Free Republic

President Obama’s push to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay is likely to become a flashpoint as he seeks to confirm a replacement for outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Obama is seeking to close the detention center before leaving office, which would fulfil a promise he made during his first White House run in 2008. But with Republicans and some Democrats opposed to releasing the detainees or bringing them to U.S. prisons, the administration has considered closing the facility through executive action, according to The Wall Street Journal. The White House questioned the Journal report, but did not explicitly deny...

Former Defense Department official Michele Flournoy, who is considered to be on a short list to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, attacked Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential campaign for recognizing that the decision to withdraw troops from Iraq in 2011 was a “tragic” mistake. “Governor Romney called the ending of the Iraq War and the bringing of our troops home ‘tragic,’ which is really hard to understand,” Flournoy recited for an Obama campaign video in October 2012. “He wanted to keep our troops there longer, tens of thousands of them.”

President Obama will announce the resignation of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday in the first high-profile personnel move since Democrats suffered significant losses in this month's midterm elections. "In October, Secretary Hagel began speaking with the President about departing the administration given the natural post-midterms transition time," a senior administration official said. Obama will make the announcement with Hagel at 11:00 a.m. According to the White House, a successor will be named "in short order," but Hagel will remain in the post until that person is confirmed by the Senate. A senior administration official praised Hagel as "a steady...

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down under pressure, the first cabinet-level casualty of the collapse of President Obama’s Democratic majority in the Senate and a beleaguered national security team that has struggled to stay ahead of an onslaught of global crises. The president, who is expected to announce Mr. Hagel’s resignation in a Rose Garden appearance on Monday, made the decision to ask his defense secretary — the sole Republican on his national security team — to step down last Friday after a series of meetings over the past two weeks, senior administration officials said.

A no uniform order has been issued, not sure if this is just overseas or stateside as well.

Leon Panetta and Robert Gates, two former directors of the CIA and Defence Department, on Saturday criticised President Barack Obama's micromanagement of the military. “For the past 25 to 30 years, there has been a centralisation of power in the White House,” Panetta said during a panel discussion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. “Because of that centralisation of authority at the White House, there are too few voices that are being heard.” Without naming the Obama administration, Panetta said that by the time you get to the White House, the staff has already decided what should be done. Panetta...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel signed a new policy this week that requires all troops returning from West Africa be isolated on bases and not be permitted to see their families for 21 days. The new policy is tougher than Center for Disease Control guidelines. The new policy, “intended to provide a “safety valve,” was recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff as an assurance that the service members participating in Operation United Assistance and returning home won’t bring the Ebola virus to America. The Joint Chiefs have 15 days to provide guidance on the quarantine of service members once they...

Congressman Patrick McHenry (NC-10), the Chief Deputy Whip, questions witnesses on how prepared the Department of Defense is should a member of the American military be stricken with Ebola while in Africa.

“The idea that you’re coming before us and giving this type of testimony raises great concerns” (Infowars) – The US Defense Department will only have the capability to fly four service members out of Africa per week should they contract the deadly Ebola virus, a Major General said at a meeting today regarding the military’s response to the epidemic. Speaking at a House Oversight & Government Reform Committee hearing earlier today, Maj. Gen. James Lariviere told North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry that the US plans to have “in the vicinity of 3,000” troops in Africa by the end of the...

A popular military enlistment program for immigrants with specialized skills is now stuck in bureaucratic limbo — after the Pentagon announced last month it would begin allowing some young immigrants without legal status into the program. Army officials confirmed Thursday that the program, called Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest, has been suspended while the service tries to finalize screening procedures for the immigrants who want to enlist. (SNIP) And a new requirement instituted in 2012 mandates that all MAVNI applicants go through a high-level security check, called a single-scope background investigation. But DACA recipients would not be able...

If any American soldiers in Liberia contract the deadly Ebola virus, they will be quarantined, stabilized, and evacuated to a medical facility for treatment, said the Ebola mission commander, adding that the U.S. military hospitals that will admit potentially infected troops have not yet been identified. “If, God forbid, one of these soldiers, sailors, airmen, or marine contracted this disease, as I mentioned, they would be stabilized, they would be quarantined, we would go through the appropriate protocols,” Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, commander of U.S. Army Africa, said on October 16 while briefing reporters in the Pentagon by telephone from...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced a new Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap at the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas in Peru today, saying the Pentagon has “nearly completed a baseline survey to assess the vulnerability” due to global warming of more than 7,000 bases, installations, and other facilities.The 20-page document details three “broad adaptation goals”: “Identify and assess the effects of climate change on the Deparment,” “integrate climate change considerations across the Department and manage associated risks,” and “collaborate with internal and external stakeholders on climate change challenges.”“Initial analysis indicates that four primary climate change phenomena are likely...

The Pentagon released a report Monday asserting decisively that climate change poses an immediate threat to national security, with increased risks from terrorism, infectious disease, global poverty and food shortages. It also predicted rising demand for military disaster response as extreme weather creates more global humanitarian crises. The report lays out a road map for how the military will adapt to rising sea levels, more violent storms and widespread droughts. The Defense Department will begin by integrating plans for climate change risks across all of its operations, from war games and strategic defense planning situations to a rethinking of the...

U.S. Special Forces will soon be riding into battle in a race-bred truck. The Polaris DAGOR is a compact military machine that uses a trophy truck-style suspension for extreme off-road capability and was developed in partnership with Roush Industries of NASCAR fame. The purpose-built military machine is about the size of a four-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, but can fit up to nine warfighters onboard: four in the cabin, four in the bed, and a roof gunner positioned in a sling seat suspended from the roll cage. The 4,500-pound vehicle is powered by a diesel engine of unspecified origin, has a...

With boots-on-the-ground heading to Liberia to help 'manage' the anarchic dystopia that a frightened nation has become, General David Rodriguez (Commander, US Africa Command) held a briefing today to explain US troops' role: QUESTION: Will they be in contact with individuals or just specimens? RODRIGUEZ: They come in contact with the individuals. Of course this was followed by a stream of qualifiers that all protection possible will be taken (just like the nurses in Madrid?)Via Bloomberg Transcript, KIRBY: Afternoon, everybody. I'm proud to welcome into the briefing room General David Rodriguez, commander of Africa Command. He's here to give you...

The Department of Defense is reversing a decision not to award certain medals to soldiers fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) on the ground in the Middle East following pressure from Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), Huelskamp said Friday. “I was shocked that the Obama Administration intended to show such disrespect to our brave soldiers,” Huelskamp said in a statement. “However, after our letter and likely pressure from numerous other sources, I am pleased that Obama has apparently and abruptly reversed course and is recognizing the military action in the Iraq and Syrian region for what it is – a combat mission....

Frustrated that Congress does not bend to his will by granting amnesty to millions of undocumented Democrat voters, Mullah Obama has ordered the military to pander to and enlist illegal immigrants. In true PC fashion, the media are reporting the story of Military Accessions Vital to National Interest, or MAVNI. It is a Department of Defense policy which encourages illegals to enlist in the military for the purpose of introducing language skills critical to national security, such as Arabic, Chinese, Pashto or Persian. (1) Spanish is missing from the list. (2) In simple terms, native speakers are needed for translation...

The Defense Department plans to let some illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children enlist in the military—a policy that comes as the Army is effectively firing active-duty soldiers due to budget cuts.The Military Times reports that a program—called the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest, or MAVNI—which currently allows recruiters to search for foreign nationals with unique skills will be expanded to accommodate the new policy. The Defense Department now wants to let in some illegal immigrants who enjoyed a reprieve under a 2012 Obama administration policy. That policy applied to those who came to the country...

According to a newly revealed Department of Defense policy, undocumented immigrants with “high-demand skills” and “mostly rare foreign language expertise or specialized health care training” will now be allowed to serve in the military, USA today reported. The program is called Military Accessions in the National Interest (MAVNI). Immigrants lacking proper documentation will be allowed in if they came to America with their parents before the age of 16 and are approved under President Obama’s 2012 DACA, or Deferred Action for Child Arrivals, policy. Interesting announcement from our government, considering that the Army had just announced back in May that...

"Mali national arraigned in 2000 killing of American diplomat in Niger"