Military

GENEVA: Vatican Calls For UN Ban On “Killer Robots”

The Catholic Crux reports: Fully automated and autonomous lethal weapons systems must be banned now before they become a reality in tomorrow’s wars, a Vatican representative said. The development of robotic weapons or “killer robots” will provide “the capacity of altering irreversibly the nature of warfare, becoming more detached from human agency, putting in question the humanity of our societies,” …

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Dems Condemn Trump Over Latest Anti-Trans Move

Just in from the Democratic National Committee: Yesterday, the Department of Justice requested the U.S. Supreme Court review President Trump’s ban on transgender people from serving in the military. Currently, there are 3 cases navigating the federal judicial system. This request, if granted, would allow the cases to skip the traditional process and review of the various regional U.S. Courts …

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POLL: 88% Say Trump Should Visit War Zone Troops

The Hill reports: Eighty-eight percent of voters said President Trump should visit U.S. troops in war zones, according to an American Barometer survey released Wednesday. The poll, conducted by Hill.TV and the HarrisX polling company, found that 57 percent of voters polled said it was “very important” for the president to visit troops in war zones, while 31 percent said …

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Pentagon Estimates Cost Of Border Troops: $72 Million

CNBC reports: The Pentagon estimates that the cost of the 5,900 troops deployed to the southwest border will total $72 million, spokesman U.S. Army Col. Rob Manning said in a statement Monday. In mid-October, a caravan of at least 3,500 Central American migrants seeking asylum left Honduras for the United States border. The caravan is currently in southern Mexico. Trump …

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Pentagon: All Border Troops Will Be Home By Xmas

Politico reports: The Pentagon is set to begin a drawdown of its 5,800 troops from the Southwest border as early as this week, the Army commander overseeing the mission told POLITICO today — even as the approaching caravan of refugees prompted U.S. customs officers to close a port of entry near Tijuana, Mexico. All the active-duty troops that President Donald …

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Pentagon Rejected Trump’s Demand That US Troops Perform Law Enforcement Functions Against Migrants

CNN reports: When the Trump administration first asked the Pentagon to send troops to the southern border, they wanted them to perform emergency law enforcement functions, CNN has learned. The Pentagon said no. According to two defense official familiar with the request, the Department of Homeland Security asked that the Pentagon provide a reserve force that could be called upon …

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US Sold $56B In Weapons To Foreign Countries In FY18

Defense News reports: The U.S. inked $55.6 billion in foreign military sales during fiscal year 2018, easily smashing past the previous year’s total — and the Pentagon’s point man for security cooperation expects more in the future. “This is a 33 percent increase over last year and I’m very optimistic that this positive trajectory will continue,” said Lt. Gen. Charles …

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Google Withdraws From Pentagon Cloud Bid Over Concerns It Could Be Used To Violate Human Rights

Axios reports: Google announced Monday it won’t bid on the Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud contract because of concerns the work wouldn’t align with its artificial intelligence ethical principles, which hold that its software shouldn’t be used to cause harm to people or violate human rights. Google has lately faced a series of conflicts between those ethical principles and major business …

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REPORT: Trump May Fire Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson Because She Takes Dim View Of Space Force

Foreign Policy reports: President Donald Trump is peeved with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson over her handling of his directive to stand up a separate Space Force in the U.S. military, and he’s considering ousting her after the midterm elections, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Foreign Policy. Wilson, a former Republican congresswoman from New Mexico, recently angered …

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REPORT: Former US Sailor Linked To Ricin-Laced Mail

The Military Times reports: Mailed packages suspected to contain the poison ricin that were sent to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson may be linked to a former Navy sailor, Fox News reported Wednesday, citing unnamed U.S. officials. The report cited U.S. officials saying a return address was the potential link to the former …

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Pentagon: Ricin-Laced Mail Sent To Mattis And Admiral

CNN reports: Two pieces of mail delivered to the Pentagon mail facility on Monday have initially tested positive for ricin, according to a US defense official. The two suspicious envelopes were addressed to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and to Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, the official told CNN. The mail facility is in a separate building on …

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NEW BOOK: Trump Told CIA Official That “We Should Make (Drone) Bombs Silent So They Can’t Get Away”

An excerpt from the new book by WaPo’s Greg Miller: When told that the CIA flew surveillance flights over Syria but that only the military conducted strikes — an Obama policy meant to return the agency’s focus to its core espionage mission — Trump made clear he wanted those restrictions wiped away and for the agency to start firing. “If …

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Trump Considers Building “Fort Trump” In Poland

Politico reports: U.S. President Donald Trump is “very seriously” considering Warsaw’s request for a permanent U.S. military base in Poland, he said on Tuesday. Speaking at a joint press conference with Andrzej Duda in Washington D.C., Trump said the security of the Central European country was “almost as important” to him as to the Polish president. “Poland is willing to …

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Coast Guard Member Yanked Over White Power Sign

The New York Post reports: A US Coast Guard member was yanked from his duties on the Hurricane Florence response team after making an “offensive” hand symbol during a MSNBC live TV segment, officials said. The unidentified worker was sitting behind Sector Charleston Commanding Officer Capt. John Reed during the interview Friday, when he briefly looked at the camera and …

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Pentagon Defends Plan To Expel HIV+ Service Members

Bloomberg reports: The Trump administration defended a new military policy that will allegedly result in HIV-positive service members being fired in violation of their constitutional rights when it takes effect Oct. 1. The “Deploy or Get Out!” directive is intended to improve military readiness by weeding out soldiers who can’t deploy overseas for more than 12 consecutive months “for any …

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US Navy Reactivates Cold War-Era Fleet Because Russia

CNN reports: The US officially re-launched the US Navy’s Cold War-era Second Fleet Friday, a move that comes amid renewed concern over the threat posed by Russia. “US Second Fleet has a storied history, and we will honor that legacy,” Vice Adm. Andrew “Woody” Lewis, who took command of the fleet Friday, said during a ceremony marking the fleet’s re-launch. …

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Pentagon: We Never Briefed Trump On Parade Costs

Is anybody still even bothering to count the lies? President Trump canceled his desired military parade before Pentagon officials briefed him on cost estimates for the event, a Defense Department spokesman said Monday. “The president was not briefed by any member of the Department of Defense on any cost associated with the parade,” Col. Rob Manning told reporters at the …

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REPORT: Trump Mulls Privatizing Afghanistan War

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump is increasingly venting frustration to his national security team about the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and showing renewed interest in a proposal by Blackwater founder Erik Prince to privatize the war, current and former senior administration officials said. Prince’s idea, which first surfaced last year during the president’s Afghanistan strategy review, envisions replacing troops …

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Pentagon Cancels Military Parade After Cost Leak

The Washington Post reports: The Defense Department and the White House, which had targeted a November date for the Washington military parade sought by President Trump, will instead “explore opportunities in 2019,” a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement. Officials have been planning the event since earlier this year, when the president, apparently inspired by a similar display he observed …

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Mike Pence Announces 2020 Launch For Space Force

Yahoo News reports: The Pentagon is laying the groundwork for a future Space Force, moving closer to an order from President Trump earlier this summer to create a sixth branch of the armed forces. Speaking at the Pentagon on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence announced sweeping changes that reorganize how the Department of Defense handles space operations, even if Congress …

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