May 13 China has reclaimed 3,200 acres in South China Sea, Pentagon says By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press WASHINGTON — A new Pentagon report says China has reclaimed more than 3,200 acres of land in the southeastern South China Sea. But the country's focus has shifted to developing and weaponizing those man-made islands. Continue reading
May 03 Defense secretary accuses Russia of ‘nuclear saber-rattling’ By Robert Burns, Associated Press STUTTGART, Germany — U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter blasted what the U.S. and its allies see as Russian aggression in Europe, saying Tuesday that Moscow is "going backward in time" with warlike actions. Continue reading
Apr 28 House committee votes to require women to register for draft By Richard Lardner, Associated Press WASHINGTON — Women would be required to register for the military draft under a House committee's bill that comes just months after the Defense Department lifted all gender-based restrictions on front-line combat units. Continue reading
Mar 25 Watch 9:28 Fighting ISIS, on the battlefield and online By PBS News Hour Is the U.S. making headway in the fight against the Islamic State group? Judy Woodruff talks to retired Col. Derek Harvey, a former Army intelligence officer, and Brendan Koerner of Wired Magazine about the military offensive against ISIS, including the… Continue watching
Mar 18 Obama to nominate first woman to head U.S. combatant command By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Ash Carter says President Barack Obama will nominate the first woman to head a major U.S. military combatant command. Continue reading
Mar 14 Benghazi committee promises final report by summer By Matthew Daly, Associated Press WASHINGTON — Nearly two years after it was created, the House Benghazi Committee is plowing ahead — interviewing witnesses, reviewing documents and promising a final report "before summer" that is certain to have repercussions for Democrat Hillary Clinton's bid for… Continue reading
Feb 08 U.S. faces shortcomings in global, anti-ISIS coalition By Robert Burns, Associated Press WASHINGTON — To doubters of its strategy for defeating the Islamic State, the Obama administration likes to tout its coalition of 66 nations and claim strength in numbers. But a year and a half into the war, some administration officials… Continue reading
Jan 04 Pentagon data on child sex crimes in the military doesn’t show full picture By Richard Lardner, Eileen Sullivan and Meghan Hoyer, Associated Press WASHINGTON — Cpl. Aaron C. Masa befriended a fellow Marine during field training in North Carolina. But behind his buddy’s back, Masa sexually abused his 3-year-old stepdaughter and took sexually explicit photos of her and the Marine’s baby girl. A… Continue reading
Dec 01 Watch U.S. ‘step-by-step’ strategy against Islamic State questioned in Congress By PBS News Hour Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that the U.S. will be deploying more special forces to assist Iraqi and Peshmerga forces targeting the Islamic State, and will be authorized to take direct action. Some lawmakers questioned whether the U.S. is making… Continue watching
Oct 15 Watch 4:11 What influenced Obama’s decision to keep troops in Afghanistan By PBS News Hour The longest-running war in American history will go on even longer than expected. Hari Sreenivasan speaks to the Washington Post’s Greg Jaffe about what prompted President Obama to change course and decide to leave troops in Afghanistan. Continue watching