Rowan Scarborough

State Department chose flight over fight in Benghazi, Senate report says

Armed State Department security agents retreated rather than fire on terrorists who were invading the U.S. mission in Benghazi, says a Senate Intelligence Committee report.

January 15, 2014

Chaos in Iraq could be omen for Afghanistan without U.S. troops

Afghanistan's war planners trying to picture their country without U.S. troops next year might want to cast an eye toward Iraq.

January 12, 2014

In new poll defense leaders see China rising, U.S. declining

Most defense leaders believe the United States is weaker today than five years ago, according to a poll by Gannett's Defense News.

January 8, 2014

U.S. troops prevented from helping even as al Qaeda overruns Iraqi cities

The U.S. has inserted 200 troops in Iraq since 2012, but they cannot directly help the Iraqi military repel a surge of al Qaeda fighters, even as the country succumbs to sectarian violence and insurgents claim control of two key cities.

January 5, 2014

Pentagon pivots to social issues; providing for common defense a lower priority

As the armed forces shrink and withdraw from some global hot spots, their agenda for the battle of the sexes grows.

January 1, 2014

With demise of Pentagon’s ‘Early Bird,’ military readers hunt bootleg copies of ‘Morning News’

The Pentagon has killed its "Early Bird" compilation of news and opinion stories, and now provides "Morning News" only for the top brass.

December 24, 2013

Pentagon to review case of Marine who defied general in Taliban defilement case

A Marine Corps whistleblower says the Pentagon is investigating whether higher-ups retaliated against him for filing complaints against the Marine commandant.

December 22, 2013

Robert O. Work to be named Pentagon’s No. 2 official

A former top Navy official is the leading candidate to become the next deputy defense secretary.

December 20, 2013

Medal of Honor: General orders review of tracking battlefield awards

The top U.S. commander for the Persian Gulf has ordered a review of how recommendations for battlefield awards are tracked by the Afghanistan command, which lost the paperwork for a Medal of Honor nominee and for other heroes.

December 18, 2013

U.S. Army mulls wiping out memory of Robert E. Lee, ‘Stonewall’ Jackson

The U.S. Army War College, which molds future field generals, has begun discussing whether it should remove the portraits of Confederate generals, including Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

December 17, 2013

Administration can’t answer basic queries costs of war in Afghanistan

President Obama's brain trust on Afghanistan does not know much the U.S. spends on the war each year or the American cost in lost lives on the battlefield.

December 12, 2013

Obama’s Afghanistan experts stumped on U.S. death toll, war costs during hearing

President Obama's brain trust on Afghanistan does not know how much the U.S. spends on the war each year or the American cost in lost lives on the battlefield.

December 12, 2013

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in Kabul, gets no invitation from Afghan President Hamid Karzai

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel traveled halfway around the world for a rare visit to the Afghanistan war zone, but he did not meet with the man holding up an agreement to keep U.S. troops there after 2014.

December 8, 2013

Spike in battlefield deaths linked to restrictive rules of engagement

The number of U.S. battlefield fatalities in Afghanistan exceeded the rate at which troop strength surged in 2009 and 2010, prompting national security analysts to assert that coinciding stricter rules of engagement led to more deaths.

December 5, 2013

Rules of engagement bind U.S. troops’ actions in Afghanistan

The new U.S.-Afghanistan security agreement adds restrictions on already bureaucratic rules of engagement for American troops by making Afghan dwellings virtual safe havens for the enemy, combat veterans say.

November 26, 2013

Navy SEALs cite shabby treatment as Obama administration helps Hollywood instead

Navy SEALs are the toast of America, but revelations show that the top brass has not always watched their backs during the Obama administration.

November 17, 2013

Delta Force Marine awarded Navy Cross for fight at CIA annex in Benghazi

In a unique battlefield commendation, a Marine Corps member of Delta Force has been awarded the nation's second highest military honor for coming to the defense of Americans last year at a CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya.

November 16, 2013

Army intelligence says it needs good cloud computing to save lives in Afghanistan

The U.S. military's main battlefield intelligence processor, so crucial to the war in Afghanistan, still lacks an element common to civilian computer networks — a cloud.

November 11, 2013

Missiles flow into Syria, risk falling into hands of al Qaeda

One of terrorism's most feared weapons, the shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile, has begun to flow into war-ravaged Syria in numbers that alarm the West because they may fall into the hands of al Qaeda, according to national security analysts.

November 6, 2013

Questions about Navy officer’s cremation deepen mystery of Chinook crash in Afghanistan

A lingering mystery in the August 2011 helicopter crash that killed 30 U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan is why some bodies were cremated and some were not.

November 3, 2013