Topic: U.S. Department of Defense

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Pentagon budget: top 3 winners and losers

In Pentagon parlance, the word “cut” is a relative term. The Defense Department’s base budget decreases from $553 billion this year to $525 billion in 2013, but it rebounds steadily to $567 billion in 2017. With this in mind, here are the top three winners and losers:
North Korea not the only offender: 6 official photo fudgings

As state manipulators of the media go, few can compare to North Korea, which found it necessary to doctor an official photograph of Kim Jong-il's funeral procession.
Just as governments are finding it easier to use technology to manipulate images, so too is the public finding it easier to spot such digital trickery. Here are six noteworthy attempts by governments to shape media coverage through image manipulation.
3 questions US forces must answer before declaring victory in Libya

Even as fighting in Libya continues, Pentagon officials and US commanders overseeing operations on the ground are wrestling with tough questions about the future of the campaign – and what military forces still need to do before they can consider it a victory.
Five ways 9/11 has transformed the US military

The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, fundamentally transformed the way the United States military wages war, forcing the Pentagon to rethink some of its basic tenets. Here are the Top 5 changes since 9/11.
US aid in Pakistan: Where's the money going?

The discovery of Osama bin Laden hiding in a Pakistani military town has Congress threatening cuts to US aid, and populists in Pakistan saying good riddance. But beyond the angry rhetoric, experts see a mismatch between US hopes and where the dollars have gone.

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Are terrorists beyond redemption?

The record shows that some radicals can be persuaded to give up the gun when inducements and local conditions are right. The Pentagon recently spent $4.5 million to find out more.
Obama under fire for giving Hollywood access to Bin Laden SEALs

Rep. Peter King is criticizing the President's administration for sharing too much information with Kathryn Bigelow, the director of the Hurt Locker and the force behind a movie intended to depict the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year.
Keep Calm
With Crocker's exit, a chance for a new approach to Afghanistan

Ambassador Ryan Crocker announced he is stepping down as the US ambassador to Afghanistan. 
Iran talks in Baghdad: Western naiveté

As world powers head into nuclear talks with Iran in Baghdad on Wednesday, is Obama so naive as to hang on to a fake fatwa promising no nukes? With enough enriched uranium to eventually make six nuclear bombs, Tehran is simply stalling for time. Recent chronology bears this out.
Keep Calm
Chicago NATO summit sets stage for Afghan withdrawal

With France set to leave at the end of 2012, and the rest of NATO out by 2014, the question is whether Afghanistan's own forces can meet the challenge.
In Afghanistan, NATO exit plan raises concerns about stability (+video)

NATO plans to transition security control to Afghan forces over the next two years, but many Afghans question their ability to hold the gains that have been made.
China is a lead cyberattacker of US military computers, Pentagon reports

China is especially interested in gleaning how best to defend its own computer networks from cyberattack, says a Pentagon report on cyberwar threats. But China is also improving its offensive abilities.
F-22 safety questions remain despite Panetta's order

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the Air Force to take steps to address safety concerns surrounding the F-22 stealth fighter jet. But critics say his directive doesn't go far enough.
Appalled by sequester cuts, House begins efforts to avoid them

The House on Thursday passed a measure that would spare the Pentagon from looming cuts by making deeper cuts to social programs. But Congress isn't expected to get serious about altering the debt deal's $109 billion sequester until after the November election.
Exclusive: Cyberattacks on US natural-gas pipeline companies, evidence points to China

Those analyzing the cyberspies who are trying to infiltrate natural-gas pipeline companies have found similarities with an attack on a cybersecurity firm a year ago. At least one US government official has blamed China for that earlier attack.
'Torture memos' author can't be sued for harsh interrogations, court rules

José Padilla, who claims he was tortured while being detained on allegations of terror-related activity, was suing John Yoo, the Bush aide whose memos set out broadly permissive standards for inflicting physical and mental harm during interrogations.
House cybersecurity vote sets up Senate showdown, Obama threatens veto

Ignoring a White House veto threat, the House on Thursday approved the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which would encourage companies and the federal government to share information collected on the Internet to help prevent electronic attacks.
Secret Service now investigating El Salvador trip

The agency is concerned that agents may have hired strippers and prostitutes there as well when the President visited last year.
House passes cyber security bill over Obama's objections

The president has threatened to veto the bill, which is designed to empower the private sector to fight electronic attacks. The White House prefers a Senate alternative that vests that power in the Department of Homeland Security.
Federal judge bars release of Bin Laden photos

He ruled that the government could keep the photos from the public on national security grounds.
How a glacier could thaw dangerous India and Pakistan freeze

Following a deadly avalanche in the disputed Siachen Glacier area, India and Pakistan have signaled openness to talks. A priority must be to demilitarize 'the world's highest battle ground' at Siachen, which incurs substantial economic and human costs for these two nuclear rivals.
Iran's cyber prowess: Could it really have cracked drone codes?

Iran claims it hacked into the data banks of a captured CIA stealth drone. US officials dismiss it as 'bluster,' but aviation and cyber experts say it's possible.
Prostitution scandal now implicates twelfth member of military

With a dozen Secret Service personnel also implicated, the total number of individuals involved in the prostitution scandal has reached 25.
Charles Colson: Watergate 'master of dirty tricks' became prison evangelist

Charles Colson, who went to prison for his role in Watergate but then became a Christian evangelical helping inmates, died Saturday.
Will visitors be allowed on board the Space Shuttle Discovery?

On Thursday, NASA handed the world's most traveled space shuttle over to the Smithsonian. Visitors won't be able to walk its decks, but they will be able to experience the shuttle's interior through interactive images.
Russia urges NATO to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the timeline for a NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. Russia fears a spillover of Islamist militancy into the former Soviet republics on its border.
Panetta apologizes over latest military scandal
Pentagon outlines plan to crack down on sexual assaults in US military

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the moves will 'fundamentally change' Pentagon's prosecution of sexual assault cases. Service members who don't report sexual assaults often say they have little faith that perpetrators will be brought to justice.
How can Navy stop sexual assaults? First, admit they happen, admiral says.

Two to three sexual assaults were reported daily in the Navy in 2010, and alcohol was a key factor in most cases, the admiral says, adding that the attacks erode trust and readiness in the force.
Guantánamo trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is on again

Military prosecutors, who were given the cases against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others, have a month to arraign the 9/11 defendants, all of whom potentially face a death sentence.