
The House on Friday authorized $638 billion in military spending for the coming fiscal year, including $86 billion for the war in Afghanistan, while attempting to address reports of the rising number of sexual assaults in the military.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted Thursday to give President Obama more flexibility to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay into the U.S. or to other countries, moving to grant some of the powers the administration is seeking.

Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss is facing heat from both sides of the political aisle for comments he made about sexual crimes in the military that seemed to attribute the problem to natural hormone levels in males.

Automatic defense budget cuts for fiscal year 2013 will be over on November 1st, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Wednesday, but added that "no one knows what comes next here in Washington."

Military chiefs acknowledged Tuesday that more needs to be done to combat sexual assault within the ranks but insisted that commanders need to maintain the ability discipline their troops, rather than giving that authority to an outside entity, such as some lawmakers suggest.

Military chiefs acknowledged Tuesday that more needs to be done to combat sexual assault within the ranks but insisted that commanders need to maintain the ability to discipline their troops, rather than giving that authority to an outside entity, as some lawmakers suggest.

President Obama said last week that he wants a reset on the war on terrorism, but Republicans said Sunday that his plan sounds more like a retreat.

The man who leads the Pentagon's secret war against al Qaeda and its allies believes it is likely to last another decade or two, and that the current legal basis for it provided by Congress in 2001 continues to be sound, despite the changing character of the enemy.

Sexual assaults in the military are a growing epidemic across the services, and thousands of victims are still unwilling to come forward despite a slew of new oversight and assistance programs, according to Pentagon documents.
International sanctions are squeezing Iran's economy but are doing little to dissuade the regime's nuclear ambitions, the top U.S. intelligence officer told Congress on Thursday.
Military lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists can hardly wait for the Supreme Court to declare the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. According to a Politico story titled "For LGBT Troops, DOMA Ruling a Pocketbook Issue," if the Supreme Court does not issue a sweeping ruling in their favor, these groups will pressure Congress to pass legislation authorizing marriage benefits for homosexual couples.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry will stare down the barrel of North Korea's recent nuclear threats when he arrives here Friday on his first trip to Asia as America's top diplomat — a trip that analysts say will be defined by efforts to persuade China to influence Pyongyang away from making further provocations.

Military lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists can hardly wait for the Supreme Court to declare the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. According to a Politico story titled “For LGBT Troops, DOMA Ruling a Pocketbook Issue,” if the Supreme Court does not issue a sweeping ruling in their favor, these groups will pressure Congress to pass legislation authorizing marriage benefits for homosexual couples.

Leaders here and in Washington offered cautionary responses Tuesday to North Korea’s latest threat that “thermonuclear war” is imminent, as Japan announced deployment of ballistic-missile interceptors to key locations around Tokyo in preparation for a possible test or attack launch by Pyongyang.

The top U.S. military officer in the Asia Pacific region said Tuesday there is a growing sense in South Korea that “it would almost impossible for the South Koreans not to respond in some fashion” if North Korea were to sink one of their ships or shell an island, as the communist state did in 2010.