Tag Archives: military

Pentagon Leaker Posted To Second Much Larger Group

The New York Times reports: The Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents to a small group of gamers had been posting sensitive information months earlier than previously known and to a much larger chat group, according to online postings reviewed by The New York Times. In February 2022, soon after the invasion of Ukraine, a user profile matching …

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Guardsman Charged With Transmitting Defense Info

The Washington Post reports: Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member suspected of leaking a trove of classified military intelligence, was charged Friday with retention and transmission of national defense information and willful retention of classified documents. Teixeira, 21, appeared shortly after 10 a.m. Eastern before Magistrate Judge David Hennessy of the U.S. District Court for the District of …

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Feds Target Air National Guardsman In Pentagon Leak

The New York Times reports: The leader of a small online gaming chat group where a trove of classified U.S. intelligence documents leaked over the last few months is a 21-year-old member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times. The national guardsman, whose name is Jack …

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US Army Helicopters Crash In Kentucky, Nine Killed

The Associated Press reports: Nine people were killed in a crash involving two Army Black Hawk helicopters in Kentucky, a military spokesperson said. Nondice Thurman, a spokesperson for Fort Campbell, said Thursday morning that the deaths happened the previous night in southwestern Kentucky during a routine training mission. A statement from Fort Campbell says the two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, …

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US Veterans Affairs Dept Adopts Gender-Neutral Motto

The Washington Post reports: For decades, the mission statement of Veterans Affairs came from a line from President Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address on March 4, 1865 — “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” — a phrase adopted by the department in 1959. On Thursday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis …

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Biden Selects Livery Design For Next Air Force One

Via press release from the United States Air Force: President of the United States Joe Biden selected the livery design for the “Next Air Force One,” VC-25B, a design that will closely resemble the livery of the current Air Force One, VC-25A, while also modernizing for the 21st century. While accounting for the VC-25B’s larger 747-8i aircraft, the VC-25B livery …

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Pentagon: Michigan Object Was “Metallic Balloon”

CNN reports: The unidentified flying object shot down in Canadian airspace on Saturday appeared to be a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it,” according to a Pentagon memo sent to lawmakers on Monday and obtained by CNN. The memo offers the first official details of one of the three objects shot down in recent days that was …

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Air Force General: We’re Not Ruling Out Anything

Reuters reports: The U.S. Air Force general overseeing North American airspace said on Sunday after a series of shoot-downs of unidentified objects that he would not rule out aliens or any other explanation yet, deferring to U.S. intelligence experts. Asked whether he had ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for three airborne objects shot down by U.S. warplanes in as many …

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US Navy Releases Photos From Balloon Recovery Effort

NBC News reports: U.S. Fleet Forces released new pictures on Tuesday showing sailors assigned to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recovering the high-altitude surveillance balloon. Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the commander of NORAD Command, provided an update,, stating the debris field that is about 15 football fields long and wide. He said that precautions are being taken …

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US To Expand Military Presence In The Philippines

The Associated Press reports: The United States and the Philippines on Thursday announced plans to expand America’s military presence in the Southeast Asian nation, with access to four more bases as they seek to deter China’s increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea. The agreement was reached as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in …

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Pence: Reinstate And Give Back Pay To Anti-Vax Troops

The Hill reports: Former Vice President Pence in an exclusive interview called on the Biden administration to reinstate and repay members of the military who were discharged for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine now that the mandate for the shot has been lifted. “I think it was unconscionable that the Biden administration mandated the vaccine on members of the …

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Pentagon Formally Drops COVID Vaccine Mandate

Politico reports: The Pentagon formally dropped its Covid-19 vaccination mandate Tuesday, but a new memo signed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also gives commanders some discretion in how or whether to deploy troops who are not vaccinated. Austin’s memo has been widely anticipated ever since legislation signed into law on Dec. 23 gave him 30 days to rescind the mandate. …

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Chinese Fighter Jet Menaces US Air Force Aircraft

From the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Public Affairs office: On Dec. 21 (China Standard Time), a People’s Liberation Army – Navy J-11 fighter pilot performed an unsafe maneuver during an intercept of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft, which was lawfully conducting routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace. The PLAN pilot flew an unsafe maneuver by flying …

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Schools Are Forcing Poor Students Into ROTC Classes

The New York Times reports: J.R.O.T.C. programs, taught by military veterans at some 3,500 high schools across the country, are supposed to be elective, and the Pentagon has said that requiring students to take them goes against its guidelines. But The New York Times found that thousands of public school students were being funneled into the classes without ever having …

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Pro-LGBTQ Obama Defense Sec. Ash Carter Dies At 68

ABC News reports: Former U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who served in the post under President Barack Obama, has died at 68, his family announced Tuesday. Carter is survived by his wife, Stephanie, and his children, Ava and Will. “It is with deep and profound sadness that the family of former Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter shares that Secretary Carter …

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VA Expands Survivor Benefits For Same-Sex Spouses

The Military Times reports: Same-sex spouses who were in long-term relationships with a veteran but were not legally able to marry before 2015 may now qualify for survivor benefits under a policy change announced by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The change applies to survivors who — because of bans before a Supreme Court ruling that year making gay marriage …

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Boston Dynamics Pledges Not To Weaponize Robots

Axios reports: Several robotics companies, including Boston Dynamics, are pledging not to support the weaponization of their products and are calling for others in the industry to do the same, according to a letter shared first with Axios. Robots, like drones before them, have a wide range of peaceful and even life-saving uses, but can be turned into war-fighting machines, …

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Air Force Issues Plan To Help Mitigate Climate Change

Via press release from the US Air Force: The Department of the Air Force released its Climate Action Plan Oct. 4, which defines how it will preserve operational capability, increase resiliency, and do its part to help mitigate future climate impacts through specific and measurable objectives and key results. It lays out its enterprise-wide approach to ensuring policies, technology innovation, …

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Pentagon Study: Fears Of Gay Troops Were Unfounded

The Military Times reports: A decade after the services first allowed gay and lesbian troops to serve openly, a report from the Joint Staff found that concerns about combat effectiveness and unit cohesion were basically unfounded. That’s the conclusion of a 196-page document published in 2021 by the Joint History and Research Office, recently brought to light by the Palm …

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Fugitive “Fat Leonard” Nabbed En Route To Russia

San Diego’s NBC affiliate reports: Leonard Glenn Francis, better known as “Fat Leonard,” a defense contractor who disappeared weeks before he was set to be sentenced for one of the largest bribery scandals in the nation’s military history, was taken into custody Wednesday in Venezuela, the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed. Francis was taken into custody by Venezuelan authorities as he …

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