Pentagon news stories on Newser

Female Soldiers Sue Over Combat Ban

Mark Russell — Thu, 24 May 2012 10:42:53 CDT

Two female army reservists filed suit against the US military yesterday, claiming the policy preventing women from serving in combat is unconstitutional, reports Reuters . Being banned from combat "solely on the basis of sex" violates their Fifth Amendment rights and "restricts their current and future earnings, their potential for promotion...

Hollywood Got Inside Scoop on bin Laden Raid

Kevin Spak — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:24:31 CDT

The White House, CIA, and Pentagon all gave special access to Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow to help with her movie about Osama bin Laden's death, according to documents obtained by the conservative Judicial Watch . In one interview , Undersecretary of Defense Mike Vickers tells Bigelow that top admirals can't talk...

Special Ops Are the Future: Top Admiral

Matt Cantor — Sat, 05 May 2012 08:07:00 CDT

Today's international threats call for a shift in military strategy, and the US must focus increasingly on secret operations, says the US special operations chief. William McRaven, who headed the Osama bin Laden raid, wants more power for the Special Operations Command—including Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and other elite...

Terry Jones Again Burns Korans

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:36:05 CDT

Controversial right-wing pastor Terry Jones has defiantly torched copies of the Koran outside his Florida church. Jones also set aflame an image of the prophet Muhammad in front of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville. Pentagon officials had urged Jones to refrain from the action out of fear it...

Army Puts Out Call for 'Magic' Hovering Bullet

Kevin Spak — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 07:29:05 CDT

The Pentagon certainly has imagination when it comes to making up dream weapons. It's put out a new list of weapons small businesses should try to design for it, and one of them is a "Nonlethal Warhead of Miniature Organic Precision Munitions," or what Wired describes as, "one part bazooka...

Pentagon Gets Its Own Global Spy Agency

Kevin Spak — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:51:35 CDT

The Pentagon has created a new spy agency that will expand its intelligence gathering operations outside of current war zones. The new Defense Clandestine Service will work closely with the CIA, investigating targets unrelated to its current battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, officials tell the Washington Post ; the paper speculates...

Pentagon Finally Pulls Captain's Prank Portrait

Matt Cantor — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 19:00:05 CDT

For almost a year, a portrait hung on the Pentagon wall commemorating Ensign Chuck Hord, "lost at sea" in 1908. Seems that no one noticed that the turn-of-the-century sailor had blow-dried hair, or that what appeared to be an oil painting was actually a stylized photograph. Indeed, "Chuck Hord" never...

Panetta Feels Bad About $800K in Flights He's Taken

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:40:20 CDT

Leon Panetta has taken at least 27 trips home to California since becoming secretary of defense in July, which have cost taxpayers more than $800,000 in all—but he does feel bad about it. The Pentagon chief expressed his regrets at a Pentagon briefing yesterday and said he is...

Anti-Obama Marine Faces Boot

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 02:40:00 CDT

A Marine is being threatened with dismissal for criticizing President Obama and launching an Armed Forces Tea Party Facebook page, encouraging service members to speak out. Camp Pendleton Sergeant Gary Stein, who also declared weeks ago that he wouldn't follow the "unlawful" orders of his commander in chief, has been...