Defense Department - Page 2

President Donald Trump spoke at the Pentagon on Thursday to welcome new Defense Secretary Mark Esper during a full honors welcome ceremony.

Serious questions surrounding a high-value Pentagon contract, worth $10 billion and geared to be granted to web giant Amazon, could complicate Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan’s chances of confirmation by the U.S. Senate into a permanent position atop the Department of Defense should President Donald Trump follow through with nominating him for the post.

President Trump intends to nominate Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan to take on the role on a permanent basis, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced in a statement Thursday.

The Defense Department released a report on Thursday that warned China is dramatically upgrading its military capabilities and expanding its ability to project power, from Taiwan and the contested islands of the South China Sea to the Arctic Circle.

Governor Matt Bevin and Governor Kim Reynolds write in the Washington Post that, despite record low unemployment in their respective states, the unemployment rate for spouses of active duty military was 24 percent in 2017.

The Department of Defense is planning to spend $7.4 million on a troop mission at the United States-Mexico border that includes feeding and caring for migrants and border crossers, the agency announced Monday afternoon.

Top military leaders’ concerns over how the Obama administration’s transgender policy would affect military readiness prompted the Trump administration to review the policy and enact the new one that went into effect Friday, according to a senior Pentagon official.

The Pentagon announced Tuesday it has awarded nearly $1 billion in two contracts for border wall construction.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday directing the federal government to prepare a coordinated response plan in the event of an electromagnetic pulse attack (EMP). The order described the enormous damage such an attack could cause and noted the U.S. government currently lacks a coherent plan of action for responding to one.

A Republican-Democrat offer to President Trump of about $1.3 billion to construct a border wall at the United States-Mexico border mimics past deals in restrictions it is set to place on the White House while offering less funding overall.

A Republican-Democrat border deal keeps current rates of Catch and Release of illegal aliens, border crossers, and adults who have trafficked children across the U.S.-Mexico border at around the same level as this previous year. 

A Republican-Democrat border security deal that is expected to be offered to President Trump funds about $1.3 billion for a United States-Mexico border wall and includes no increase in detention space to control increasing illegal immigration at the border. 

A Republican-Democrat House and Senate committee is planning to offer President Trump a border security package that could include less than a quarter of the $5.7 billion for a U.S.-Mexico border wall he originally requested.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) is calling on President Trump to immediately begin building a border wall along the United States-Mexico border by invoking the powers of the American military and Defense Department. 

President Trump can build a border wall using the United States military to stop mass illegal immigration and drug trafficking without funding approval from Congress and without having to declare a national emergency. 

Pentagon comptroller David Norquist announced Wednesday that the DOD has already begun its second department-wide audit.

President Trump called a New York Times report claiming he is considering former Democrat Virginia Sen. Jim Webb for defense secretary to replace Jim Mattis “fake news.”

Outgoing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis reportedly spent Christmas Day working at the Pentagon, with only a week to go before Acting Secretary Patrick Shanahan takes over on January 1, as ordered by President Donald Trump. The Defense Department published the final holiday message to the troops from Mattis on Christmas Eve.

The Pentagon said Tuesday that there is no current plan for the military to build sections of the border wall, but suggested that the law would allow the Defense Department to fund doing so in some cases.

President Donald Trump said he canceled his proposed military parade on Friday, blaming greedy local officials for driving up the costs.

The massive National Defense Authorization Act signed by President Donald Trump on Monday includes a provision that requires universities to choose between hosting Chinese language programs funded by the Pentagon or China’s Confucius Institute, which has been linked to the Chinese Communist Party and described as a threat to American academic freedom.

The Pentagon announced Friday it is providing $200 million to Ukraine to strengthen its military, which is locked in low-grade war with Russia. The funds will go to additional training, equipment, and advisory efforts.

The Defense Department announced on Wednesday it has banned the sale of smartphones made by the Chinese corporations Huawei and ZTE on U.S. military bases, describing them as an “unacceptable risk to the Department’s personnel, information, and mission.”

Secretary of Defense James Mattis is considering a ban on allowing Defense Department employees to bring their personal cellphones to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon recommended that women be required to register for the draft to boost military enrollment, according to a Defense Department report addressed to Congress.

Evelyn Farkas, a former top Obama administration Defense Department official, has advocated for the intelligence community to consider compromising sources and methods when it comes to “saving American Democracy.”

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton talked about North Korea’s Fourth of July missile test launch on Thursday’s edition of Breitbart News Daily with SiriusXM host Alex Marlow.

On Thursday, a Defense Department official told the Senate that the Pentagon has nearly completed its review of U.S. war plans in Afghanistan and will offer a set of recommendations to President Donald Trump next week.

The White House announced Thursday six new names for top political appointments at the Pentagon, including Deputy Defense Secretary.

On Friday, the Washington Post declared “the honeymoon seems to be ending between retired Gen. James N. Mattis and Donald Trump’s transition team amid an increasingly acrimonious dispute over who will get top jobs in the Defense Department — and who gets to make those decisions.”