Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Taking a hard line after devastating leaks, the Pentagon is ordering workers to delete from their computers any classified information they find online and warning it will punish those who confirm secrets already in the public domain, according to an internal memo obtained by the Washington Guardian.
Political appointees at the Defense Department, the CIA and the White House brushed aside concerns from career officials about helping two Hollywood filmmakers research their 2012 movie about the top-secret Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden, according to a report from the Pentagon's inspector general.
On May 30, Army Brig. Gen. Kimberly Field announced the formation of a new "rapid response force" to be established at Camp Lemonnier in the East African nation of Djibouti.
Battered by scandals surrounding security failures in Benghazi and allegations of criminal activity by diplomats, the State Department is taking over the sensitive process by which background checks are given to locals hired to work at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the largest and most expensive diplomatic post in the world.
The House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution Friday that expresses the sense of Congress that active duty military living or stationed in the District of Columbia should have the right to carry a gun. The measure sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey, Georgia Republican, was passed by voice vote as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes the Pentagon’s budget for 2014.
The Obama administration is facing scandals everywhere - using the Internal Revenue Service to punish political enemies, seizing the phone records of Associated Press and Fox News reporters, monitoring phone and email accounts of millions, and making up stories about what happened in Benghazi, Libya.
The Pentagon is concerned that a former National Security Agency contractor who is now in Hong Kong will compromise top-secret electronic intelligence programs targeted against China, according to a defense official.
Chinese Senior Col. Zhou Bo made headlines at the annual Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore, held from May 31 to June 2, when he announced that Chinese ships have been conducting reconnaissance operations in America's Exclusive Economic Zone.
The director of the National Security Agency is heading to Capitol Hill, where lawmakers likely will grill him Wednesday on how a low-level contractor was able to access and leak top-secret information on the agency's telecommunications surveillance program
Lawmakers pointed to the National Security Agency contractor who leaked top secret information about NSA's telecommunications surveillance program as a consequence of a bloated, expensive contracting workforce.
Defense officials urged lawmakers Tuesday to consider reforming the TRICARE military health care program and shutting down underused bases around the country — moves that would be unpopular among pro-military voters and localities dependent on commerce from the facilities.
Clearly, President Obama and a growing number of the members of his administration have forgotten the George Santayana truism, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Had they heeded the lessons that came out of the "Pentagon Papers" scandal of the early 1970s and related scandals also dealing with the leaking of classified materials to the press, the Obama administration would not have acted so cavalierly in telling lies to the American people and Congress regarding the tragic fiasco in Benghazi, the IRS scandal, the unconstitutional seizure of business and personal telephone records of The Associated Press and much more malfeasance.
U.S. fighter jets and Patriot missiles arrived in Jordan over the weekend, as the Obama administration this week considers "all possible options" in increasing its support to rebels in neighboring Syria, according to a White House spokeswoman.
The Army general who commanded the war against homemade bombs that have killed and maimed thousands of Americans in Afghanistan has left the Pentagon knowing he scored a major victory.
News and social media websites have been blocked on some Pentagon workstations Friday to prevent employees and contractors from accessing classified information that was leaked Thursday about a federal program that gathers Internet users' personal data from the computer servers of Web service providers.
