Rowan Scarborough

Women in submarines face health issues

A specialist on undersea medicine is warning Congress that the air inside a submarine can be hazardous to fetal development.

April 5, 2010

Case against 3 SEALs weakens

Cracks are beginning to appear in the military's prosecution of three Navy SEALs accused of striking a most-wanted terrorism suspect they had captured in Iraq.

March 29, 2010

Gates alters rules for investigating gay troops

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Thursday took steps to soften the military's ban on openly gay service members while retaining the law's core restriction that avowed homosexuals face discharge.

March 26, 2010

Health-vote ally Nelson to get new VA hospital for Nebraska

The Obama administration has delivered another budget plum to Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson and the state of Nebraska, adding more than a half-billion dollars for a new veterans hospital in Omaha.

March 18, 2010

E-mails suggested Fort Hood suspect subpar for Army

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, charged in the Fort Hood shootings, was too fat and "chronically" unprofessional during his psychiatric training, according to internal e-mails exchanged by his superiors.

March 16, 2010

Group wants same military benefits for gay spouses

A leading gay rights group says married gay service members should have the same rights as straight couples once President Obama ends the military's ban on open homosexuality in the ranks.

March 8, 2010

Breaking ranks on gays in military

Conservative groups have begun to mobilize to stop President Obama plan's to open the military to acknowledged gays, as some prominent right-leaning Washington figures are breaking with the movement and siding with the White House.

March 1, 2010

Military chiefs resist push to end gay ban

The four U.S. military service chiefs are bucking higher-ups by refusing at this point to endorse removing the ban on open gays in the ranks.

February 25, 2010

NATO neglect lets Taliban build 35% more strength

The Taliban has reaped a recruiting bonanza the past two years, capitalizing on NATO's stagnant posture in southern Afghanistan by increasing fighter ranks by 35 percent, U.S. officials say.

February 22, 2010

Military chiefs’ views crucial in gay ban row

The military service chiefs will soon present their views to Congress marking the next stage in the debate on gays in the military amid signs they will not be as effusive in endorsing an end to "don't ask, don't tell" as has Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

February 16, 2010

Veteran groups resist ‘don’t ask’ repeal

The nation's two most prominent veterans groups have come out in opposition to President Obama's plan to end the military's long-standing ban on open homosexuals in the ranks.

February 4, 2010

Tough fight set for gays in military

President Obama's pledge to lift the military's ban on openly gay service members this year seems at best headed for extremely close votes in the House and Senate, according to Congress watchers.

February 1, 2010

Support swells for 3 accused SEALs

When a small team of Navy SEALs set out to capture one of Iraq's most-wanted terrorists in September, they never dreamed it would go so smoothly.

January 22, 2010

EXCLUSIVE: Marine leads ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ fight

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway has emerged in internal Pentagon deliberations as the most outspoken opponent of permitting gay men and women to serve openly in the U.S. military, according to a former senior Pentagon official.

November 2, 2009

Obama adviser Jones shifted Afghanistan views — a lot

National security adviser James L. Jones - the president's point man in a momentous debate on U.S. policy in Afghanistan - has repeatedly shifted his assessments of the war as he transformed himself from a top Marine general to a civilian adviser in recent years.

October 16, 2009

EXCLUSIVE: Taliban makes IEDs deadlier

The Taliban has been building simpler, cheaper anti-personnel bombs made of hard-to-detect nonmetal components, increasing the number of lethal attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan, according to a confidential military report.

September 15, 2009

EXCLUSIVE: Lack of translators hurts U.S. war on terror

U.S. national security agencies remain woefully short of foreign-language speakers and translators nearly eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks resulted in a war on an enemy that often communicates in relatively obscure dialects, current and former officials say.

August 31, 2009

EXCLUSIVE: General mulls more fighters in Afghanistan

Afghanistan's top U.S. military commander is examining whether some support personnel could be replaced by combat forces to increase America's war fighting capacity without requesting a major addition of new troops.

August 14, 2009

ANALYSIS: Gates’ budget cuts sour conservatives

Some conservatives who welcomed President Obama's decision to keep Robert M. Gates as defense secretary are already having second thoughts.

May 11, 2009

Defense chief proposes weapons cuts

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday he plans to cut the F-22 fighter jet and other big-weapon systems as part of a "fundamental shift" in how the Pentagon buys weapons and fights wars, including the one in Afghanistan.

April 6, 2009