
Chris Rodda

The "routine" mixing of "Crusades-like messaging with war imagery" by the Department of Defense has been revealed over and over by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation since 2005.

Read Post

Rep. Murtha Should Step Down from Chairmanship of Defense Appropriations

Melanie Sloan | Posted 06.15.2009 | Politics

Read More: Crew, Defense Contractors, Corruption, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, Rep. Murtha, Ethics, Transparency, John-Murtha, Politics News
Melanie Sloan

How many more stories must appear before Rep. Murtha is forced from his perch as chairman of Defense Appropriations and denied further opportunity to feather his own nest?

Read Post

DOD's James Fondren Jr. Charged With Leaking Classified Information To China

AP | MATTHEW BARAKAT | Posted 06.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Pentagon, Classified Documents, Taiwan, Department of Defense, Classified Leak, James Fondren Jr., Defense Department, China, Politics News

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Defense Department official was charged Wednesday with conspiring to give U.S. defense secrets to an agent for the Chinese g...

Read Whole Story

Afghanistan War To Cost More Than Iraq

Wired | Posted 06.07.2009 | World

Read More: Afghan War Costs, Iraq War, Iraq War Wire, Afghanistan War Costs, Iraq War Costs, Iraq Costs, Afghanistan, Foreign Affairs, Iraq, Afghanistan War, Advocacy, Pentagon, Department of Defense, Defense Department, War Wire, World News

The price tag for running the war in Afghanistan will outstrip the cost of the conflict in Iraq next year, according to budget documents released toda...

Read Whole Story

Pentagon Admits Report Clearing Propaganda Program Was Flawed

New York Times | Posted 06.06.2009 | Politics

Read More: Pentagon, Donald M. Horstman, Department of Defense, Pentagon Report Pulled, Pentagon Report, Politics News

In a highly unusual reversal, the Defense Department's inspector general's office has withdrawn a report it issued in January exonerating a Pentagon p...

Read Whole Story

100 Days On Veterans: A Reason To Hope

Jon Soltz | Posted 05.30.2009 | Politics

Read More: Department of Veterans Affairs, Afghanistan Veterans, Iraq Veterans, Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, First 100 Days, Veterans Care, votevets.org, Obama First 100 Days, 100 Days, President Obama, Obama's First 100 Days, Votevets, Barack Obama, Veterans, Politics News
Jon Soltz

In all three areas of veteran care, while there's a ton to still do, there's been dramatic improvement in Obama's first 100 days.

Read Post

Stand by Your Word, Mr. President: End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 05.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Elaine Donnelly, Gays and Lesbians in the Military, Center for Military Readiness, Congress, Department of Defense, Ronald Reagan, Arabic Translators, President Obama, Admiral Mike Mullen, Poll, Pentagon Budget, John Shalikashvili, Repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, Obama White House, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Phyllis Schlafly, Retired Flag Officers, Economic Stimulus, Washington Post, ABC News, Bank Bailout, Politics News
Aubrey Sarvis

Firing 50 men and women who are fluent in Arabic solely because they are gay when we are fighting in the Arabic-speaking world? The mind boggles.

Read Post

Obama Defense Contractor Battle Only Just Begun: AP

AP | ANDREW TAYLOR | Posted 05.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: F-22, F-22 Raptor, F-22 Cuts, Defense Contractors, Obama Defense Contracts, Defense Contracting, Defense Department, Department of Defense, Robert Gates, Gates F-22, Gates Budget, Defense Budget, Obama Defense Budget, Politics News

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has chalked up a quick victory in its drive to kill an expensive jet fighter better suited for the Cold Wa...

Read Whole Story

Iraq Insurgent Attacks Likely To Rise As US Troops Leave: Pentagon

AP | LARA JAKES | Posted 05.23.2009 | World

Read More: Iraq, Pentagon, Pentagon Report, Pentagon Official, Department of Defense, Defense Department, Iraq War, War in Iraq, Iraq Violence, Colin Kahl, Barack Obama, Obama Iraq, Iraq Insurgency, Iraq Insurgents, War Wire, World News

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's top Middle East adviser said Wednesday insurgent attacks in Iraq will probably increase as U.S. forces start to leav...

Read Whole Story

The Gates Revolution

Adam Elkus | Posted 05.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Iraq War, Obama Defense Budget, Robert Gates, National Security, US Military, Department of Defense, Military, Army, Politics News
Adam Elkus

Gates is doing something far more radical than just canceling big-ticket weapons programs: he's finally fusing theory and policy.

Read Post

New Report: Bush Officials Tried to Shift Blame for Detainee Abuse to Low-Ranking Soldiers

Sen. Carl Levin | Posted 05.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Senate Armed Services Committee Report, Bush Administration, Department of Defense, Sere, Afghanistan, Senate Armed Services Committee, Guantanamo, Waterboarding, Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Torture, Politics News
Sen. Carl Levin

If we are to retain our status as a leader in the world, we must acknowledge and confront the abuse of detainees in our custody. A new declassified report makes significant progress toward that goal.

Read Post

Bridging The DOD-VA Gap

Jon Soltz | Posted 05.10.2009 | Politics

Read More: Politics, White House, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Veterans Care, President Obama, Breaking Politics News, Barack Obama, Electronic Medical Records, Veterans, Politics News
Jon Soltz

Brian McGough knows the pain of navigating from Department of Defense medical care to Department of Veterans Affairs care all too well.

Read Post

Putting Today's 'Pirate' Attack in Context

Jeremy Scahill | Posted 05.09.2009 | World

Read More: Yemen, Maersk Alabama, Johann Hari, Department of Defense, Blackwater, AP Maersk, Somali Pirates, Pirates, Somalia, Xe, Pentagon Contractors, US Navy, World News
Jeremy Scahill

Take this fact: Over $300 million worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are "being stolen every year by illegal trawlers" off Somalia's coast, forcing the fishing industry there into a state of virtual non-existence.

Read Post

Jason Linkins

Scritti Politti: April 7, 2009

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 05.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Abortion, Department of Defense, Jake Tapper, Allen Stanford, Abortion Rights, NCAA College Basketball, Roe vs Wade, Defense Budget, Video, Detroit Lions, Detroit, Matt Drudge, Defense Spending, Robert Gates, Mark Halperin, Rick Warren, Politics News

It's been so long since I've bothered to read The Page that yesterday's instance of Mark Halperin using Time magazine as a venue for his kindergarten ...

Read Whole Story

Don't Kid Yourself -- The F-22 Lives

Chris Kelly | Posted 05.07.2009 | Politics

Read More: F-22-Raptor, F-22, Obama Defense Budget, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, Defense Department, Obama Defense Spending, Obama Defense, Politics News
Chris Kelly

The defense budget is being cut in the sense that it's going up. The F-22 has been killed in sense that we've appropriated all the money we need to keep building them until we have to think about it again. The good news is that we're calling bad news good news.

Read Post

CON GAMES: Real Bonus Babies in Defense Budget

Michael Conniff | Posted 05.06.2009 | Politics

Read More: Neocons, Neoconservatives, A.I.G., Defense Spending, Gao, Department of Defense, Government Accountability Office, Politics News
Michael Conniff

Earmarks and entitlements are chickenfeed compared to defense spending, but to conservatives the Defense Department has always been sacrosanct.

Read Post

Spend More Wisely on National Security

Lt. General Robert G. Gard Jr. (USA, Ret.) | Posted 05.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: John McCain, Military, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, State Department, Barack Obama, Warwire, Iraq, Politics News
Lt. General Robert G. Gard Jr. (USA, Ret.)

In today's disastrous economic climate, the U.S. government desperately needs to prioritize its top national security objectives and realign spending accordingly.

Read Post

Welcome to "Obama's War"

Tom Andrews | Posted 04.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: Military, Department of Defense, Rush Limbaugh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, War, President Obama, Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan Surge, Us Afghanistan Surge, US Troops, US Military, US Military Afghanistan, Us Troops Afghanistan, US Afghanistan, Obama Afghanistan Troop Increase, Afganistan Troop Increase, Barack Obama Afghanistan, Afghanistan Taliban, Obama Afghanistan, Politics News
Tom Andrews

As someone who was growing up as LBJ's war was tearing his administration down, I had a pit in my stomach as I watched President Obama announce his "Af-Pak" policy.

Read Post

Pentagon Exploring Robot Killers That Can Fire By Themselves

McClatchy | Posted 04.25.2009 | World

Read More: Pentagon, Department of Defense, Obama Department of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, Pakistan Drone Attacks, Self-Firing Drone, Obama Defense Department, Drones, Defense Department, Advocacy, Robots, Pentagon Robot Killers, World News

The unmanned bombers that frequently cause unintended civilian casualties in Pakistan are a step toward an even more lethal generation of robotic hunt...

Read Whole Story

The Pentagon's Annual Report on Sexual Assualt in the Military, or, How to Lie with Statistics

Helen Benedict | Posted 04.20.2009 | Politics

Read More: Dod, Sexual Assault in Military, Department of Defense, Rape, Sexual Assault, Politics News
Helen Benedict

The Pentagon released its annual report on military sexual assault. Reports of sexual assault have risen 8 percent in military as a whole. Yet to the Department of Defense this is good news.

Read Post

Past Time to Join the Landmine Treaty

Lt. General Robert G. Gard Jr. (USA, Ret.) | Posted 04.18.2009 | World

Read More: Russia, Pentagon, Bill Clinton, US Military, Persian Gulf, Reputation, Department of Defense, President Obama, Retired-Military, Landmines, Retired General, International Treaty, Operation Desert Storm, China, Veterans, World News
Lt. General Robert G. Gard Jr. (USA, Ret.)

While 156 countries have signed on, the United States has not yet agreed to join the ban on the production, use, sale, and stockpiling of anti-personnel landmines.

Read Post

Military Rapes Rise, Prosecutions Still Low

AP | ANNE GEARAN | Posted 04.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Military, US Military, Military Rapes, Rape, Pentagon, Sexual Assault, Sexual Assault in Military, Sexual Assualt, Department of Defense, Defense Department, Politics News

WASHINGTON — More people came forward to report sexual assaults in the military last year, but a significant percentage wouldn't give crucial de...

Read Whole Story

Gates To Cut Weapons Spending

The Boston Globe | Posted 04.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, Robert Gates, Politics News

As the Bush administration was drawing to a close, Robert M. Gates, whose two years as defense secretary had been devoted to wars in Iraq and Afghanis...

Read Whole Story

Jason Linkins

Scritti Politti: March 16, 2009

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 04.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Lobbyists, Derivatives, NCAA Tournament, Lobbyist Waivers, Economic Crisis, Alex Quade, Barack Obama, Journalism Awards, Foreign Correspondents, Nate Silver, Credit Derivatives, Unemployment, fivethirtyeight.com, Department of Defense, New York Times, Financial Crisis, Timothy Geithner, Great Depression, Politics News

After the 2008 Election, it was generally decided that Nate Silver, of FiveThirtyEight.com was to be crowned the new God of The Maths and King Kahuna ...

Read Whole Story