'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities

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.

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.
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.

Heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula have led the United States to postpone congressional testimony by the top U.S. military commander in South Korea and delay a U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile test from a West Coast base.

Two key Republican senators called on President Obama on Tuesday to follow through on his threats to Syrian President Bashar Assad if reports that the embattled Syrian leader may have used chemical weapons against rebel forces are substantiated.

The U.S. government this week lifted the lid slightly on its mostly secret policies on cybersecurity and cyberthreats, as the Obama administration grapples with the growing problem of cyberwarfare attacks and computer-based spying.
The Defense Department is establishing a series of cyber teams charged with carrying out offensive operations to combat the threat of an electronic assault on the United States that could cause major damage and disruption to the country's vital infrastructure, a senior military official said Tuesday.
Foreign leaders are deterred from launching a major electronic attack on vital infrastructure in the United States because they know such a strike could be traced to its source and would generate a robust response, the military's top cyber warrior said during congressional testimony Tuesday.

The Defense Department is building an "offensive" cyberforce to counter increasing threats by hackers, criminals and foreign agents to the nation's computer networks, the commander of U.S. Cyber Command told a Senate panel Tuesday.

U.S. Africa Command will get a new Marine Corps rapid response force as part of a plan to beef up its crisis response capabilities.