Oprah Winfrey recently concluded her farewell tour as America’s most popular television talk show. Her exit from the show spanned two calendar years, with the farewell season beginning in September 2010.
After heading the Department of Defense for four and a half years, Robert Gates seems intent on following Oprah’s lead. For …
The nation’s top military officer worries that the growing chasm between the U.S. armed forces and the American public means disaster for the country. “Long term, if the military drifts away from its people in this country, that is a catastrophic outcome we as a country can’t tolerate, can’t afford, in no way,” Admiral Mike Mullen, …
Fighting is intensifying in Yemen and in particular in the capital city of Sanaa. Reports say thousands of armed fighters are flowing into that city to support the Hashed tribal confederation, which is locked in battle with forces loyal to Yemen’s embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The main airport is closed in the fractured …
Members of the Zumwalt family have been proud members of the U.S. military since the Revolution. It was that tradition that led James Zumwalt to join his father and brother in the Navy, before transferring to the Marines. During his 26 years in uniform, the now-retired lieutenant colonel saw service in three conflicts — Vietnam, …
The White House has announced that President Obama will award Sergeant First Class Leroy Arthur Petry the Medal of Honor on July 12th. SFC Petry, a Ranger, lost a hand and received other significant wounds during a firefight in Afghanistan during which he tried to throw a hand grenade back at the enemy. (See my colleague Mark Thompson’s …
…obviously something to do with all those Russian-built choppers we’ve been using in Afghanistan and Iraq. Amazing. Large-text version here.
On Memorial Day, Americans paid tribute to the men and women who have fought our nation’s wars, especially those who didn’t come home. My new colleague Mark Thompson, who has generously invited me to contribute to Battleland, had some powerful observations about the Pentagon news releases that have trickled down in a “ …
“We believe that Pakistanis pursue the same goals and share the same hopes,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a press conference last week after a high-level meeting with the head of Pakistan’s intelligence service, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Suja Pasha, and other top Pakistani leaders. She noted success hunting down terrorists, thanks to …
The White House has announced that Army Staff Sergeant Leroy A. Petry is the second living post-9/11 Medal of Honor recipient (seven others have been awarded posthumously). President Obama is slated to bestow the light-blue-beribboned medal — the nation’s highest — at the White House on July 12. Petry earned the honor for what …
The U.S. military has long complained that Taliban and al Qaeda forces have sanctuary inside Pakistan along the Afghan border, and can launch attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan and then scoot safely back into Pakistan. So it seems only fair to note, as Long Wars Journal does Wednesday, that al Qaeda and Taliban forces have begun …
The Pentagon has long had troubles developing an IFF system — a sophisticated electronics box aboard an aircraft that tells the pilot if the blip on her heads-up display represents a friend or foe many miles away (IFF stands for identification friend or foe). Now it seems to be having the same challenge in the wars it’s …
China has been pre-approved for kinetic war strikes from the United States at any time. Let me explain how.
First off, what the strategy says (according to the same WSJ front-page article Mark cited yesterday):
The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war, a finding
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The Pentagon announced today that the military has sworn charges — again — against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others for their involvement in the 9-11 attacks. The Obama administration had to backtrack and use military tribunals at Guantanamo for KSM after Congress freaked out when the Justice Department moved to press charges …
