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Live anthrax samples were shipped to three laboratories in Canada by a U.S. military lab, USA Today reported on Monday, following disclosures last week that samples of the bacteria were mistakenly sent to 11 U.S. states and two other countries. The newspaper cited two Defense Department officials as saying the samples sent to Canada came from the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, where the other samples appear to trace back to as well. It is one of the U.S. military labs responsible for inactivation and shipping of biological material.

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!!!!

Defense Secretary Favorite Ash Carter Wanted To Bomb North Korea In 2006 Armin Rosen Dec 2, 2014, 11.25 PM Ashton Carter, President Barack Obama's nominee to succeed Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense, is largely known as a behind-the-scenes player, a thinker and manager rather than a public agitator. This low profile is arguably one of Carter's top selling points. After Hagel's troubled reign at the Pentagon, which ended in a highly public falling out with the White House over policy in the Middle East and accusations of laziness and dysfunction, it's prudent for the president to want a respected...

In typical Washington Beltway form, an unconfirmed news report Tuesday morning that President Obama had picked Ashton Carter to be his defense secretary later was repeated by a top Republican senator to another news agency, which then urgently reported it as fact -- sourcing the senator. What Fox News can report is that Carter is a leading contender to replace Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. But it's unclear whether he is the final pick, and it appears lawmakers have not yet been notified of his selection. CNN initially reported that Carter, who was deputy Defense secretary from October 2011 to December...

WASHINGTON— Ashton Carter, the former deputy defense secretary, is the leading candidate to become the next Pentagon chief, but senior officials said President Barack Obama wouldn’t make an announcement Tuesday. The president could announce his pick for defense secretary later this week, a senior White House official said. Mr. Carter, who was out of town Tuesday, is seen as the likely choice, officials said. But the White House is continuing to look at other candidates, including former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and former assistant Secretary of State Kurt Cambpell. Mr. Obama could still change his mind and opt for one...

Ashton Carter announced on Twitter that President Obama called to tell him he'd be nominated to be the next defense secretary. "President Obama phones me announcing his decision to appoint me as Defense Secretary. I'm honoured and happy," Carter tweets. CNN confirms: Ashton Carter, the former second-in-command at the Pentagon appears to be the top choice to replace outgoing Secretary Chuck Hagel. Barring any last minute complications, Ash Carter will be President Barack Obama's choice as the new Secretary of Defense, several U.S. administration officials told CNN.

Michèle Flournoy, a former Pentagon official who was viewed as a front-runner to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, has taken herself out of contention for the Cabinet post. Flournoy on Tuesday sent a letter to the board of directors for the Center for a New American Security saying she plans to remain in her position as the think tank’s chief executive officer,Foreign Policy reported. Flournoy had previously served as undersecretary of Defense for policy from 2009 to 2012, working under both Robert Gates and Leon Panetta. She was viewed as a possible replacement for Panetta when he announced his...

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 the struggles of his national security team amid 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.

The House Armed Services Committee has come up with a creative approach to look for emails from embattled former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner that were apparently lost in a computer crash: they're asking the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Department. The panel approved a resolution Wednesday authored by Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, that directs the Secretary of Defense to send the House of Representatives "copies of any electronic communication in the possession of the Secretary, the Director of the National Security Agency, or any office that reports to the Secretary or the Director that was...

The agency that manages the Pentagon Police Department and also runs networks and computers for the Office of the Secretary of Defense experienced a “catastrophic network technological outage” on Jan. 3, and repairs may not be complete until January 2015, an obscure document on the Federal Business Opportunities website revealed. A Defense Department spokesman attributed the outage to the failure of a legacy component. The contracting document, posted on May 2, said the outage experienced by the Pentagon Life Safety System Network and Life Safety Backbone left the Pentagon Force Protection Agency “without access to the mission-critical systems needed to...

Following an outcry by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is considering changing hairstyle regulations that affect female African-American servicemembers. On Tuesday, Hagel sent a letter to lawmakers announcing that, within 30 days, each of the services will review the definitions of authorized and prohibited hairstyles contained in each of their respective policies and revise any language that might be considered offensive. Caucus members had complained that a recently updated Army regulation governing troops’ hairstyles was racist and unfairly targeted African-American women. (snip) Hagel has also ordered the services to conduct a three-month review of...

The Pentagon says Russia’s defense chief has assured Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Russia will not invade Ukraine. […] Hagel also asked for Russia’s help in gaining the release of seven inspectors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who are being held in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists. …

Hoping to boost sagging morale, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made a rare visit Thursday to an Air Force nuclear missile base and the men and women who operate and safeguard the nation's Minuteman 3 missiles. But his attempt to cheer the troops was tempered by news that launch officers at another base had been implicated in an illegal-narcotics investigation.... Two officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana are being investigated for allegations of drug possession, said Lt. Col. Brett Ashworth, a service spokesman in Washington. Both of those being investigated are ICBM launch officers with responsibility for operating intercontinental...

All too often during my 4½ years as secretary of defense, when I found myself sitting yet again at that witness table at yet another congressional hearing, I was tempted to stand up, slam the briefing book shut and quit on the spot. The exit lines were on the tip of my tongue: I may be the secretary of defense, but I am also an American citizen, and there is no son of a bitch in the world who can talk to me like that. I quit. Find somebody else. It was, I am confident, a fantasy widely shared throughout...

PDF link at source for Hagel memorandum.Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is pressing military juries and others involved in military criminal proceedings to exercise their own judgment based on facts, a message that comes as claims of unlawful command influence by senior officials are being made in some sexual assault trials. Comments by President Barack Obama, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos and others have been cited for the appearance of improperly influencing military jurors and command authorities, who some argue may interpret “get-tough” comments on sexual assault as directives. “Central to military justice is the...

SIERRA VISTA — U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has ordered the furlough of defense department civilians to begin in early July. Tuesday, Hagel directed 11 furlough days for civil service employees, half of the 22 days which were initially anticipated. Its impact on Fort Huachuca will not be immediately known, as the defense secretary’s decision is the starting process, post spokeswoman Tanja Linton said Tuesday afternoon. In his message, the defense secretary said the department “is facing a historic shortfall in our budget for the current fiscal year.” The sequestration law, which went into effect on March 1, imposes...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has demoted the controversial military award for drone operators from a medal to a device, in response to criticism from veterans that the new Distinguished Warfare Medal shouldn't rank about the Bronze Star with V or Purple Heart – awards that require troops to put their lives on the line. In a memo released Monday, Hagel announced that he is scrapping the medal introduced in February by his predecessor, Leon Panetta.

- A suicide bomber wearing a vest bomb struck outside the Afghan defense ministry on Saturday, killing at least 10 people in a blast just hours after Chuck Hagel, the new United States defense secretary, arrived here in Kabul. And a short time later, another suicide bomber detonated his explosive in eastern Afghanistan before reaching his target, but killed eight children and a policeman, according to Afghan military and hospital officials.

Kerry Has Investments in Companies Accused of Violating Iran Sanctions Daniel Halper December 21, 2012 12:59 PM John Kerry, who will be nominated later today to be the next secretary of state, is the richest member of the U.S. Senate. His estimated net worth is, at minimum, $198.65 million, according to disclosure forms. Kerry's disclosure forms also reveal that he has invested in companies accused of doing business with Iran. One of the companies Kerry is invested in is called Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (Petrobras), it's a Brazilian-based oil and gas corporation. Disclosure forms reveal that Kerry has between $150,000...

Hagel’s nomination proves the president isn’t serious about preventing a nuclear Iran. Does it matter that a nominee for secretary of defense doesn’t particularly care for American power? Speaking to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in 2007, Senator Chuck Hagel revealed the kind of prejudices regarding American military strength most frequently found in the pages of the The Nation or among protesters at Occupy rallies. Distancing himself from Republicans he regarded as too bellicose, Hagel said, Rather than acting like a nation riddled with the insecurities of a schoolyard bully, we ought to carry ourselves with the confidence...