Department of Defense

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Pentagon Plans New Command for Online War

Military unit will complement Obama's new civilian office

(Newser) - The Pentagon is pushing ahead with a new military command devoted to cyberspace as the armed forces ramp up abilities to not only defend against computer attacks but launch them as well, the New York Times reports. The new command will work in concert with a civilian organization, which President...

Afghan Taliban Have Momentum: Gates

Defense sec says US has months before support wanes

(Newser) - The Taliban have the momentum in the war in Afghanistan and the US is rapidly losing time to turn it around before public support runs out, Robert Gates tells the Wall Street Journal. The defense secretary said in an interview that American support for the war will recede unless the...

Rumsfeld Denies He Put Bible in Briefings

GQ writer, anonymous sources better suited to gossip beat, he says

(Newser) - Donald Rumsfeld didn't decorate the president’s World Intelligence Update cover slides with biblical quotes, a spokesman says, and GQ reporter Robert Draper should've known better than to use anonymous sources "with an axe to grind." The slides, the spokesman says in an email to Marc Ambinder...

Bullying Rumsfeld Used Bible to Sway Bush on Iraq
Bullying Rumsfeld Used Bible to Sway Bush on Iraq
GLOSSIES
May 17, 2009 1:00 PM CDT

Bullying Rumsfeld Used Bible to Sway Bush on Iraq

Former Pentagon chief undermined president, former aides say

(Newser) - Donald Rumsfeld isn’t a preacher, but nearly every morning after the Iraq invasion, he handed President Bush a national security digest containing Biblical quotations intended to influence his decisions. This tactic, Robert Draper writes for GQ in a lengthy look at Rummy's standing among administration contemporaries, epitomizes the former...

Gates' Laser Focus on Wars Reshapes Pentagon

(Newser) - Bush-holdover Robert Gates is using his position in the Obama administration to try to remake Washington’s biggest bureaucracy, refocusing it on the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Washington Post reports. Gates has pushed the Pentagon to shift from preparing for high-tech conventional wars of the future to...

Gates: Obama's Most Effective Secretary
Gates: Obama's Most Effective Secretary
Analysis
May 15, 2009 8:28 AM CDT

Gates: Obama's Most Effective Secretary

Republican holdover provides political cover on tough calls

(Newser) - Keeping Robert Gates as secretary of defense is starting to look like Barack Obama’s shrewdest personnel move, argues Gerald Seib in the Wall Street Journal. As someone appointed by the last two Republican presidents, Gates “brought to the table a credibility that no Obama appointee would have had,...

Don't Let 'Waste' Taunts Prompt More Waste
Don't Let 'Waste' Taunts Prompt More Waste
OPINION
May 14, 2009 9:01 AM CDT

Don't Let 'Waste' Taunts Prompt More Waste

Obama shouldn't scrap chopper deal just to appease McCain

(Newser) - Fearful of appearing wasteful, the Defense Department wants to dump a contract for new presidential helicopters and start fresh—but that means losing $4 billion already spent on the project. It’s the same old story when it comes to “wasteful procurement,” writes Gail Collins in the New ...

White House Aide Quits in Flyover; Gates Sorry

(Newser) - Robert Gates has apologized for the Air Force One photo op debacle over New York last week, the Los Angeles Times reports. “We deeply regret the anxiety and alarm that resulted from this mission,” the defense secretary wrote in a letter posted on the website of John McCain,...

Pentagon to Add 20K Jobs in Arms-Buying Overhaul

Obama says acquisitions program has 'run amok'

(Newser) - The Defense Department will add 20,000 jobs over the next 5 years in an overhaul of its $100 billion weapons-buying process, Reuters reports. New regulations will tie compensation more closely to performance, and the Pentagon will require “real, substantial” tax savings in any multiyear deals, a deputy defense...

Accidents, Illness Kill Most Troops in Iraq

"Nonhostile" incidents pose greatest threat in recent months

(Newser) - Troops serving in Iraq in the past eight months were most likely to die from "nonhostile" causes such as illness or accidents, according to new statistics. The period marks the first time insurgents have not been responsible for the majority of troops deaths, reports the Boston Globe. While the...

Gitmo Inmates May Land on Mainland: Gates

(Newser) - The fate of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay remains unclear, but Robert Gates hinted at one possibility during a Senate hearing today, reports the New York Times: Inmates who aren’t tried, repatriated, or sent to other countries could wind up in the US. Of the 250 “enemy combatants” in...

Gates Pressure Speeds New Armor to Afghan Soldiers

(Newser) - With a little push from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Army says it has completed its assessment of $3 million worth of high-tech, lightweight body armor and will send it immediately to soldiers in Afghanistan, the New York Times reports. The Army was dragging out testing on the new armor,...

Pentagon Will Fill Civilian Jobs in Afghanistan

Reservists to fill up to 300 positions intended for nonmilitary experts

(Newser) - The Obama administration is being forced to fill hundreds of new positions designed for civilian experts in Afghanistan with military personnel, mostly reservists, reports the New York Times. The shortfall results from insufficient funds to hire and train nonmilitary people for work in combat zones, and the fact that agencies...

Pentagon to Create New Cyber Command

Four-star general will lead efforts to fight digital attacks

(Newser) - The Obama administration is about to create a new military command to bolster American offensive powers in cyberwarfare and to coordinate defenses against digital attacks, reports the Wall Street Journal. A four-star general will lead the new command, which will have responsibility for protecting the country from attacks by hackers,...

Cyberspies Steal Pentagon's Jet-Fighter Plans

Hackers, possibly Chinese, download specs for Joint Strike Fighter

(Newser) - Cyberspies believed to be working from China repeatedly penetrated the computers of one of the Pentagon's most important weapons programs, reports the Wall Street Journal. Hackers broke into the system for the Joint Strike Fighter Project—the Defense Department's most expensive program ever at $300 billion—and downloaded several terabytes...

Gas-Guzzling Pentagon Turns to Green Energy

Fuel is costing the military in money and lives

(Newser) - The nation's biggest gas guzzler, the Defense Department, is trying to kick its oil habit and use alternative energies—not to support the green movement or save money, but to save lives, the Washington Post reports. Half of US casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan are from IEDs deployed on fuel-carrying...

Contractors Targeted in Pentagon Cuts

Gates aims to have procurement staff employed directly by Pentagon

(Newser) - The Pentagon's new budget proposal cuts the role of private contractors by a third—back to pre-9/11 levels—the Washington Post reports. Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to replace tens of thousands of contracted workers with people employed directly by the Pentagon, especially among the vast workforce tasked with buying...

Gates Axes F-22 in Pentagon Budget Overhaul

Defense sec cuts deep, readies dep't for this century's wars

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates today recommended halting production of the F-22 fighter jet and scrapping a new helicopter for the president as he outlined deep cuts to many of the military's biggest weapons programs. Gates said his $534 billion budget proposal represents a "fundamental overhaul" in defense acquisition...

IED Casualties in Afghanistan Soaring

75% of coalition deaths result from roadside explosives

(Newser) - Improvised roadside bombs caused 75% of all casualties among coalition forces in Afghanistan in the first two months of this year, up from 50% two years ago, reports USA Today. The rate of casualties from IEDs is also higher than at any time in Iraq, calling for urgent pleas for...

Gates Stakes His Claim Under a New President
Gates Stakes His Claim Under a New President
ANALYSIS
Mar 31, 2009 7:40 AM CDT

Gates Stakes His Claim Under a New President

Defense secretary earns Obama's trust on Afghanistan-Pakistan

(Newser) - In 2008, under another president, Robert Gates spent 115 days traveling to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and 23 other countries. But this year, writes the New York Times, the defense secretary has been spending much more time in Washington. Gates, the only holdover from the Bush Cabinet, has slowly secured a...

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