President Barack Obama announced on Monday a policy intended to shut down international transactions by the Bank of Iran, amid growing worries by Democrats that Iran’s nearly-complete effort to build a nuclear weapon will spark a war with Israel and an oil-price shock in the run up to the November election. (more)
On Tuesday evening, U.S. Special Operations Forces freed two aid workers — one American and one Dane — held hostage in Somalia. The hostages and their rescuers were unharmed in the operation, the Department of Defense reported. According to the Washington Post, nine of the suspected pirates were killed, with three unaccounted for and possibly captured. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says sex with animals would still be illegal even if Congress repeals a military rule on sodomy. (more)
Let’s start with the good news. Speaking at the Brookings Institution on Friday, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta clearly stated that the United States will not allow a nuclear Iran. He elaborated that when it came to stopping Iran from going nuclear, “all options are on the table.” (more)
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said President Barack Obama knows that $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts will hurt the U.S. military and “no one really wants to go there.” (more)
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s state media reports that authorities are putting the final touches on a swap to release a suspected Israeli spy in exchange for 19 Egyptians held in Israel prisons. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will make his first trip to Asia as Pentagon chief later this month, as the U.S. works to bolster its relations with countries in the region. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Memories of horror and heroism echoed Sunday across the west side of the Pentagon where, a decade ago, a hijacked airplane carrying 59 doomed passengers and crew and 36,200 pounds of jet fuel smashed into the fortress-like military headquarters, killing all aboard and 125 inside. (more)
The Obama administration has decided to drop the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of the year down to 3,000, marking a major downgrade in force strength, multiple sources familiar with the inner workings and decisions on U.S. troop movements in Iraq told Fox News. (more)
Late Friday, a federal appeals court in California ordered the military to continue enforcement of its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in response to a request from the Obama administration, the AP reports. (more)
With the country mired in a grave debate about the debt and government spending, the CIA confirmed Monday that they are sponsoring a gay advocacy group’s summit on issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) military members. (more)
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Monday that the U.S. is concerned about Iran providing weapons to Iraq militants and will take unilateral action when needed to deal with the threat. (more)
During his first visit to Iraq as defense secretary, Leon Panetta seemed to link America’s presence in the country to the 9/11 attacks. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — After Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden, the White House released a photo of President Barack Obama and his Cabinet inside the Situation Room, watching the daring raid unfold. (more)
CIA Director Leon Panetta is widely expected to be confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense, but he is nonetheless facing some pointed questions today from the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding troop levels in Afghanistan, defense spending cuts, Libya and Iran. (more)
Washington (CNN) — CIA Director Leon Panetta said Tuesday he thinks a photograph of Osama bin Laden’s body will be released at some point, but that it is up to the White House to make the final call. (more)
In a story about the resurrection of the harsh interrogation techniques debate slated to run on The New York Times’ front page Wednesday morning, reporters Scott Shane and Charlie Savage completely ignore CIA director Leon Panetta’s Tuesday evening confirmation that waterboarding played a role in procuring the intelligence that led U.S. forces to terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. (more)
The Washington cognoscenti love Leon Panetta, the man Obama just nominated to be the new secretary of defense, and it is not hard to understand why: Panetta is one of them, an establishment figure who faithfully reflects the conventional wisdom; a loyal party apparatchik who will do his president’s bidding; and, most importantly, a man fully prepared to make Obama’s vision of a dramatically downsized U.S. military a reality. (more)
President Obama will nominate Leon Panetta to replace Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense and Gen. David H. Petraeus to become CIA Director, according to press reports Wednesday. The shuffling is the first in what is expected to be a complete restructuring of the national security team in the Obama Administration. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major U.S. national security reshuffle, President Barack Obama is sending CIA Director Leon Panetta to the Pentagon to replace Robert Gates, a widely praised Bush holdover, and replacing Panetta at the spy agency with Gen. David Petraeus, the high-profile commander of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. (more)
