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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is highlighting clarified guidance for those immigrants wishing to omit portions of the citizenship oath. USCIS explained Tuesday that while reciting the Oath of Allegiance is part of the naturalization process, immigrant candidates for citizenship may omit portions of the oath if they have certain religious or conscientious objections. (Snip) Under the clarified guidance from USCIS, certain immigrant candidates for citizenship do not need to declare that they will “bear arms on behalf of the United States” and “perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States.” USCIS explains that a candidate: •May...

<p>FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — A contractor with the U.S. military says it's getting rid of 360 jobs in its Fort Wayne facility as it moves radio manufacturing to an existing plant in Rochester, New York.</p> <p>Harris Corporation announced Wednesday that job cuts will begin this fall and finish by the middle of next summer. WANE-TV reports that about 900 people currently work for Harris in Fort Wayne, and that the cuts only affect the division that makes radios.</p>

A group representing retired military officers called Monday for Donald Trump to apologize to Sen. John McCain and all veterans for his disparaging remarks about the Arizona Republican's military service during the Vietnam War. "We should acknowledge the facts: John McCain cares deeply about our men and women in uniform, and through his actions, he has made a real difference for our troops. Mr. Trump owes Senator McCain and all veterans an apology," said Retired Navy Vice Adm. Norb Ryan, president and CEO of Military Officers Association of America. At a Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, the real estate...

Some of the men involved claim they were forced to participate by their supervisors at the ArmorGroup security firm. The scandal could yet again call into question the role of private contractors in US military missions...They show naked men, employees of the security firm, whose genitals are only barely covered with a kind of black beer mat. The men are drinking, dancing naked around a fire, licking each others nipples and grabbing each others testicles. They perform sex acts, pour vodka down each others' naked backs and drink it from the buttocks. It now appears that some of the men...

The United States and other world powers will help to teach Iran how to thwart and detect threats to its nuclear program, according to the parameters of a deal reached Tuesday to rein in Iran’s contested nuclear program. Under the terms of a deal that provides Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief, Iran and global powers will cooperate to help teach Iran how to manage its nuclear infrastructure, which will largely remain in tact under the deal. Senior Iranian officials, including the country’s president, celebrated the deal as a victory for the country. Iran’s state controlled media quoted President...

My readers know that I, as an expatriate American, am primarily concerned with how any prospective president views the Jewish state. There are many candidates running for the US presidency from both parties, all of whom have opinions about Israel and its relationship with America. In my last column I reviewed the Democratic contenders. Now it’s the Republicans’ turn. The strong support of every American president is vital for Israel, but the relationship is not one-sided. Israel is America’s most stalwart ally in the region, sharing its democratic ethos; it is the only country in the region that allows freedom...

The U.S. Army will reduce the number of soldiers stationed at Hawaii bases by 1,443 over the next two years, a reduction of 8 percent, rather than cutting most of the troops currently stationed on Oahu, Defense Department officials said Thursday. The cuts are part of a nation-wide cost-cutting move that will reduce the number of soldier positions by 40,000 by 2017.

The Pentagon and intelligence community are developing war plans and an operations center to fend off Chinese and Russian attacks on U.S. military and government satellites. The ops center, to be opened within six months, will receive data from satellites belonging to all government agencies, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said Tuesday at the GEOINT symposium, an annual intelligence conference sponsored by the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation. [...] The center will help the military and government coordinate their preparations for and responses to any attack, said Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson, a spokeswoman for Work. The hope is that it...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)VAN ZANDT COUNTY, TX (KLTV) - Van Zandt County has been inundated with the Texas State Guard conducting rescue operations, but it was only a drill. Officials say they are simulating search and rescue missions to prepare for hurricane season. They use Boy Scouts to play victims of a natural disaster. Somewhere in the woods of Van Zandt County, Boy Scouts playing tornado victims await aid. Back in Canton, the Texas State Guard has taken over the Van Zandt County Sheriff's Department briefing room. Lt. Colonel Wendell Sadler says all that military is under the county emergency operations coordinator's control...

SINGAPORE—Surging military spending across Asia has made it the world’s second-biggest region for such spending over the past decade, but U.S. companies, the biggest sellers of military equipment, are struggling to take full advantage of that growth, even as revenues back home stagnate. Demand in Asia for defense equipment—and calls for greater U.S. military involvement—have grown as China’s display of military might in the South China Sea intensifies regional tensions. Total global spending on defense in 2014 was $1.719 trillion, of which Asia and Oceania contributed $423 billion, or 25%, behind only North America’s $596 billion, according to the Stockholm...

NDO/VNA - Vietnam and India signed a joint vision statement on bilateral defence relations in the 2015-2020 period following talks between Minister of National Defence Phung Quang Thanh and his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi on May 25. The two ministers also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on coordination between the Vietnamese and Indian coast guards to prevent transnational crime. During their talks, held during Minister Phung Quang Thanh’s visit to India, the two ministers agreed that defence cooperation continues to be one of the key pillars in the strategic partnership between Vietnam and India....

An EU army is Germany’s ‘long term goal’ according to one of its ministers. Ursula von der Leyen called for defence cooperation to be strengthened so that the continent can respond quickly to international crises.

TEL AVIV – In an extraordinary move that could mean billions lost to the American economy, Gulf monarchs meeting Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, took a closed-door decision to potentially withhold investments from U.S. military firms if the terms of any final agreement with Iran causes significant harm to the Sunni Arab states. The meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council brought together leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. All of those countries, aside from Oman, participated in the Saudi-led strikes targeting Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. According to a source who took part...

PARIS -- Stupidity and obesity are now matters of U.S. national security. And it's only the tip of a more significant iceberg that threatens America from within. An organization called Mission: Readiness comprised of more than 500 retired generals and military leaders routinely publishes reports -- including one just last month -- detailing how a significant number of American kids these days are either too fat to be effective fighters or too low-scoring in math, literacy and problem-solving to pass the basic military enlistment exam. Granted, the way modern warfare is heading, future recruits might spend their days sitting at...

Since the conclusion of the final round of nuclear negotiations, Iran has been engaging in conspicuous displays of aggression. The U.S. Navy revealed on Tuesday that four Iranian Revolutionary Guards ships intercepted a Maersk cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz that was flying a U.S. flag. The episode happened last week and ended without incident, but it was only revealed to the press after Iranian naval vessels performed a similar act of belligerence on Tuesday. Yesterday, another Maersk container ship, the Tigris, was intercepted by Iranian vessels in international waters, according to the firm. Iranian ships fired over...

There was a Defense Department Briefing at The Pentagon today, where Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Gen. Martin Dempsey answered questions. Carter has a SERIOUS "Uhhhh-uhhh uhhhh-uhhhhh" speech disorder. What a moron. Did 0dungo appoint him because he is an embarrassment? Couldn't 0dungo find someone who could talk in the public arena without saying "uhhhh-uhhh uhhh-uhhhh" every other word? UHHH-UHHHHHHH UHH-UHHHHHH PATHETIC!!!!

The UK Independence Party launched its election manifesto on Wednesday, appealing to Conservative voters with pledges to raise defense spending and bring forward a vote on Britain’s EU membership. […] (Nigel) Farage vowed to spend “substantially” more than the NATO minimum of two percent of GDP on defense in a move that he said would “rattle the dwindling number of Conservative voters who still see (Prime Minister David) Cameron’s party as the party of security”. […] The anti-mass immigration party, which had two MPs at the end of the last parliament, also promised to cut small business taxes and boost...

World Net Daily is reporting: A Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute course approved by the Department of Defense is under fire for labeling the Bible, the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence sexist materials. The Daily Caller reported the class given by the DEOMI, an organization with a mission to provide a “world-class human relations education,” was actually removed from the group’s website upon questioning. But the fact they were there at all – and approved by the Defense Department for use – was alarming enough to some who saw irony in the fact U.S. military service members are...

Major Stephen Coughlin (Ret.), a decorated intelligence officer known as the Pentagon’s leading expert on Islamic law has authored a forthcoming book, “Catastrophic Failure: Blindfolding America in the Face of the Jihad,” that serves as a damning indictment of America’s national security establishment in the face of the global jihad, and provides a chilling message to the American people. We had the opportunity to discuss Coughlin’s new book in a wide-ranging interview that you can find below. During our discussion, Coughlin goes into great depth on the thesis of his book, providing keen insights into the nature and doctrinal basis...

Over the past decade, Sgt. Shane Ortega has served three combat tours: Two in Iraq, one in Afghanistan. Two as a Marine and one in the Army. Two as a woman and one as a man. Ortega is a helicopter crew chief in the Army’s 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. He was born female and would like to serve the rest of his career as a man. That would require a significant change in Pentagon rules, which require that transgender troops be discharged from military service, usually on medical grounds. Last summer, medical tests showed Ortega had elevated testosterone levels...