Biden Pentagon Let 50 Afghans Posing Serious Security Risks into the United States, Watchdog Finds

The Biden administration failed to use all available screening data to vet Afghan refugees brought to the United States last year, allowing at least 50 individuals posing “potentially significant security concerns” to make it inside America’s borders, the Pentagon’s chief watchdog is warning.

To make matters worse, the Defense Department inspector general reported to Congress this week that 28 of 31 Afghan evacuees with known “derogatory information” can no longer be located.

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Commentary: Can American Citizens Trust the U.S. Government?

aerial view of The Pentagon

Do you trust the U.S. government? I don’t recommend it.

Consider what John Kirby, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said a couple of days ago at a press briefing. “We believe,” Kirby said, that Russia is planning to stage a fake attack by Ukrainian military or intelligence forces against Russian sovereign territory, or against Russian speaking people,” in order to justify an invasion of Ukraine. Kirby had lots of details: “We believe that Russia would produce a very graphic propaganda video, which would include corpses and actors that would be depicting mourners, and images of destroyed locations, as well as military equipment, at the hands of Ukraine or the West.”

Gosh. Should we be worried? Yes. But not necessarily for the reasons that Kirby and his puppet masters want you to be worried. The United States is sending troops and arms to aid Ukraine, so of course there needs to be an emergency to justify that action. John Kirby just outlined a scary scenario. But inquiring minds want to know: What’s his evidence for this dramatic claim?

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U.S. to Send 3,000 Additional Troops to Europe Amid Tension at Ukraine Border

President Joe Biden plans to send another 3,000 troops to Europe amid continued tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Biden is sending about 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Poland and Germany this week. The president is also moving about 1,000 soldiers based in Germany to Romania, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing administration officials.

“They are trained and equipped for a variety of missions during this period of elevated risk,” a senior defense official told the Wall Street Journal.

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Pentagon Issues New Guidance on ‘Extremist Behavior’ Within Military Ranks

On Monday, the Department of Defense, in an effort to further crack down on political dissent, is revising its previous definitions of “extremist behavior” in order to deter uniformed members from certain political affiliations, CNN reports.

The Countering Extremism Working Group, a panel that was created for the purpose of ostensibly investigating “extremism” within military ranks, issued a report outlining its findings, claiming that there are indeed some “extremists” in the military. The report alleges that there were roughly 100 instances of uniformed members who either had “extremist” beliefs or joined “extremist” groups in 2021, which the report claims is an increase from previous years.

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Biden Says ‘Willing to Lose’ Presidency over Decisions Including Pandemic, Afghanistan, Middle Class

President Biden this past weekend suggested he would be willing to lose his presidency over his decisions on several key issues including his widely criticized withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In a CBS “Sunday Morning” interview in which he was asked whether he was discouraged by the criticism over his handling of the pandemic and other first-year challenges, Biden answered “No.”

“But look,” he continued. “One of the things we did decide, and I mean this, my word as a Biden, I know what I’m willing to lose over. If we walk away from the middle class, if we walk away from trying to unify people, if we start to engage in the same kind of politics that the last four years has done? I’m willing to lose over that.”

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Pentagon Didn’t Delay Sending Guardsmen to Capitol on January 6th, Report Conflicts with Pelosi Narrative

The Pentagon responded appropriately and in a timely fashion to urgent requests for National Guard assistance on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, according to a Defense Department inspector general report released Wednesday.

“We also determined that DoD officials did not delay or obstruct the DoD’s response,” reads the report.

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Tennessee National Guard Says It Will Not Follow Oklahoma and Resist DOD Vaccine Mandate; Gov. Lee Silent

The head of the Oklahoma National Guard won’t require his troops to comply with the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, but Tennessee National Guard (TNG) troops should not expect their superiors to follow the Oklahoma’s commander’s lead.

TNG spokesman Darrin Haas said Monday that his commanders will enforce Biden’s vaccine mandate.

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Oklahoma National Guard Defies Pentagon, Won’t Impose COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

The newly installed head of the Oklahoma National Guard has ordered that troops under his command will not be forced to comply with the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the armed forces.

“No Oklahoma Guardsman will be required to take the COVID-19 Vaccine,” Army Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino wrote in a Thursday memo. The memo was at odds with a Defense Department directive that the “total force” – including the National Guard – must be vaccinated against COVID-19.

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Commentary: The New Nuclear Arms Race

President Joe Biden and Personal Aide Stephen Goepfert walk through the Colonnade, Friday, August 6, 2021, on the way to the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

The Defense Department just released its annual report on China’s military power, and the report undermines those in the Biden administration who are promoting nuclear arms reductions with Russia and the adoption of a policy of “no first use” of nuclear weapons — a policy that is opposed by most of America’s allies.

The Pentagon’s report could not be clearer: “Over the next decade, the PRC aims to modernize, diversify, and expand its nuclear forces.” It is “expanding the number of its land-, sea-, and air-based nuclear delivery platforms and constructing the infrastructure necessary to support this major expansion of its nuclear forces.” This includes the construction of “fast breeder reactors and reprocessing facilities” that will enable China to “produce and separate plutonium.”

The report projects that the PRC will have up to 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027, and perhaps 1,000 by 2030, significantly more than the Pentagon projected in last year’s report. China has what the report calls a “nascent ‘nuclear triad,’” with the capability to launch nuclear missiles from land, sea, and air platforms. It has expanded its silo-based force and moved to a “launch-on-warning” posture. Last year, the PLA “launched more than 250 ballistic missiles for testing and training,” a number greater then the rest of the world combined. It is growing its inventory of DF-26 intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and those missiles are capable of launching multiple independent warheads — known as MIRV capabilities. The CCP has ordered the construction of “hundreds of new ICBM silos” and is “doubling the number of launchers in some ICBM units.” China’s CSS-10 Mod 2 ICBM has a range of 11,000 kilometers, which makes it capable or reaching most targets within the continental United States. China is also investing in space and counterspace capabilities, including kinetic-kill missiles, orbiting space robots, and ground-based lasers.

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Pentagon Says Almost 450 Americans Are Still in Afghanistan

Nearly 450 American citizens are estimated to remain in Afghanistan almost two months after U.S. troops withdrew from the country, according to the Pentagon.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken originally said the Biden administration believed there to be “under 200, and likely closer to 100, who remain in Afghanistan and want to leave,” on Aug. 30, the day before the last Anerican troops left Afghanistan.

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Commentary: Defense Department Pulls a Bait and Switch on Vaccines

On August 24, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a memo to senior Pentagon leadership announcing that he was implementing a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for all military service members. The day before, the FDA had issued full authorization to Pfizer for their Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine product (the nomenclature of which is meant to be a mashup of the words “COVID”, “mRNA”, and “community”) . At first glance it would seem that the mandatory vaccination policy, while scientifically unsound and strategically foolish, was at least a policy being implemented according to both the letter of the directive and in accordance with the law. But a further examination of the facts and the manner in which this order is being implemented makes clear that the military’s implementation of this order is illegal and highly unethical.

In the memo, Secretary Austin issued a directive and a promise, that “Mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 will only use COVID-19 vaccines that receive full licensure from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in accordance with FDA-approved labeling and guidance.” The problem with this is that the Comirnaty vaccine product that was approved by the FDA is not available anywhere in the Military Health System. It is not even in production, according to the military’s TRICARE healthcare providers. If a soldier goes to a military hospital or a private provider to receive an approved Pfizer COVID vaccine, he will be administered the unapproved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which is a vaccine that is not approved but has been administered under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). We are told that this is but a brand name difference, that the formulation is the same, and they can be used interchangeably. But as the FDA was approving the Comirnaty product, they were renewing the authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech product. If it’s just a matter of brand name, why issue an approval for one brand name and an EUA renewal for the other? This is because they are not actually the same. 

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Investigation: Biden Security Adviser Jake Sullivan Tied to Alleged 2016 Clinton Scheme to Co-Opt the CIA and FBI to Tar Trump

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan figures prominently in a grand jury investigation run by Special Counsel John Durham into an alleged 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign scheme to use both the FBI and CIA to tar Donald Trump as a colluder with Russia, according to people familiar with the criminal probe, which they say has broadened into a conspiracy case.

Sullivan is facing scrutiny, sources say, over potentially false statements he made about his involvement in the effort, which continued after the election and into 2017. As a senior foreign policy adviser to Clinton, Sullivan spearheaded what was known inside her campaign as a “confidential project” to link Trump to the Kremlin through dubious email-server records provided to the agencies, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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U.S. Military Admits Killing 10 Civilians, Targeting Wrong Vehicle in Kabul Drone Strike, Reports

AU.S. military investigation into a deadly drone strike last month in Kabul found the attack killed 10 civilians and that the targeted driver and vehicle were likely not a threat associated with the ISIS-K terror group, according to several news reports Friday.

The Pentagon had previously said at least one ISIS-K facilitator and three civilians were killed in what Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley had previously called a “righteous strike” on the compound on Aug 29, according to CNN.

The investigation released Friday found everybody killed in the residential compound were civilians, following weeks of speculation about a possible failed drone strike.

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Last Missile Fired by U.S. Military in Afghanistan Killed Only Innocent Family, Not ISIS ‘Facilitator’ as Gen. Milley Claimed

The last missile fired by the United States Military in the 20-year war in Afghanistan struck only an innocent Afghan man and his family in Kabul— not ISIS militants, the New York Times reported on Friday.

The blast killed ten members of the extended family of a civilian aid worker, Zemari Ahmadi, and three of his children, Zamir, 20, Faisal, 16, and Farzad, 10; Mr. Ahmadi’s cousin Naser, 30; three of Romal’s children, Arwin, 7, Benyamin, 6, and Hayat, 2; and two 3-year-old girls, Malika and Somaya.

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CNN Confirms Biden Administration is Bringing Afghan Refugees to the U.S. with No Paperwork or Vetting

The Biden Administration’s hasty extraction of Afghan refugees to the United States has been so rushed and so sloppy that many are arriving into the country with no documentation to confirm who they even are, Breitbart reports.

Even CNN’s coverage of the debacle confirms the lack of preparation and failure to properly vet refugees. Sources from within the evacuation process told CNN that the goal of the Biden Administration has been to “get as many people on the plane as you can, and we’ll sort out the [paperwork] stuff later.” The same sources added that “some people have landed with no documents whatsoever, creating a very challenging work environment for the officers.”

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Trump Administration’s Careful Afghanistan Withdrawal Plans Were Ignored by Biden, Former Trump Aide Says

Joe Biden’s national security team reportedly ignored the Trump administration’s careful plans for withdrawing from Afghanistan, resulting in the nightmare scenario currently unfolding in the war-torn country.

Former National Security Council Senior Director Kash Patel told Just the News’ John Solomon on Thursday, “I don’t even know that anyone could have made this awful scenario up. It’s literally worse than you could possibly conjure.”

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Commentary: Biden Says ‘No One’s Being Killed,’ Ignores More Than 12,000 Dead in Afghanistan

“[N]o one’s being killed right now, God forgive me if I’m wrong about that, but no one’s being killed right now.”

That was President Joe Biden’s Aug. 18 description of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, where the U.S.-backed government there has been toppled by the Taliban in an offensive that began in early May.

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Pentagon Does Not Deny That U.S. Military Is Buying Fuel from the Taliban to Evacuate People from Afghanistan

William Taylor

Army Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor and Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby dodged a reporter’s question about whether the US military is buying aviation fuel from the Taliban as evacuation efforts continue at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) in Kabul.

During a briefing at the Pentagon Thursday, Kirby also revealed that of the 2,000 people evacuated over the last 24 hours, only 300 of them were Americans.

“How are you fueling your planes… are you now in a position that you have to buy fuel from the Taliban?” asked Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin during a briefing at the Pentagon.

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Pentagon Contractor Paid to Tackle ‘Extremism’ Claims Searching for ‘The Truth About’ BLM Implies White Supremacist Behavior

The Pentagon is working with a contractor to reportedly look into web searches such as “George Floyd deserved to die,” “Jews will not replace us” and “the truth about black lives matter” as potential signals of white supremacism, Fox News reported.

Pentagon contractor Moonshot CVE (Countering Violent Extremism), which has ties to the Obama Foundation, is gathering data to determine which bases and branches of the military have the most troops searching for domestic extremist content, Defense One and Fox News reported.

The exact details of the project are not clear, but the data is expected to be available in three weeks, Defense One reported. Moonshot Founder and CEO Vidhya Ramalingam said the data suggested active duty troops are less prone than the general American public to searching for violent extremism information.

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Newt Gingrich Commentary: Overcoming Defeat and Denial in Afghanistan

With each passing day in Afghanistan the Taliban grows stronger, and the pro-American government forces grow weaker.  Anecdotally, you can see the momentum building in the news coverage.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal, which has been tracking war in Afghanistan for years, estimates that as of Sunday the Taliban controlled 213 districts. It reports that the government controls 70 districts, and some 115 districts are being contested. Thus, after the United States, NATO, and our Afghan allies spent 20 years fighting to create a post-Taliban country, the evidence is growing that we have lost.

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Commentary: Military Potentially Losing Middle America

United States military troops

Traditionalist and conservative America once was the U.S. military’s greatest defender.  

Bipartisan conservatives in Congress ensured generous Pentagon budgets. Statistics of those killed in action, in both Afghanistan and Iraq, reveal that white males, especially those of the rural and middle classes, were demographically “overrepresented” in offering the ultimate sacrifice to their country.  

When generals, active and retired, have become controversial, usually conservative America could be counted on to stick with them.  

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Pentagon Promotes Radical Resources to Kill ‘Extremism in Ranks’

The Defense Department is promoting reading resources on opposing “systemic racism” that include radical authors as part of a program to combat extremism within the ranks of the military.  

In a virtual meeting for “all hands” last month, the agenda—obtained by The Daily Signal—counted the scandal-plagued Southern Poverty Law Center as a credible resource alongside the Department of Homeland Security and the University of Maryland. 

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Pentagon Reveals Policies Reversing Trump’s Transgender Ban

John Kirby

The Pentagon on Wednesday issued new rules, sweeping away Trump administration policies that largely barred transgender people from serving in the military, following through on an executive order President Biden signed after taking office, The Hill reports. 

The new Defense Department policies, released on the International Transgender Day of Visibility, allow transgender people who meet military standards to enlist and serve openly in their self-identified gender. The new regulations will also give access to medical transition-related care, and prevent discrimination against transgender military members, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters.

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Pentagon Says it Isn’t Biased on Political Violence Despite Rank and File Concerns, Spokesman Says

The Pentagon’s views on political violence following the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Capitol riots are not biased despite rank and file concerns, a Department of Defense (DoD) spokesman said.

Service members have expressed concerns regarding DoD’s different responses to the political turmoil in the summer of 2020 and the Capitol riot, believing that the Pentagon should take a balanced view on violence in both cases, according to McClatchy. A DoD spokesman said judgements are not based on the causes of political violence when providing military assistance to states and the federal government.

“If a request for assistance is received from state or federal authorities, the Department of Defense reviews it, and considers what support it can provide that would meet the requirements of the request,” Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Chris Mitchell at DoD, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “In doing so, the Department does not make distinctions or judgements about the events that led to the request.”

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Pentagon Reportedly Reviewing Request for National Guard to Remain at U.S. Capitol for 60 Additional Days

The Pentagon is reviewing a Capitol Police request for the National Guard to remain stationed at the US Capitol for an additional two months, citing concerns about security and potential violence, defense officials told the Associated Press.

The National Guard was stationed at the Capitol following the violent breach Jan. 6 where five people died, the AP reported. Law enforcement has remained on high alert at the Capitol since Thursday after intelligence operatives uncovered a “potential plot” by far-right militia groups to storm the building.

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Analysis: The First Gulf War Validated Five Major Weapon Systems, All-Volunteer Military

The First Gulf War, or Desert Shield and Desert Storm, which was a strategic failure, but an operational success came to an end Feb. 28, 1991 with President George H.W. Bush calling a halt to combat operations after the 100 hours of combined land and air offensive.

It was the culmination of months Desert Shield’s diplomacy and military build-up beginning Aug. 7, 1990, shortly after Iraq invaded and conquered its neighbor Kuwait. Desert Storm began Jan. 16, 1991 with a ferocious air campaign that prepared the battlefield for the last 100 hours.

It is important to record operations success in the ledger of a war whose memory has become awkward and difficult.

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National Security Officials in Trump Admin Say They’re Being Snubbed for Jobs, Compared to ‘Hitler Youth’

National security officials who work for President Donald Trump are being snubbed by potential future employers and compared to “Hitler Youth” days before president-elect Joe Biden will take office, Politico reported.

Seven former and current officials spoke with Politico and detailed their job search heading out of the Trump administration. A number of high ranking Trump administration officials resign over the president’s part in the storming of the United States Capitol building Wednesday.

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Commentary: Potential Biden-Era Pentagon Reminder That Personnel Equals Policy

Whether the president is Biden or Trump moving forward, now more than ever the adage that personnel equals policy is spot-on when it comes to appointing Cabinet members and senior administration officials. In the days ahead, the person who serves as the next secretary of defense, regardless of administration, will determine policy that will impact the Pentagon — and indeed the world — for years. The president will handle the meta defense issues, but the secretary of defense will handle issues that will dramatically impact the above.

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Special Representative for Syria James Jeffrey: ‘We Were Always Playing Shell Games’ to Hide the Number of U.S. Troops in Syria

James Jeffrey – who is retiring from his posts as the Special Representative for Syria Engagement and Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS – reportedly said that “shell games” have been used to avoid telling U.S. leaders the true number of American troops in Syria.

“We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” Jeffrey said, according to Defense One.

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Trump Fires Esper, Hires Miller as Pentagon chief

by Robert Burns and Lolita C. Baldor   WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, an unprecedented move by a president struggling to accept election defeat and angry at a Pentagon leader he believes wasn’t loyal enough. The decision was widely expected as Trump had grown increasingly unhappy with Esper over the summer, including sharp differences between them over the use of the military during the civil unrest in June. But the move could unsettle international allies and Pentagon leadership and injects another element of uncertainty to a rocky transition period as Joe Biden prepares to assume the presidency. Presidents who win reelection often replace Cabinet members, but losing presidents have kept their Pentagon chiefs in place until Inauguration Day to preserve stability in the name of national security. Trump announced the news in a tweet, saying that “effective immediately” Christopher Miller, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, will serve as acting secretary, sidestepping the department’s No.2-ranking official, Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist. “Chris will do a GREAT job!” Trump tweeted. “Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service.” In a letter to Trump, Esper referred…

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Pentagon Offers Military Airwaves for 5G Wireless Networks

The Pentagon plans to free up a big chunk of its military airwaves in the U.S. for high-speed internet service, part of a broader push to get ahead of China in the deployment of 5G wireless technology.

The Trump administration announced Monday that it has identified radio spectrum used for radar defense systems that can be shared with commercial telecommunications providers without compromising national security.

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Pentagon Bans Confederate Flag

After weeks of wrangling, the Pentagon is banning displays of the Confederate flag on military installations, in a carefully worded policy that doesn’t mention the word ban or that specific flag. The policy, laid out in a memo released Friday, was described by officials as a creative way to bar the flag’s display without openly contradicting or angering President Donald Trump, who has defended people’s rights to display it.

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Exclusive: Bin Laden Raid Navy SEAL Recalls His Dog Cairo Fighting There with Him

  The retired Navy SEAL operator and dog handler, who swept Osama bin Laden’s compound with the Belgian Malinois military working dog Cairo, on the night of the fateful May 2, 2011 raid told the Star Newspapers there were times, when the late dog seemed like the boss. “He taught me all sorts of things,” said Will Chesney, the author of the battle memoirs of Cairo, “No Ordinary Dog” with Joe Layden. “One of the most important thing he taught me was to be present as much as you can.” Check out this excerpt from “No Ordinary Dog.” Chesney said dogs like Cairo was always in the present. “They don’t dwell on the past. They don’t think about the future.” When it came time for the raid, the warning order was short and sweet: “Pick up your dog and get back to Virginia. Now.” Chesney’s unit, SEAL Team Six, was at the time stationed near Virginia Beach. Cairo and his handler we assigned to Navy SEAL Team Six and their role during the bin Laden raid was to conduct security checks, while the mission was executed upstairs, he said. “He was train to detect explosives and man-odor,” Chesney said. “Our…

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More Active-Duty Troops Leaving D.C., Others Remain on Alert

Nearly 500 of the active-duty troops brought in to help if needed with the civil unrest in the nation’s capitol have been given orders to leave Washington after a fourth day of largely peaceful protests, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and other officials said Friday.

But a number of other active-duty soldiers remain on alert in the region, prepared to respond if needed.

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Neil McCabe Connects the Dots of Esper, Spencer, Gallagher, President Trump, and the Deep State Pentagon

  In a weekly interview on The Tennessee Star Report Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast live Tuesday morning on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy welcomed One America News Networks own investigative reporter, Neil McCabe to the show to talk about the recent dismissal of Spencer and the ongoing disloyalty of the deep state Pentagon. During the show, McCabe went into detail about how Eddie Gallagher did not murder anyone but actually tried to save a 15-year-old insurgent’s life. He also noted how Esper and Spencer were actually working against one another as Esper maintained defiance to President Trump’s orders. He states, ‘Esper fired Spencer not because he was disloyal to the President. Esper fired Spencer because he was disloyal to Esper as Esper was being disloyal to the President.’ Nearing the end of the segment, Leahy and McCabe addressed details about the ‘Anonymous’ author who’s book is hurried for a Christmas delivery in an alleged response to a Democratic impeachment that’s losing air. Leahy: We are joined now by our very good friend, a One America News Network correspondent in Washington, D.C. Neil McCabe. Neil, good morning. McCabe: Michael, glad to be with you.…

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US Senate Confirms Mark Esper as Secretary of Defense

by Reuters   WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Army Secretary Mark Esper to be secretary of defense, ending the longest period by far that the Pentagon has been without a permanent top official. As voting continued, the Senate overwhelmingly backed Esper, a former lobbyist for weapons maker Raytheon Co., to be President Donald Trump’s second confirmed leader of the Pentagon. Esper, 55, received strong bipartisan support despite some sharp questioning during his confirmation hearing by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren about his ties to Raytheon and his refusal to extend an ethics commitment he signed in 2017 to avoid decisions involving the company. Warren, a 2020 presidential hopeful, was the only member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to voice opposition to Esper’s confirmation during the hearing. Raytheon is the third-largest U.S. defense contractor. There has been no confirmed defense secretary since Jim Mattis resigned in December over policy differences with Trump. Many members of Congress from both parties have urged the Republican president to act urgently to fill the powerful position. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on members to support Esper as he opened the Senate on Tuesday morning. “The nominee is beyond qualified. His record…

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War on Warriors: The Tennessee Star Report Talks to OANN’s Neil McCabe About the Anti-Military Cadre Within the Pentagon

  On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy talked to One America News Network’s Neil McCabe about the war on warriors within the Pentagon. Towards the end of the segment, Gill also questioned why the US military has not yet addressed the rules of engagement as they pertain to ‘non-traditional’ enemies who use cell phones and key fobs as weapons. Leahy: And Steve our guest now is a regular on Tuesday mornings is Neil McCabe. Neil welcome. McCabe: Michael, Steve, how you doing guys? Good to be with you. Gill: Good morning. Leahy: You talked about what you wanted to discuss this morning and you told me something that’s kind of shocked me and I’m wondering if you can tell us a little bit about this. An Army Green Beret Major has been charged with murder related to charges he killed an alleged Taliban bomb maker 10 years ago in Afghanistan. This is a trial apparently going on in Fort Brag, North Carolina. Why is this trial going on? McCabe: Well I guess you can deal with it individually. You can…

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Acting Pentagon Chief Wants Secure Border Without Continuous Military Aid

  On a trip to a border city in Texas, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Saturday he intends to accelerate planning to secure the border and bolster the government’s ability to accomplish that without the Pentagon’s continuous help. He also offered assurances to perhaps two dozen Border Patrol agents and other officials at the McAllen Border Patrol Station that the Pentagon would not withdraw its military support prematurely. “We’re not going to leave until the border is secure,” he said, adding, “This isn’t about identifying a problem. It’s about fixing a problem more quickly.” Shanahan told Congress this past week that there are 4,364 military troops on the border, including active-duty and National Guard. They are erecting barriers, providing logistics and transportation service and other activities in support of Customs and Border Protection. The troops are prohibited from performing law enforcement duties. Troops have been deployed on the border since last October and are committed to being there through September. While flying to Texas, he dismissed any suggestion that active-duty forces will extend their mission for the long haul. “It will not be indefinite,” he told reporters traveling with him. Shanahan also said he has instructed a two-star Army…

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Pentagon Shifting $1.5B to US Border Wall Construction

  The Pentagon is shifting $1.5 billion in funds originally targeted for support of the Afghan security forces and other projects to help pay for construction of 80 miles of wall at the U.S.-Mexican border, officials said Friday. Congress was being notified of the move, which follows the Pentagon’s decision in March to transfer $1 billion from Army personnel budget accounts to support wall construction. Some lawmakers have been highly critical of the Pentagon shifting money not originally authorized for border security. The combined total of $2.5 billion is in response to President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the border, where Customs and Border Protection personnel are struggling to cope with increasing numbers of Central American families attempting to gain entry. Trump vetoed Congress’ attempt to reverse his emergency declaration. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, who has said he plans to visit the border on Saturday, said in announcing the shift of funds that the Pentagon is “fully engaged” in fixing the border crisis. He said more than 4,000 troops and 19 aircraft are supporting Customs and Border Protection personnel. “Today, I authorized the transfer of $1.5 billion toward the construction of more than 80 miles of…

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Defense Secretary Says 256 Miles of New Border Wall Coming Soon

by Jason Hopkins   The Pentagon announced that well over 200 miles of physical barrier is slated to be built along the U.S.-Mexico border in the coming months. “We now have on contract sufficient funds to build about 256 miles of barrier,” acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan said Wednesday while testing before the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. Shanahan noted that current funding is sourced from Treasury forfeiture funds, diverted money from the Pentagon, and other border funds secured by the Department of Homeland Security. “How you will see this materialize in the next six months is that about 63 additional new miles of wall will come online,” the acting defense secretary added. The rate will equate to roughly half a mile of border wall a day. President Donald Trump enraged Democrats after declaring a national emergency on the southern border in February, a move that allowed him to allocate billions more for wall construction. After the Pentagon diverted $1 billion to the Army Corps of Engineers in March to build new physical barriers, without first seeking congressional approval, Democratic lawmakers threatened to strip the Defense Department of its budget authority. The Trump administration argues that the funds are not enough…

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Pentagon Warns of Chinese Military Spying

  China’s two decades of military modernization has paid off begin missile development and domains like cyber and space, but the Pentagon says China is still relying on spying on others to steal the latest military technology. “China uses a variety of methods to acquire foreign military and dual-use technologies, including targeted foreign direct investment, cyber theft, and exploitation of private Chinese nationals’ access to these technologies, as well as … computer intrusions and other illicit approaches,” according to a congressionally mandated Pentagon report released Thursday. Randall Schriver, the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, told reporters Friday at the Pentagon that China frequently uses tactics that fall just short of armed conflict to reach its goal of becoming a “world-class military by 2049,” from threats and coercion against media and academia to jamming systems against ships in international waters in the South China Sea. The report said China has used these illicit approaches to acquire military-grade technologies from the United States that ranged from antisubmarine to aviation equipment. He said the Chinese were “very aggressive” with modernization and had made “significant progress” in their ballistic and cruise missile development, but he stopped short of calling Beijing an…

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Pentagon Awards Nearly $1 Billion in Border Wall Spending Contracts

by Jason Hopkins   The Department of Defense awarded two military contracts worth almost $1 billion for wall construction on the U.S-Mexico border, the first funds granted since President Donald Trump declared a national emergency. The Pentagon announced Tuesday it awarded a $789 million contract to Texas-based company, SLSCO Ltd. for “border replacement wall construction” in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, according to a news release from the Department of Defense. Additionally, Barnard Construction Co. Inc, a company based in Montana, was given a $187 million contract for a wall replacement project in Yuma, Arizona. The New Mexico wall will be 30 feet high and include a five-foot anti-climb plate at the top, and is expected to be completed by October 2020. The Arizona project, expected to be done by September 2020, will include 18-foot bollard fencing with the same five-foot anti-climb plate. The announcement marks the first contracts doled out to construction companies after Trump declared a national emergency in February, a move that allowed him to allocate billions more in funds for border wall spending. The Pentagon informed Congress in March that it had diverted funds to the Army Corps of Engineers for new border walls, upsetting lawmakers from…

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Charlie Daniels and The Journey Home Project Announce Pentagon Art Exhibit

Country music icon Charlie Daniels has opened an art gallery of combat and civilian photographs by veterans and their families at the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C. The Journey Home Project (TJHP), a nonprofit founded by Daniels, teamed up with the Rich Poverty organization to create the new art exhibit called The Alliance Collection. This collection displays photos from over 50 veteran artists from around the world. “It’s a real honor to do anything that benefits our heroes in the military, and to be a part of something displayed in the Pentagon makes it even more special,” Daniels said. The exhibit will be on display through March 2020 and is free to the public for viewing while touring the Pentagon. The collection of photos features a wide range of military history. Photos displayed range from World War II to the present day. The Alliance Collection has contributions from across the world, including photos from veterans from Belgium, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands. “Each corridor of the Pentagon has displays of our nation’s military history,” said TJHP board member Major General Terry “Max” Haston (retired). “These professionally designed exhibits reflect the factual lineage of our services. The Rich Poverty Alliance Collection goes beyond…

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