The News

usatoday.com — The U.S. military is packing up to leave Iraq in what has been deemed the largest movement of manpower and equipment in modern military history — shipping out more than 1.5 million pieces of equipment from tanks to antennas along with a force the size of a small city. The massive operation already underway a year ahead of the Aug. 31, 2010 deadline to remove all U.S. combat troops from Iraq shows the U.S. military has picked up the pace of a planned exit from Iraq that could cost billions. The goal is to withdraw tens of thousands of troops and about 60% of equipment out of Iraq by the end of next March, Brig. Gen. Heidi Brown, a deputy commander charged with overseeing the withdrawal, said.

Read Full Article »

cnn.com — The Senate voted block expansion of one of the country's most controversial and expensive defense programs, the F-22 fighter jet program. The vote gave the White House and Pentagon a key victory over congressional supporters of the F-22, many of whom represent states and districts where jobs are tied to the production of the jet. The vote, which stripped $1.75 billion for an additional seven F-22s from the fiscal year 2010 budget, was a reversal of an earlier Senate committee decision to include money for the program. The change came in a response to strong pressure from President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and several key senators who argued that the additional planes are not needed or wanted by the military.

Read Full Article »

usatoday.com — The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan reached two solemn milestones Monday: July has become the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and the combined death toll surpassed 5,000. Four Americans were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Robert Carr said. That brings the number of U.S. servicemembers killed so far this month to at least 30. The previous deadliest month was June 2008, when 28 died, the Pentagon said. In Iraq, where casualties have dwindled in recent months, at least six Americans have died so far in July. Deaths on both fronts pushed the total U.S. fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan to at least 5,002, according to the Pentagon. That number includes 4,332 military deaths in Iraq and 669 in Afghanistan, as well as 14 Defense Department civilians in both countries.

Read Full Article »

reuters.com — A key report ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama as part of his effort to close the internationally condemned Guantanamo prison will be delayed six months, but officials insisted they were still on track to shut it down by January. Amid divisions between lawmakers and the administration over the fate of Guantanamo inmates, Obama aides said a task force developing a new policy on terrorism detainees would miss its Tuesday deadline for offering him a full list of recommendations. Instead, the government panel issued an interim report late on Monday that provided an overview of the options, including prosecution in U.S. civilian courts and by military commission or the transfer of suspects to other countries.

Read Full Article »

usatoday.com — The State Department is poised to realize significantly larger percentage budget increases than the Pentagon — a reflection, officials say, of a bipartisan consensus that civilians should play a greater role in U.S. foreign policy. Bills passed recently by House and Senate committees would increase State Department and related spending by about 25% from what was spent in 2008 and nearly double the 2005 level. The new money, some of which is included in a 2009 supplemental spending bill passed and signed last month, is set for 1,300 new diplomats, major new development programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan and increases in foreign and humanitarian assistance. By contrast, overall spending by the military would increase .2% to $664 billion under the Defense Department's 2010 budget proposal.

Read Full Article »

washingtonpost.com — It cost $150 and took about four minutes for government investigators, working in a sting operation, to make small bombs from materials they carried into high-security federal buildings that house major agencies with national security or law enforcement responsibilities. The recent sting by the Government Accountability Office exposed lax security procedures by the Federal Protective Service, the agency tasked with guarding more than 1 million workers at 9,000 federal buildings nationwide. Mark L. Goldstein, who led the investigation, told lawmakers that his team carried bombmaking materials into 10 high-security federal buildings in the past year. The materials could be purchased in stores or online and cost roughly $150. Once inside, investigators assembled bombs in restrooms and then walked around with them, undetected. In only one instance did a security guard question an investigator carrying suspicious materials.

Read Full Article »