Tag: Department of Defense

Biden Administration Pays $3 Million Every Day to Not Build the Border Wall

Admin

The Biden administration is spending around $3 million daily to not finish construction on the southern border wall, Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said Wednesday.

Around $2 billion in taxpayer dollars have been wasted on paying Department of Defense (DOD) contractors to not build the border wall since Jan. 20, increasing by at least $3 million daily, according to Lankford. Former President Donald Trump allocated $10 billion to the DOD for border wall construction and the Biden administration had spent about $2 billion on suspension and termination costs paid to contractors.

Read the full story

Fort Lee to Temporarily House Afghan Refugees Who Aided U.S. Military for Operation Allies Refuge

Eric Burk
Fort Lee

Virginia’s Fort Lee Army base will temporarily house about 700 Afghan citizens and their families who helped the U.S. military, beginning next week, according to statements from the State Department and the Department of Defense (DOD). The refugees served in roles including translation, and the first group will include up to 2,500 refugees.

Read the full story

Biden Administration Sends First Guantanamo Prisoner Back to Home Country

Admin
Guantanamo Bay Release

The Biden administration announced Monday the first transfer of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner back to his home country.

Abdul Latif Nasir was sent back to his home country of Morocco on Monday, the first detainee to be repatriated under the Biden administration, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced in a statement. Nasir, detained over ties to al-Qaeda, was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and had been imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility since 2002, the Associated Press reported.

Read the full story

EXCLUSIVE: Unaccompanied Migrant Children Also Flew On Commercial Airlines Into Chattanooga: ‘They Had New Cell Phones, Backpacks, and Clothes’

Corinne Murdock

The Tennessee Star discovered that unaccompanied migrant children were flown May 11 on a commercial flight – three days before flights documented by initial breaking news. Previous reports discovered that the unaccompanied migrant children were flown into a private airport on May 14 – Chattanooga’s Wilson Air Center. It is unclear how many other flights carrying migrant children came into Tennessee prior to these documented incidents on May 11 and 14. A source who was on the flight informed The Star that they encountered a man chaperoning 10 to 15 migrant children between the ages of 10 and 14 onto an American Airlines flight. The chaperone was described as a bilingual Hispanic male wearing street clothes, speaking fluent Spanish to the children and English to the source – he’d chatted with our source for around 45 minutes at a ticket counter. The chaperone informed our source that he was “escorting all these young men to Chattanooga for a shelter.” The group of migrant children reportedly had new-looking cell phones, clothes, shoes, and backpacks. The source added that some of the children were playing games or talking in Spanish on their phones.

The group of migrant children and their chaperone reportedly boarded the plane first and went to the back of the plane. They flew from Dallas Fort Worth Airport to Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, also known as Lovell Field on American Airlines flight number 3901. They arrived around 1 a.m. EDT on May 12.

Read the full story

Commentary: Biden Administration Chooses Political Purges over National Defense

Admin

“The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment,” said West Point superintendent John Schofield in 1879, condemning leaders who issue unreasonable and abusive orders. America’s military today is at risk of a different sort of tyranny: the purging of unauthorized political views.

Read the full story

President Trump Signs Executive Order to Block Investment in Businesses Benefiting China’s Military

Admin

President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to block investment in Chinese businesses that the administration says benefit China’s military.

The order prohibits such investments beginning Jan. 11, 2021, but allows divestment from investments that include the Chinese securities through Nov. 11, 2021.

“Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to protect American investors from funding Communist Chinese military companies, including those designated by the Department of Defense in June and August of 2020,” National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said in a statement.

Read the full story

Rep. Green Questions Security of Military Program That Recruits Non-Citizens For Vital Defense Work

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) is questioning the security of a program that helps the military recruit foreign citizens for vital jobs.

Green said he sent a letter to National Security Subcommittee Chairman Stephen Lynch (D-MA-08) calling for a hearing to examine vulnerabilities in the Department of Defense’s MAVNI (Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest) program.

Read the full story

Blackburn Joins Other Senators in Urging Trump Administration to Reach Consensus with Congress on Two-Year Budget That Fully Funds the Military

Jason M. Reynolds

  U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined her colleagues in encouraging officials with President Donald Trump’s Administration to reach consensus with congressional leaders on a two-year budget deal to fully fund the military. Blackburn, along with Senators that include David Perdue (R-GA) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK), sent the letter to Acting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, according to a press release from Blackburn. The full letter is available online here. In the letter, the senators caution that another continuing resolution (CR) would devastate the United States military, delay the implementation of the President’s National Defense Strategy (NDS) and increase costs. Blackburn recently voted to fund the United States Military in Fiscal Year 2020, via the National Defense Authorization Act, The Tennessee Star reported Monday. The NDAA funds crucial projects that will directly impact military communities in Tennessee. According to the letter, “The Administration’s efforts last year to pass the Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations bill on time allowed our military for the first time in a decade to be properly funded without the use of a continuing resolution…

Read the full story

Committee on Foreign Investment May Not Be Able to Handle Its Exploding Caseload

Admin

by Riley Walters   The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is often compared to a black box. Investors may be aware of what it does, but few know what really goes on inside. The nine members of the committee, drawn from various federal agencies, are in charge of reviewing foreign investments to determine whether or not they may pose a threat to U.S. national security. Glimpses of the committee’s activities are largely limited to what’s reported in its annual publications and the occasional breaking news story – such as the recent report that the committee wants Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd. to sell its dating application, Grindr. It can be difficult to keep up with the committee given limitations on the information that is shared publicly – especially given its obligation to protect investors’ proprietary information as well as information sensitive to U.S. national security. Still, the limited information that becomes available can help inform investors of potential hurdles and costs they may face when seeking the committee’s blessings. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Over the last few years, the number of…

Read the full story

Pentagon Awards Nearly $1 Billion in Border Wall Spending Contracts

Admin

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…

Read the full story

Rep. Green Files Bill to Require Defense Department to Resume Sending Congress Report on Defense Spending by U.S. Allies

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) said he is working to strengthen the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and America’s other treaty alliances by trying to make clear how much allies spend on the common defense. Green, a former Army special operations flight surgeon and West Point graduate, introduced the Allied Burden Sharing Report Act of 2019 in the U.S. House on Wednesday, according to a press release. Green introduced this bill the same day NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addressed a joint session of Congress ahead of NATO’s 70th anniversary, which is today. “NATO is indispensable to America’s past, present, and future,” said Rep. Mark Green. “This bill would encourage our allies to fully fund our alliance, so that together we can preserve, strengthen and potentially expand NATO.” The congressman tweeted, “I am looking forward to #NATO Sec Gen Stoltenberg’s address to Congress at 11. NATO is indispensable to America’s past, present, and future. That’s why I’m intro’ing a bill today that’d encourage our allies to fully fund our alliance and strengthen NATO.” I am looking forward to #NATO Sec Gen Stoltenberg's address to Congress at 11. NATO is indispensable to America’s past, present, and future. That's why I'm…

Read the full story

Commentary: Five House Republicans Who Need Conservative Primary Opponents

Admin

by CHQ Staff   Sometimes there are issues upon which conservative opinion and principle diverges and the conservative movement has no consensus – what constitutes “free trade” might fall into that category. However, we can find no divergence of principle on the issues raised by the Democrats’ recent passage of H. Res. 124, a bill urging the military hierarchy to disobey lawful presidential directives on transgenderism and military service. Five House Republicans joined Democrats in voting for this abomination of constitutional order, military discipline and common sense. Republican Representatives Fitzpatrick, Hollingsworth, Hurd (TX), Katko and Reed all voted with the Democrats to strongly urge the Department of Defense to not reinstate President Trump’s ban on transgender members of the Armed Forces and “to maintain an inclusive policy allowing qualified transgender Americans to enlist and serve in the Armed Forces.” Never mind that courts have found there is no right to serve in the military. This is nothing less than Democrats urging an overthrow of the constitutional order that provides for civilian control of the military through the Article II designation of the President as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. That five Republicans would join Democrats in such an anti-constitutional usurpation…

Read the full story

Ohio Legislators Push for New Missile Defense Site to be Located in Ohio

Andrew Shirley

A group of Ohio Legislators in an open letter Thursday called on Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan to select Ohio as the location for a new missile defense site and complex. The Continental United States Interceptor Site (CIS) is the only ground-based segment of the total U.S. defense system. It is currently run by the Department of Defense; Missile Defense Agency and is a major component of the “Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)” segment, which is part of the overall Ballistic Missile Defense System. This system is responsible for protecting the nation from missile attacks, potentially launched by countries like “Iran and North Korea.” The overall missile defense system of the United States consists of three major segments: the Boost Defense Segment (BDS), the Midcourse Defense Segment (MDS), and the Terminal Defense Segment (TDS). Each focuses on different phases of a potential missile attack on the continent. BDS focuses on the detection and interception of a missile at the earliest possible moments, long before it reaches the apex of its launch trajectory. MDS focuses on the interception of a missile at the midpoint of its trajectory. TDS is last line defense for stopping a missile attack; when the missile is past the midpoint…

Read the full story

Commentary: How the Space Force Can Restore Our Edge Against China, Russia

Admin

by John Venable   The U.S. just moved one step closer to creating a Space Force. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump directed the Department of Defense to draft legislation to establish the Space Force as a new branch of the military under the secretary of the Air Force. This move is an important step toward defending the space domain, which is home to critical assets that deliver everything from precision targeting and missile launch warning, to the communications and signals that allow banking, commerce, travel, and almost every other aspect of our high-tech society to function. Russia and China are aware of our near-complete reliance on space systems, and they have positioned themselves to move against them. It’s been over 11 years since China proved it is capable of destroying satellites in space using ground-based missiles, and in the years since, Russian satellites co-orbiting in close proximity with ours have been equally provocative. In 2018, an independent report emerged from a bipartisan congressional directive that recommended the U.S. establish an independent Space Force through a two-phased approach that would re-establish our dominance in the space domain. In the months since, the Trump administration has used the president’s current authorities to…

Read the full story

Dr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: Trump’s Heroic Efforts to Fulfill His ‘Make America Great Again’ Promises

Admin

by Dr. Carol M. Swain   With President Donald Trump about to begin his third year in office, it’s fitting to discuss what he has accomplished since his election. Although the news is currently dominated by the federal government shutdown and the conflict between Trump and Democratic leaders over the funding of a wall on the Mexican border, it’s worthwhile to look beyond the headlines. What you will find will be shocking for any person unfortunate enough to get their news exclusively from America’s mainstream media. Despite unprecedented levels of opposition from national and international sources, Trump has been enormously successful at accomplishing his goals. He has been quietly checking items off a list of promises he made as candidate Trump, all part of his overriding goal to “Make America Great Again.” Note that wearing anything bearing that phrase is considered hate speech by the political left and an act of great bravery by the rest of America. Frustrated with media bias, the president’s supporters have kept their own running list of accomplishments. In October 2018, Washington Examiner reporter Paul Bedard reported 289 presidential accomplishments over the 20 months Trump had served in office. There is a website called MAGAPILL that has a running list of the…

Read the full story

Court Decides in Favor of the Trump Administration in Curbing Transgenders’ Service in the Military

Admin
US Army

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Trump administration policy of restricting transgender people from serving in the military. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Friday that a lower court judge was wrong to block the Pentagon from implementing its plan to limit transgender people in the military. The lower-court judge had ruled the Trump policy most likely violated the constitutional rights of transgender recruits and service members. Pentagon pleased with decision However, in ruling for the Trump administration’s position, the appeals court said Friday that the military policy “appears to permit some transgender individuals to serve in the military.” It also said the plan relied on the “considered professional judgment” of “appropriate military officials.” Pentagon spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell told VOA that the Department of Defense was “pleased with the D.C. Circuit’s decision.” “As always, we treat all transgender persons with respect and dignity. It is critical that the department be permitted to formulate personnel policies that it determines are necessary to ensure the most lethal and combat-effective fighting force in the world,” Maxwell said. Friday’s ruling will not allow the Pentagon to implement its policy immediately, because other judges have…

Read the full story

PROOF: Trio of Project Veritas Videos Expose Unaccountable Federal Government Employees Pushing a Soclialist Agenda From Within the Administrative State

Admin

By Natalia Castro   When federal bureaucrats are unaccountable to even their own managers, it can be hard to identify and correct abuse within the system. In his most recent undercover expose, James O’Keefe sought to uncover the stories of the federal government’s worst employees directly from the source. This week, Project Veritas released three videos highlighting rampant misuse of federal resources by employees for political gain. All stories have a similar thread: the employees believe they can never be fired. And they are not completely wrong, current law makes their removal extremely different despite clear evidence of abuse. O’Keefe’s team of investigative journalists went undercover speaking with federal government employees who are also active members of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an organization dedicated to ridding the country of capitalism — the economic system responsible for freeing and uplifting millions around the world from poverty — and replacing it with socialism (also known as the economic system responsible for killing millions of people in the last century and continuing to leave Venezuelans starving and penniless). In the first Project Veritas video, Stuart Karaffa, a Department of State employee explained how he spends his day working, “I have nothing to lose. It’s impossible to fire federal employees… I’m…

Read the full story

Report: Effort To Allow Transgenders In The Military Faces ‘Indefinite Delay’

Tennessee Star Staff

An Obama administration effort to allow transgender citizens to serve in the U.S. military is undergoing an intense review by the Pentagon, Military Times reports. Former President Barack Obama’s directive was issued in June 2016 and gave the services exactly one year to craft policy implementation. The Army and Marine Corps are reportedly the most resistant…

Read the full story

Commentary: Pro-Trump Conservatives Being Massacred In The Battle For The Pentagon

Tennessee Star Staff

Conservative HQ Staff As CHQ Chairman Richard Viguerie has been telling CHQ readers for many years, “Personnel is policy.” And unfortunately, right now pro-Trump conservatives are getting massacred in one of the biggest personnel and hence policy battles Washington has seen in many years – the battle to staff the Trump Pentagon. The latest rout of conservatives at the hands of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and the establishment James MattisRepublicans who occupy the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, came in the fight over who should be nominated as Secretary of the Navy to replace Philip Bilden, who decided to withdraw his name from consideration after saying that meeting the government’s ethics guidelines would require too great a financial sacrifice. The scuttlebutt in the Pentagon and in the defense-oriented media is that today the White House will announce that the next SecNav nominee will be former Marine aviator Richard V. Spencer. Spencer has had a distinguished business career after leaving the Marines. He worked on Wall Street for 15 years with Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Bear Sterns and Paine Webber and served as vice chairman and chief financial officer of intercontinental exchange. He is now an investment banker who…

Read the full story

Commentary: The Battle to Keep the Pentagon in Democrat Hands

Tennessee Star Staff

By: George Rasley, CHQ Editor Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis’ reputation as a warfighter is unimpeachable, but his political and personnel judgement – not so much. Almost since the day he was confirmed Mattis has engaged in guerilla war with President Trump’s White House staff to advance his plans to bring Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans into the top echelons of the PentagonPentagon. As part of this guerilla war Mattis is blocking some rock-star conservative talent that the White House slated for appointments at the Pentagon. One is Mira Ricardel, a former Boeing executive and Bush Pentagon alum who helped with the Trump transition. And as Gen. Mattis continues to nix a long list of names offered by the White House team, he hasn’t been bashful about pushing for the appointment of Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans. First, Gen. Mattis flirted with appointing Michele Flournoy, formerly the third-ranking civilian in the Pentagon under President Barack Obama, and the person expected to run the Pentagon had Hillary Clinton won the presidency, as his deputy. The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel reported Mattis also looked to recruit from Ms. Flournoy’s liberal-hawk think tank, the Center for New American Security. And he pushed…

Read the full story