Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five former secretaries of defense are calling on Congress to hold immediate hearings on President Donald Trump’s recent firings of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several other senior military leaders, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. The five men — who represented Republican and Democratic administrations over the past three decades — said the dismissals were alarming, raised “troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military” and removed legal constraints on the president’s power. Late last week, Trump fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of...

Five former secretaries of Defense have signed a letter protesting the firing by President Trump of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C. Q. Brown, demanding the Senate refuse to confirm Trump’s nominee to replace Brown and for Congress to investigate the firing of Brown and other senior officers by Trump. Trump nominated retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to replace Brown. Caine will need a waiver from Trump on meeting the legal requirements for the chairman. The five who signed are Trump’s first SecDef, James Mattis, Biden’s AWOL SecDef Lloyd Austin, Obama SecDefs Leon Panetta...

Sabrina Singh was Deputy Press Secretary at the Biden White House until she became Deputy Press Secretary at the Pentagon in 2022. On MSNBC's The Weekend on Saturday morning, Singh was still shilling for her old boss, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Displaying some mixture of chutzpah and obliviousness, Singh repeatedly criticized incoming Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as unreliable: "The job of the Secretary of Defense is a 24-hour job. You can get calls in the middle of the night, at all times. I remember my boss, former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, being in the Indo-Pacific and getting a call...

Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine are hinging their opposition to the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, on their alleged concern that he is not fit to handle the pressures of the Pentagon job.Their paragraphs-long attempts to justify why they are going against the will of their GOP voters, however, pale in the face of their voting records for a cabinet member who abandoned his post twice without notifying Congress.Murkowski announced Thursday on X that she “cannot in good conscience support [Hegseth’s] nomination for Secretary of Defense” because...

It’s long been known that in the military, rank has its privileges, and none are more privileged than flag officers—generals and admirals. As it turns out, the most privileged of all is the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, a former general. It has long been known Austin went AWOL for an unspecified “medical procedure. He didn’t bother to tell President Biden he was “out of the office” and incapacitated, nor did he bother to tell just about anyone else. Any veteran, and anyone actively serving in the military, understands being AWOL is a career ender. It’s just not something one...

Former Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) claimed Wednesday on “MSNBC Reports” that the “nature’ of the MAGA base was “very angry, aggressive” and disregarded facts. Guest host Yamiche Alcindor said, “So, congressman, what do you make of this support for Matt Gaetz among Trump allies and do you think he will be able to really have a run for office especially after now this report comes out with all of these allegations?” Rose said, “This is pretty sick and disturbing thing to think about. That, one, there could be clear evidence that someone did these things while they were a member...

VIDEOThe press swarming around Senator John Fetterman because he (GASP!) actually spoke to Pete Hegseth reminded me of the scenes of the press in "The Right Stuff" sounding like "root weevils" as the Chuck Yeager character described them. Watch the shock of the media thinking it is something incredible that a Democrat senator would want to speak to one of President Trump's nominees. Funny how there was NO such press concern when the utterly incompetent Lloyd Austin of triple Covid mask infamy was also nominated to be Defense Secretary.

Is Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., having his Joni Ernst moment? It sure seems like it. On Wednesday, the Hoosier State’s senior senator told CNN mouthpiece Manu Raju he’s still undecided as to whether he will support Pete Hegseth’s nomination to become the next secretary of defense. The comments came after the two veterans met to discuss Hegseth’s potential promotion earlier that day. “I haven’t decided yet, as I’ve shared with him and happy to share with others…We had a good meeting. It was an extensive conversation, and he answered the questions I asked,” Young reportedly said. “We had a very...

The winners of this year’s Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute “Peace Through Strength Award” are none other than Biden administration Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).Austin, who has been criticized for implementing “woke” military policies as the Department of Defense (DOD) leader, and McConnell, who just went through yet another major health scare while on the job at the Capitol, were recognized for their “extraordinary contributions to the state of our national defense” in a press release from the Reagan institute. “After his service in uniform, Secretary Austin continued to serve his country, leading our military...

More than three weeks after dozens of mysterious drones began popping up in the New Jersey night sky, the public has still been offered no clear insight on what the phenomenon could be. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., suggested the swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles could be from an Iranian "mother ship." [cut] ... Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh added there is "no evidence" to suggest the drones are "the work of a foreign adversary." "We aren’t being told the truth," Van Drew responded Thursday on Fox News. "They are dealing with the American public like we’re stupid." While the Pentagon...

Enter New Jersey State Rep. Brian Bergen who attended a Department of Homeland Security meeting eager for some answers, or even possibly a plan of action, but said he came away with neither. After an hour of frustrating nothing burgers, he saw the writing on the wall and walked out. “I walked out because it was worthless,” Bergen began. “It was the biggest amateur hour presentation I’ve ever seen about anything, ok? It was ridiculous, there were no answers.” “They don’t know where the drones are coming from, they don’t know who’s doing it, they don’t know why they’re doing...

Rep. Chris Smith calls in and explains that these drones above NJ are not harmless. They are probably either from China, Iran, or Russia.

VIENTIANE, Laos — Women and racial diversity are vital to the strength of U.S. armed forces, outgoing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in an exclusive interview with NBC News as he prepares to shortly exit the top military post after four years. “I have spent 41 years in uniform, three long tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and everywhere I went on a battlefield, there were women in our formation,” Austin said. “I would tell you that, you know, our women are the finest troops in the world. Quite frankly, some of the finest in the world.” President-elect Donald Trump’s...

The Pentagon is in “absolute disarray” with “generals scrambling” due to the incoming Trump administration’s plans to fire woke senior military leaders who prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over combat readiness, according to sources.One source compared it to a hornet’s nest being kicked over and that “DEI pages are starting to disappear off the main websites.”“They’re being archived as we speak. They are full-bore focused on cleaning up anything DEI-related,” the source said.Another source said people are trying to find out if they are on the list to be cut. “They are in panic mode,” the source said.The scramble...

Mark speaks with Fox News host and author Pete Hegseth about his experience being targeted politically and having military orders revoked, as well as his new book The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.

Is the Biden-Harris regime stocked with people who hate America? Here’s more evidence. It got little notice while all the focus was on the race for the presidency, and besides, it happened and then didn’t happen so quickly. Back in late July, the mastermind of the 9/11 jihad attacks that murdered nearly three thousand people and sent America into the spiral of decline and confusion that has brought us to the present situation, along with two of his henchmen, was given a sweetheart plea deal that would spare them the death penalty. Then just two days later, Biden/Harris Defense Secretary...

During an interview with the Fox News Channel that took place on Tuesday and was released on Wednesday on the “Fox News Rundown” podcast “Evening Edition,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin responded to a question on whether he and President Joe Biden urged Israel to avoid striking Iran’s nuclear sites or oil facilities and why those sites and/or facilities shouldn’t be hit by stating that Israel will ultimately decide what they do and do not strike, but, in his view, he believes that “if you’re conducting a military strike, it ought to be against military targets.” Fox News Chief National...

"Middle East Spectator," is a pro-regime Telegram outlet based in Tehran, as all media channels based in Tehran are – by law. Last week, Middle East Spectator leaked two sensitive intelligence documents The documents originated in the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and the information pertained to Israel's preparation to retaliate for Iranian missile attacks. I have not re-published the documents leaked on Telegram. Interested readers can go to the link provided above. Middle East Spectator claims it is an independent operation in Tehran. It says it got the documents from an “informed source in the US intelligence community.” If...

Nature might abhor a vacuum, but empires love them. The busy empire-builders in Tehran have spent the last two decades extending their reach into power vacuums in Iraq and Syria as part of their attempt to recreate at least part of the old Persian Empire that once covered almost the entire Middle East. Funding the Houthi rebels in Yemen keeps the Saudis conveniently distracted, too, as well as giving Tehran a way to attack the shipping that Western economies rely upon. Hamas and Hezbollah in Gaza and Lebanon respectively are Iran's imperial outposts even further west — and the Arab...

So says Al-Hurra, which is interesting of itself, but we'll get to that in a moment. According to Open Source Intelligence Monitor, Arab countries have sent back-channel approval for an Israeli strike on Iran in response to the ballistic-missile attack earlier this month. They understandably want the attack to remain focused and disciplined to prevent a wider war, and they want a heads-up before the attack to prepare a common defense. In fact, OSINT notes that this appears to be a case of getting the Nasrallah-hit band back together again: Al-Hurra is reporting that several Arab Counties have recently sent...