Tag Archives: Pentagon

Pentagon Deploys Explosives Experts For Inauguration

Politico reports: The Pentagon has authorized hundreds of active-duty troops to support enhanced security measures related to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, as local law enforcement continues to track threats of violence in the nation’s capital in the days leading up to the ceremony, according to two defense officials. The 750 active-duty personnel deployed this week include service members with expertise …

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Pentagon Fears “Inside Attack” During Inauguration

The Associated Press reports: U.S. defense officials say they are worried about an insider attack or other threat from service members involved in securing President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, prompting the FBI to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops coming into Washington for the event. The massive undertaking reflects the extraordinary security concerns that have gripped Washington following the …

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Troops Assigned To DC “Pre-Screened For Extremism”

From the military site Defense One: The roughly 25,000 National Guardsmen deployed to the U.S. capital to ensure President-elect Joe Biden is able to be sworn in peacefully went through an additional background check to weed out any whiff of domestic extremism. “For this deployment everybody is screened additionally, but it’s more of a reassurance, because we do everything we …

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Pentagon To Skip Traditional Farewell To President

The military site Defense One reports: The Pentagon, in a break with tradition, will not host an Armed Forces Farewell tribute to President Donald Trump. It’s a shame, but not a surprise. Trump will leave office in disgrace, one week after the House voted a second time for his impeachment, two weeks after his supporters staged a deadly siege in …

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Pentagon Okays Up To 15K Troops for Inauguration

The Wall Street Journal reports: The National Guard will increase the number of troops in Washington, D.C., to at least 10,000 by Saturday to bolster security in advance of next week’s presidential inauguration, the Guard’s top officer said. Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, who is in charge of the National Guard Bureau, said in a press briefing Monday that the troop …

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Pelosi Speaks To Pentagon About Keeping “Unstable President” From Accessing US Nuclear Launch Codes

The Washington Post reports: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told her House colleagues Friday that she had spoken to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, about keeping an “unstable president” from accessing the nuclear codes. “The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to …

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Pentagon Limited National Guard Ahead Of Riot

The Washington Post reports: In memos issued Monday and Tuesday in response to a request from the D.C. mayor, the Pentagon prohibited the District’s guardsmen from receiving ammunition or riot gear, interacting with protesters unless necessary for self-defense, sharing equipment with local law enforcement, or using Guard surveillance and air assets without the defense secretary’s explicit sign-off, according to officials …

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Pentagon Has 3 Years To Change Confederate Names

Politico reports: Lawmakers’ rebuke of President Donald Trump’s efforts to tank annual defense policy legislation last week has paved the way for a yearslong process to remove the names of Confederate leaders from military bases and scrub other monuments to the secession. But there are still unanswered questions about the nascent process, which must kick off by March, including who …

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All 10 Living Former Defense Secretaries: The Election Is Settled, The Military Will Play No Role In Challenge

The Washington Post reports: The time to question election results has passed, and there is no role for the military in changing them, all of the living former defense secretaries said in an extraordinary rebuke to President Trump and other Republicans who are backing unfounded claims of widespread fraud at the ballot box. The former Pentagon chiefs issued their warning …

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Pentagon Continues To Block Biden Transition Team

CNN reports: President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team on Wednesday disputed suggestions from Pentagon officials who questioned the accuracy of Biden’s assertion a day earlier that the Department of Defense has refused to brief his team on the massive cyberattack on government agencies and major American technology and accounting companies. “As the President-elect noted yesterday, the Department of Defense has continued …

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Enlistees In The Space Force To Be Called “Guardians”

Stars And Stripes reports: Troops serving in Space Force are now referred to as Guardians, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday. “It is my honor on behalf of the president to announce henceforth the men and women of the United States Space Force will be known as Guardians,” Pence said during a ceremony to celebrate Space Force’s first birthday, which …

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Pentagon Ordered To Halt Biden’s Defense Briefings

Politico reports: The tension between the Trump administration and President-elect Joe Biden’s team spilled out into the open on Friday, as officials traded accusations over the status of a series of Defense Department transition meetings that a Biden spokesperson called “invaluable” for national security. Biden spokesperson Yohannes Abraham directly contradicted acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller’s claims that the two teams …

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Russian Hackers Also Hit Pentagon And State Dept

The New York Times reports: The scope of a hack engineered by one of Russia’s premier intelligence agencies became clearer on Monday, when some Trump administration officials acknowledged that other federal agencies — the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and parts of the Pentagon — had been compromised. Investigators were struggling to determine the extent to which the …

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Trump Appoints Loyalists And Kooks To Pentagon Board

Just in via press release from the Pentagon: Today, the Department of Defense announced that it intends to appoint Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, Ambassador Thomas Carter, Dr. Edward Luttwak, Mr. Scott O’Grady, Mr. Thomas Stewart, the Honorable Randy Forbes, Senator Robert Smith and Ambassador Charles Glazer to the Defense Policy Board. “Today, I’m proud …

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Trump Again Vows To Veto Defense Bill, Goes Golfing

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday repeated his threat to veto a massive defense spending bill, setting the stage for a major battle with U.S. lawmakers at a time when they are racing to hammer out a compromise on more coronavirus relief. Passage by the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate on Friday sent the measure to Trump, giving him 10 …

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Biden To Name Gen. Lloyd Austin As Defense Secretary

Politico reports: Retired Gen. Lloyd Austin, once viewed as a long-shot candidate to be President-elect Joe Biden’s defense secretary, has been chosen to lead the Pentagon, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions. The decision comes two weeks after Biden announced the other senior members of his national security team. In recent days, Austin, the former commander of …

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WH Blocks Biden Team From Pentagon Intel Meetings

CNN reports: The Trump administration prevented President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team from meeting with its counterparts at Pentagon intelligence agencies this week, according to a former senior intelligence official familiar with intelligence transition discussions. The slowdown means the Biden team has not yet been able to meet with officials from the military intelligence agencies within the Defense Department — including …

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Trump Appoints Lackeys To Pentagon Business Board

Boing Boing reports: Donald Trump and his administration have effectively enacted a purge in the Defense Department, in the last 45 days of his term. On Friday, the Pentagon announced that two of Trump’s longtime loyalists, Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, have been appointed to the department’s Defense Business Board. Neither Lewandowski nor Bossie have any Defense experience. Or business …

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Top Pentagon Nominee Retweets Call For Martial Law

CNN reports: President Donald Trump’s nominee to become a senior Pentagon official spread debunked conspiracies on Twitter that called Trump’s election loss to Joe Biden a “coup” attempt and shared tweets that suggest Trump should declare martial law. Scott O’Grady, a former fighter pilot and Trump loyalist, repeatedly retweeted tweets that falsely stated Trump won the election in “landslide fashion” …

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Pentagon Begins To Coordinate With Biden Transition

Via press release from the Defense Department: The Department has received notice that pursuant to the Presidential Transition Act, the GSA Administrator is making certain post-election resources and services available to the Biden-Harris Transition Team. This evening, DOD has been contacted by the Biden-Harris team and their designated lead for the DOD Agency Review Team and, based on the ascertainment …

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