Tag Archives: military

The New York Times reports: President Trump will nominate Patrick Shanahan as his second defense secretary, trying to cement the acting Pentagon chief against expected challenges from lawmakers and Defense Department officials skeptical of him, White House officials said on Thursday. The announcement, in a tweet from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, followed a monthlong Pentagon ethics …

Space News reports: The Congressional Budget Office estimates the new space organizations proposed by the Pentagon would require thousands of additional personnel and cost several billion dollars more than what DoD has projected. In a new report released on Wednesday, CBO lays out personnel requirements and cost estimates for several proposed space organizations. The most controversial, an independent military branch …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump has pardoned a former U.S. soldier convicted in 2009 of killing an Iraqi prisoner, the White House announced Monday. Trump signed an executive grant of clemency, a full pardon, for former Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna, of Oklahoma, press secretary Sarah Sanders said. Behenna was convicted of unpremeditated murder in a combat zone …

Politico reports: Former Defense Secretary James Mattis declined to carry out orders from President Trump or otherwise limited his options in various attempts to prevent tensions with North Korea, Iran and Syria from escalating, The New Yorker reported Monday, the latest report of Trump’s own officials trying to check his worst instincts. In 2017, following a series of North Korean …

USA Today reports: The Trump administration has moved to defend the male-only military draft, appealing a federal court ruling that Selective Service registration is unconstitutional because it discriminates based on sex. The appeal on Monday comes as the plaintiffs in the case step up their legal efforts to force the government to either force women to register for the draft …

NBC News reports: Three years after the Obama administration told transgender individuals they could serve openly and have access to gender-affirming medical and psychological care, the Trump administration has reversed course. The Pentagon on Friday began to implement a controversial new policy that critics say is essentially a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for trans service members. “The policy is …

The Washington Blade reports: The U.S. House voted Tuesday morning to rebuke President Trump’s transgender military ban by approving a non-binding resolution with bipartisan support. The resolution, which was introduced by Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass.), was approved by a vote of 238-185 after an hour of debate on the House floor in which lawmakers denounced the Trump administration’s policy …

NBC News reports: Democratic White House hopeful Cory Booker said Sunday night he would reverse President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender individuals serving in the military if elected president. Speaking to a crowd of more than 300 voters in Davenport, the New Jersey senator answered a question posed by a woman who identified herself as transgender about what he would …

Law & Crime reports: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday which overhauls policy on the reporting of civilian casualties caused by U.S. operations. National security lawyer Mark Zaid told Law & Crime that the move appears to reinforce the idea that the U.S. is above criticism for its actions abroad. “It would appear that this move by …

Politico reports: The former secretaries of the Air Force, Army and Navy, along with instructors at the Air Force and Coast Guard academies, are accusing the Pentagon of deceiving Congress when Defense officials testified last week that medical treatment for transgender troops keeps them off duty longer than other personnel — and of ignoring the military’s own data to the …

Task & Purpose reports: Listen up conspiracy theorists, schizophrenics, and other beloved readers: Some of you out there might have been wondering if Space Force will fight aliens. During a roundtable on Friday, this reporter asked if Space Force is concerned about threats posed by extraterrestrial intelligence. The official answer: No. A December 2018 Defense Intelligence Agency report warns that, …

Time Magazine reports: An all-male draft has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in Texas, declaring that the “time has passed” for debating the role of women in the army. “While historical restrictions on women in the military may have justified past discrimination, men and women are now ‘similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a …

The Hill reports: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sent a letter to President Trump Tuesday requesting that the United States Space Command be headquartered in Florida. DeSantis touted the Sunshine State’s ties to both the military and space travel, suggesting its existing relations would make Florida an ideal location to headquarter the command. “As the most military friendly state in …

USA Today reports: President Donald Trump will sign a directive Tuesday creating the Space Force, a new branch of the military whose mission will be to monitor the heavens and protect the United States from attack, senior administration officials said. Money for the new program will be included in the administration’s proposed budget for 2020 that will come out next …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Today, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Defense and Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan to halt discharge proceedings against HIV-positive members of the U.S. Air Force. The order came in the case of Roe and Voe v. Shanahan, filed by Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN, with partner law firm Winston & Strawn, …

The Hill reports: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who is vying to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2020, introduced Thursday a bill to allow transgender people to serve in the military. The bill, which was also introduced by Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), comes weeks after the Supreme Court …

Newsweek reports: Two Russian naval vessels have been fitted with a defensive weapon, which, during testing, caused some subjects to hallucinate and vomit because of its disorientating effect. The weapon’s name “Filin” translates to “Eagle Owl” in English. The technology, which was developed to dazzle and incapacitate attackers, has been deployed on the Russian naval frigates Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral …

Defense News reports: The U.S. House passed legislation Tuesday evening that seeks to bar President Donald Trump from withdrawing from NATO amid renewed concerns over his commitment to the 29-nation military pact. In a bipartisan 357-22 vote, the Democrat-led lower chamber sent the Senate the NATO Support Act, which would prohibit the use of federal funds to withdraw from the …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: “The Supreme Court’s decisions today are perplexing to say the least: on the one hand denying the Trump administration’s premature request for review of lower court rulings before appellate courts have ruled and rebuffing the administration’s attempt to skirt established rules; and yet on the other allowing the administration to begin to discriminate, at …

Think Progress reports: The Supreme Court handed down a pair of orders on Tuesday that effectively reinstate the Trump administration’s ban on trans military service. The cases are Trump v. Karnoski and Trump v. Stockman. In both cases, a lower court halted the ban. Tuesday’s orders temporarily stay those lower court decisions while the cases make their way through the …