Rowan Scarborough

General: ‘Use drones to kill’ the Taliban in Pakistan

A longtime adviser to U.S. commanders in Afghanistan says now is the time for President Obama to change strategy and target Taliban leaders ensconced in Pakistan.

February 8, 2012

Fleets fade away with Pentagon budget cuts

America's aging tactical Air Force — the jets that protect ground troops and strike hard-to-reach targets — is shrinking just as the Pentagon is cutting even more planes to achieve nearly a half-trillion dollars in spending cuts.

February 5, 2012

Ex-CIA officials assail ID of agents

Former intelligence officials use "reprehensible" and "egregious" to describe the alleged acts of a former CIA officer charged by the government with betraying his own when he revealed the identities of two overseas operatives to the media.

January 30, 2012

Panetta says 2013 defense budget to cut land forces

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Thursday presented the first act in shrinking the war-on-terrorism military over the next five years, saying his 2013 budget will cut land forces by 92,000, ask Congress to close bases and slow production of the F-35 stealth fighter.

January 26, 2012

U.S. military in Persian Gulf still necessary, welcome force

The U.S. is maintaining a sizable ground, air and sea force in the Persian Gulf, underscoring the need to protect oil-producing states after deposing Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein and exiting a democratic Iraq in December.

January 24, 2012

Assad’s fall could solve Iraqi weapons mystery

If Syria's regime falls, the U.S. will be in a better position to answer one of the lingering questions from the long Iraq War: Did Baghdad ship weapons of mass destruction components to Syria before the 2003 American-led invasion?

January 22, 2012

Many Bush-era hard-liners are Romney security advisers

GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has assembled a cast of conservative George W. Bush-era veterans as his key national security advisers. Some of them played important roles in the war on terror and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

January 18, 2012

New Navy budgets may sink plans for aircraft carriers

As Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta prepares to introduce the strategy's first budget next month, the Navy has been in a furious fight behind the scenes to protect only 10 carriers, sources familiar with the issue told The Washington Times.

January 15, 2012

Navy readies for Chinese power grab on shipping

The Navy's top officer detailed Tuesday the strategy for making sure the South China Sea and Western Pacific remain open to international shipping, saying an emerging China might try to "limit access in the region."

January 10, 2012

Obama’s war plan pins hopes on peace

In dumping the Pentagon's two-war strategy, President Obama is reversing a doctrine adopted by Republican and Democratic presidents, including himself.

January 8, 2012

Tehran warns U.S. to stay out of Gulf

Iran's stepped-up bellicosity, including a warning Tuesday that a U.S. aircraft carrier should not return to the Persian Gulf, is a reaction to increased talk in the United States and Israel of a strike on its nuclear sites, and of the West adding economic sanctions on its already struggling economy, analysts say.

January 3, 2012

Iraq surge’s advocates fear gains will be lost

The outside advisers who worked to persuade President Bush in 2006 to send a "surge" of reinforcement troops to Iraq now fear their efforts are on the verge of being erased.

December 28, 2011

Three months on, ‘don’t ask’ repeal gets mixed review

Three months after President Obama lifted the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military, Pentagon officials say heterosexual troops are adjusting well to the new policy. Critics, however, say they are just following orders, and a recent survey showed many troops reporting a rise in tension.

December 23, 2011

U.S. exit from Iraq leaves a power void

The Iraqi government lost more than a fighting ally when the last U.S. troops left the country Sunday.

December 22, 2011

Gear galore left in Iraq as last troops pull out

If the U.S. military held a yard sale, the rummaging would look a lot like what has been going on in Iraq.

December 15, 2011

U.S. to leave Iraqi airspace clear for strategic Israeli route to Iran

The U.S. military's fast-approaching Dec. 31 exit from Iraq, which has no way to defend its airspace, puts Israel in a better place strategically to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.

December 14, 2011

Gingrich tough on women, gays in military

Republican presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich is siding with social conservatives on how the U.S. armed forces should treat gays and women, according to a survey released Monday.

December 11, 2011

Pentagon conducts budget war games

The nation's highest-ranking military officers convened at the Pentagon last week to discuss the smaller armed forces they will inherit once $450 billion in cuts commence in 2013.

December 6, 2011

U.S. ready for eviction of drones in Pakistan

Pakistan's decision to evict the United States from a Predator-drone launching base will have little impact on the CIA's ability to strike terrorists in the country's austere tribal areas because the U.S. built backup bases in Afghanistan, a senior defense official said Sunday.

December 4, 2011

Pentagon’s inspector general finds no misconduct in briefing program

The Pentagon's inspector general has released his final report on a Donald H. Rumsfeld-era program for briefing TV and radio military analysts, concluding for a second time that there was no wrongdoing.

December 1, 2011