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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with defense contractors during his visit to Washington, DC, this week, amid a bid for $61 billion in U.S. taxpayer support for Ukraine, according to a video he posted on social media. Zelensky said Ukraine was prepared to produce more ammunition and military vehicles, but it required support. He posted on X: I met with leaders of US defense companies and expressed my gratitude to every American worker who manufactures weapons that help us safeguard our people and defend our land.

Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plunged a House Homeland Security Committee hearing into chaos Wednesday by accusing Rep. Eric Swalwell of having a “sexual relationship with a Chinese spy” — leading Democrats to unsuccessfully demand that the remark be purged from the record. Greene (R-Ga.) made the comment moments after Swalwell accused her of “anti-police rhetoric” and showed a print-out of a tweet she wrote promoting “Defund the FBI” merchandise in response to purported bureau bias. “That was quite entertaining from someone that had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy — and everyone knows it,” Greene shot back, referring...

THE WASHINGTON POST:During eight appearances on Fox News and Fox Business Network in early January, Jack Keane was introduced several ways: as “a retired four-star general,” as the former “vice chief of staff for the U.S. Army,” and as Fox News’s “senior strategic analyst.”All of those are accurate descriptions. Keane is a distinguished veteran, having commanded American troops in such places as Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia. Fox employs him to provide analysis of national security and military operations, such as the unfolding hostilities between the United States and Iran.But another part of Keane’s résumé wasn’t mentioned: the former general is...

MIDDLE EAST—The United States has long been buying weapons for both sides of various conflicts in the Middle East. But now, with multiple financial crises going on at home, the U.S. is looking for ways to reduce the cost of these conflicts. Finally, they landed on a solution: they'll cut out the middleman -- defense contractors -- and just have the countries lob giant sacks of American tax dollars at each other directly. "Instead of going through the whole rigamarole of buying weapons for them, or letting them buy weapons from us at a discount, or supplying insurgent groups with...

If anyone has any GOOD recommendations for stock purchase of defense contractors, preferably small to mid cap, that would be awesome.

Not even for Air Force One Defense contractors were pretty excited when Donald Trump won the election, figuring it was fat and happy time once again for defense spending. And if happy time means the Pentagon will once again be willing to fund what the nation needs for its defense, then there should indeed by plenty of smiles to go around. As for the fat part, defense contractors are used to the idea that cost overruns are no issue with the Pentagon because whatever they order they have to have, and have right away. The cost-is-no-object approach to national security...

Three U.S. citizens who disappeared last week in Baghdad were kidnapped and are being held by an Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia, two Iraqi intelligence and two U.S. government sources said on Tuesday. The U.S. sources said Washington had no reason to believe Tehran was involved in the kidnapping and does not believe the trio are being held in Iran, which borders Iraq. "They were abducted because they are Americans, not for personal or financial reasons," one of the Iraqi intelligence sources in Baghdad said.

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...

Feinstein's Office Denies Conflict of Interest Charges By Fred Lucas April 04, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - Breaking nearly a week of silence, Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office Tuesday called allegations of a conflict of interest "nonsense" and said the California Democrat played no role in awarding military contracts that benefited companies owned by her husband. It was reported last week that Feinstein no longer serves on a Senate subcommittee that oversaw military construction. Earlier this year, Metro Newspapers accused Feinstein of a conflict of interest because the subcommittee had oversight of military contracts that often went to defense contractors owned by her...

Health Overhaul: Jonathan Gruber isn't the only one who got rich off ObamaCare. Several big government contractors are raking in megabucks to help the government take over the nation's health care system. Gruber made news when it came to light that the Obama administration had paid the stupid-American-calling MIT economist roughly $400,000 to help build ObamaCare, and several states paid him big bucks as well to build their exchanges. But this is just the tip of the ObamaCare bonanza. In the last fiscal year, Health and Human Services spent $21 billion on contracts with private firms. That's more than it...

A gunman in Saudi Arabia opened fire Tuesday on two American defense contractors, killing one and wounding the other before being arrested in a shootout with police, U.S. and Saudi officials said. One individual familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of an official Saudi statement, said the attack was a workplace dispute related to the firing of the alleged shooter and was not terrorism-related. The identities of the Americans and suspected attacker were not immediately released, but the State Department said the Americans worked for Vinnell Arabia, a U.S.-based contractor with deep ties in...

WASHINGTON — Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor’s operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater’s top manager there issued a threat: “that he could kill” the government’s chief investigator and “no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,” according to department reports.

A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit against CACI International Inc that accused the defense contractor's employees of directing the torture of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said a lower court judge had erred in concluding he lacked jurisdiction to hear claims by four Iraqi plaintiffs because the alleged incidents occurred in Iraq. Monday's decision has the potential to expand legal liability for contractors who work with and undertake sensitive tasks on behalf of U.S. troops outside the country.

The Washington Post inexplicably buried the lede in Thursday night’s story on U.S. contractors starting evacuations from Iraq. One has to read to the ninth paragraph (out of eleven) to read of the report that U.S. security contractors traversing embattled areas are engaging in gun battles as they try to evacuate other civilian contractors: “Contractor evacuations began Wednesday, if not earlier, said Ginger Cruz, CEO of Mantid International LLC, a consulting firm that works with numerous companies in Iraq… “On Thursday, the electronics giant Siemens was working to get about 50 employees out of Baiji, Cruz said. It was not...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced a sweeping furlough plan Tuesday that will hit well over 90 percent of the Defense Department’s 750,000 U.S. civilian employees squarely in the pocketbook this summer. Employees from every service and agency in the department will be furloughed for up to 11 days, losing up to 2 days of pay in each two-week pay period through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Selected groups of DOD civilians – including Navy shipyard workers, educators, foreign nationals and employees deployed to war zones – will be fully or partially exempt from furloughs, however. The...

SNIP Hagel, however, has friends in Democratic lobbying circles. The powerful Washington D.C. organization known as the Podesta Group is reportedly asking defense contractors for financial support to run ads defending the Hagel nomination. Fox News White House Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry reported on Friday: (2:15 in) "Sources confirm to Fox [that] Democratic super lobbyist Tony Podesta has been hired by a firm known as the Bipartisan Group to help mobilize support for Hagel. And defense contractors received calls this week urging them to be ready for a Hagel pick as soon as Monday, and asking them for...

Last week, I discovered one of the most corrupt acts I have seen while serving in public office: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum, advising defense contractors that if they failed to comply with existing law, taxpayers would pay any resulting employee compensation costs and attorneys’ fees incurred. Instead of notifying defense contractors that they must abide by the laws set in place to protect American families, the administration has advised and encouraged these companies to break the law without penalty. Does that sound unbelievable to you? It sounded unbelievable to me when I first heard...

SNIPPET: "Google removed 640 videos from YouTube in the second half of last year amid fears they promoted terrorism. The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) made a request for five user accounts to be closed for allegedly promoting terrorism. Google agreed and deleted the 640 videos."

Northrop Grumman, in partnership with EADS, will not offer a bid for the $35 billion KC-X tanker contract, citing a US Air Force request for proposal (RFP) it believes is weighted in favour of its competitor. "We reached this conclusion based on the structure of the source selection methodology defined in the RFP, which clearly favours Boeing's smaller refuelling tanker and does not provide adequate value recognition of the added capability of a larger tanker, precluding us from any competitive opportunity," says Wes Bush, CEO of Northrop Grumman. Additionally, Bush says that Northrop has decided not to protest the selection...

Boeing has unveiled today the 'NewGen Tanker', the aerial refueling aircraft being proposed for the U.S. Air Force KC-X tanker competition. According to Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, the Boeing NewGen Tanker will satisfy all mandatory Air Force requirements and offer an American-made tanker that will be capable, survivable, and combat-ready at the lowest cost to the taxpayer.