Free Republic

Received this e-mail this morning from a friend of ours about his son who works at the Pentagon: Good news at last! Our son, "Joe", works in a leadership position within US Special Operations, specializing in counter-terrorism, at the Pentagon. I spoke with him last night to get his view of how the first week of the Trump administration was perceived there. It was a short conversation but very informative. The difference he said is nothing short of amazing. It is almost as though you can feel it in the air, in the pace of people strides, in the expressions...

The Pentagon has been stripped of almost all of its political appointees from the Obama administration, but an uncertain Senate future awaits the candidates whom President Trump will nominate to remake the armed forces in his image.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is paying at least one large public relations firm in Washington, D.C. to recruit American military veterans who will agree to visit Capitol Hill to tell members of Congress — in person — that they oppose a new federal law allowing civil lawsuits against state sponsors of terrorism. Saudi Arabia’s government also appears to be funding luxurious, all-expenses-paid trips to Washington, D.C. for the veterans which include stays at the $500-per-night Trump International Hotel. The law is the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which creates a way for American citizens to file civil...

The U.S. military failed to disclose thousands of airstrikes over the last several years in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Military Times. An investigation revealed Sunday that the U.S. conducted at least 456 airstrikes in Afghanistan last year that were not recorded in the open-source database kept by the U.S. Air Force. The airstrikes were conducted my several U.S. aircraft – including helicopters and drones.

The Pentagon announced the deal would bring the cost per jet for the F-35A below $100 million for the first time -- to $95 million, marking a 7.3 percent drop in price from the last order. Officials estimated, based on the per-plane price of the most recent F-35 order, the new agreement represents a $728 million reduction. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer declared it “another big win that the president has delivered on for U.S. taxpayers.”

President Trump says he wants the US to have better relations with Russia and to halt military operations against Muslim countries. But he is being undermined by the Pentagon. The commander of US forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, has lined up tanks on Poland’s border with Russia and fired salvos that the general says are a message to Russia, not a training exercise. How is Trump going to normalize relations with Russia when the commander of US forces in Europe is threatening Russia with words and deeds? The Pentagon has also sent armored vehicles to “moderate rebels” in Syria,...

A former Defense Department official under the Obama administration has raised the specter of a military coup to remove President Donald Trump from power. In an editorial penned for Foreign Policy, senior Pentagon policy official Rosa Brooks publicly suggested a military insurrection against the Trump administration may be the only option to oust one of the most divisive presidents in American history. “Donald Trump’s first week as president has made it all too clear: Yes, he is as crazy as everyone feared,” Ms. Brooks wrote. “[One] possibility is one that until recently I would have said was unthinkable in the...

President-Elect Trump is a super patriot, a nationalist who has big plans to rebuild this nation and the US military after eight years of neglect and Marxist social engineering that have utterly destroyed its capability to wage war on sea, land and in the air. Certainly, Mr. Trump has great intentions, but he has never served a day on active duty, in the reserves or in the National Guard. Therefore, he will undoubtedly adhere to the recommendations and analysis provided by the nation’s new Secretary of Defense. Enter retired Marine Corps General James Mattis. Nicknamed ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis, the general,...

Retired Gen. James Mattis on Thursday cruised toward likely confirmation as Donald Trump’s defense secretary, easily prevailing in a Senate vote granting him an exemption to run the Pentagon as a recently retired officer. At his confirmation hearing, he called Russia the nation’s No. 1 security threat, accusing its leader of trying to “break” NATO. The Senate voted 81-17 to approve legislation overriding a prohibition against former U.S. service members who have been out of uniform less than seven years from holding the Defense Department’s top job. The restriction is meant to preserve civilian control of the military. The House...

US condemns Pyongyang missile plan, warns against 'provocative' actions AFP on January 2, 2017, 7:56 am Washington (AFP) - The United States on Sunday sharply condemned a North Korean plan to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile and warned Pyongyang against "provocative actions." The toughly worded US statement called on "all states" to show the North that any unlawful actions would have "consequences." It was issued by the Pentagon at a sensitive time -- just weeks before President Barack Obama is due to hand power over to his successor, Donald Trump. The statement came hours after Kim Jong-un, the North Korean...

Donald Trump has an opportunity to chart a new course for Republicans on defense spending -- a course that would combine GOP hawkishness with a budget-cutter's approach to Pentagon waste. Although falling as a percentage of the federal budget, defense is still the federal government's largest single non-entitlement spending item -- about 16 percent of the budget in 2016. In recent years, the GOP's position on defense spending has been one long protest against sequester limits. The nation should spend more on the Pentagon, Hill Republicans have argued. At times, GOP lawmakers have seemed considerably less concerned about the...

The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency successfully launched a salvo of two Raytheon Standard SM-6 Dual I missiles against a medium-range ballistic missile target earlier this week. USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53)—an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyer—conducted the test shortly after midnight on Dec. 14 to demonstrate a Sea Based Terminal endo-atmospheric defensive capability. "This test demonstrated the capabilities MDA and the Navy are delivering to our fleet commanders," Vice Adm. Jim Syring, director of the MDA said in a statement. "The SM-6 missile and the Aegis Weapon System continue to prove that they are critical components of...

Amid the growing unrest in the world, our national security should be a top priority. The dangers from terrorists and nuclear weapons are growing. The Pentagon sits as the vital center of our nation’s defense. It would seem logical that we would need to spend more on our military as threats increase. Under Obama’s administration we saw moderate increases the first few years he was in office. Since then he has stopped pretending and continually cut spending or barely increased it. •Year: 2011—Military Spending: $721,285,000,000 •Year: 2012—Military Spending: $653,424,000,000 •Year: 2013—Military Spending: $633,918,000,000 •Year: 2014—Military Spending: $642,903,000,000 •Year: 2015—Military Spending:...

The Washington Post has a bombshell report Tuesday morning which reveals an internal study conducted by the Pentagon which pointed out $125 billion in administrative waste in how the enormous, military bureaucracy operates. According to the long and detailed report, Defense Department officials buried the findings so as not to jeopardize their political arguments for more funding during the years of “sequester” cuts: But some Pentagon leaders said they fretted that by spotlighting so much waste, the study would undermine their repeated public assertions that years of budget austerity had left the armed forces starved of funds. Instead of...

Senior defense officials suppressed a study documenting $125 billion worth of administrative waste at the Pentagon out of fears that Congress would use its findings to cut the defense budget, the Washington Post reported late Monday. The report, which was issued in January 2015 by the advisory Defense Business Board (DBB), called for a series of reforms that would have saved the department $125 billion over the next five years.  Among its other findings, the report showed that the Defense Department was paying just over 1 million contractors, civilian employees and uniformed personnel to fill back-office jobs. That number nearly...

Summary - Ash Carter, Frank Kendall and Robert Work bury a Defense Business Board / McKinsey report that $125 B is wasted on bloated bureaucracy in particular supported by hordes of overpaid contractors. Frank Kendall was“very disappointed” by the board’s work, which he criticized as “shallow” and “very low on content.” He said the study had ignored efforts by his agencies to become more efficient." Kendall said he needs 1000 more people working directly under him. Peter Cook, a spokesman for Carter, said the Pentagon chief was busy dealing with “a long list of national security challenges.” He added that...

Current law says no one can serve as Secretary of Defense if he has served in the military at any time in the past seven years When even Trump-hater David French loves the choice, there must be something awfully special about Defense Secretary designee James Mattis: He is clear about the Iranian threat, has worked closely with Israel, and has served as the supreme allied commander of transformation for NATO and the chief of Central Command. In other words, few men have been as closely involved in American military planning and war fighting as Mattis. His speeches and statements are...

Among those in the Marine Corps I taught and deployed with, Gen. (ret.) Jim Mattis is a legend. The quotes, the foxholes, the knife hands. Everyone has their favorite story. I once handed Mattis a Diet Coke out of a cooler at Quantico. A mundane act? Yes. But I’ve remembered it fondly for 12 years. He is Chaos, Mad Dog, and the warrior monk. But we should not add secretary of defense to that list. I have long thought of Mattis as a “break glass in case of emergency” type of leader. He was uniquely suited to his roles in...

On November 18, the Pentagon issued a Defense Department directive that will “allow Department of Defense (D0D) personnel to carry firearms and employ deadly force while performing official duties.”

Upon taking the oath of office, President Trump must act immediately to save the military. The US military is on death’s door. For eight years the Obama administration and its willing leftist executioners have used the military as a giant social experiment to implement the most lunatic and destructive policies that have left the armed forces on life support. Trump’s Pentagon to do list can be summarized into three specific areas: Purge the duds, feather merchants and perfumed princes from the ranks of the military and the DoD. Stop the politically correct insanity largely responsible for wrecking the military. Rebuild...