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Tag: Department of Defense

  • ‘Very serious retaliation’: U.S. strikes ISIS targets in Syria

    ‘Very serious retaliation’: U.S. strikes ISIS targets in Syria

    The Trump administration launched more than 70 strikes against ISIS targets in Syria on Friday, responding to an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter last week.

    Updated: 6:44 AM PST Dec 20, 2025

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    The Trump administration struck more than 70 ISIS targets in Syria on Friday, according to the Pentagon, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. and Syrian forces last week.On Friday evening, President Donald Trump told a crowd in North Carolina, “Just 2 hours ago, we hit the ISIS thugs in Syria who were trying to regroup after their decimation by the Trump administration 5 years ago. We hit them hard.”Trump further described the operation as successful and precise. In a social media post ahead of his speech, he called it a “very serious retaliation.” That sentiment was echoed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, also known as the secretary of war, in another post. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said. The strikes were in response to an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter last weekend. The president blamed the attack on a member of the Islamic State, although the group has not claimed responsibility. Trump said the U.S. retaliation was fully supported by Syria’s new leader, who has overseen warming relations with the West since the fall of the Assad regime last year. Following the U.S. strikes, Syria’s foreign ministry reiterated its commitment to fighting ISIS and underscored the need to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism.In a recent national security strategy document, the Trump administration argued that the days in which the Middle East dominated American foreign policy are over. The administration has sought to build ties with countries like Syria, including in the counterterrorism space, but contends that the threats can be contained “without decades of fruitless ‘nation-building’ wars.” The Trump administration is instead looking to focus closer to home, shifting military resources away from the Middle East and towards South America, as tensions mount with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Asked if the Trump administration would rule out regime change in Venezuela, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in an interview Friday, “The president has spoken about his concerns when it comes to the illegitimate regime in Venezuela, his concerns about the gangs we have seen come from Venezuela, the concerns about the narcotrafficking that we’ve also seen.”

    WASHINGTON —

    The Trump administration struck more than 70 ISIS targets in Syria on Friday, according to the Pentagon, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. and Syrian forces last week.

    On Friday evening, President Donald Trump told a crowd in North Carolina, “Just 2 hours ago, we hit the ISIS thugs in Syria who were trying to regroup after their decimation by the Trump administration 5 years ago. We hit them hard.”

    Trump further described the operation as successful and precise. In a social media post ahead of his speech, he called it a “very serious retaliation.”

    That sentiment was echoed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, also known as the secretary of war, in another post.

    “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said.

    The strikes were in response to an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter last weekend. The president blamed the attack on a member of the Islamic State, although the group has not claimed responsibility.

    Trump said the U.S. retaliation was fully supported by Syria’s new leader, who has overseen warming relations with the West since the fall of the Assad regime last year.

    Following the U.S. strikes, Syria’s foreign ministry reiterated its commitment to fighting ISIS and underscored the need to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism.

    In a recent national security strategy document, the Trump administration argued that the days in which the Middle East dominated American foreign policy are over. The administration has sought to build ties with countries like Syria, including in the counterterrorism space, but contends that the threats can be contained “without decades of fruitless ‘nation-building’ wars.”

    The Trump administration is instead looking to focus closer to home, shifting military resources away from the Middle East and towards South America, as tensions mount with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

    Asked if the Trump administration would rule out regime change in Venezuela, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in an interview Friday, “The president has spoken about his concerns when it comes to the illegitimate regime in Venezuela, his concerns about the gangs we have seen come from Venezuela, the concerns about the narcotrafficking that we’ve also seen.”

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  • A Former Defense Secretary Says Pete Hegseth Isn’t Tough Enough for the Job

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks on during a meeting about Ukraine at NATO headquarters in Brussels in October.
    Photo: Nicolas Tucaat/AFP/Getty Images

    When Leon Panetta sees what’s happening at his old workplace, he can’t help but feel a bit nervous.

    Panetta, 87, served as Barack Obama’s Defense secretary from 2011 to 2013, confirmed by the Senate in a 100-0 vote. The bipartisan support for the lifelong Democrat might have been explained by any number of accomplishments throughout his decades-long career: As CIA director, he oversaw the successful hunt for Osama bin Laden; as Bill Clinton’s budget director and White House chief of staff, he strengthened the ties he made to Capitol Hill as a member of the House from California for 16 years. He’s served in Washington on and off since the mid-1960s, more than a decade before his successor at the Pentagon was even born. So he knows a thing or two about the stresses of holding public office.

    And the one thing you don’t do, he says, is use the Pentagon for “frivolous” things like settling scores with a lawmaker who hurt your ego.

    “As somebody who was secretary of Defense, you know, the one thing you learn is that people have the right to be critical of steps that you’re taking. I mean, that’s part of what this country’s all about. And, you know, I’ve spent over 50 years in public life. The one thing you have to do is be able to have the ability to tolerate that kind of criticism, because it’s constitutional,” Panetta says.

    This week the Trump administration attacked six Democratic lawmakers who recently made a video telling U.S. military and intelligence personnel they can defy illegal orders, labeling the Democrats the “seditious six.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went a step further, singling out Arizona senator and Navy veteran Mark Kelly for retribution. First, he announced a Pentagon investigation into Kelly for allegedly violating a federal law against actions that “interfere with the loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces.” Then Hegseth personally mocked Kelly, who flew dozens of combat missions during the Gulf War and commanded the Space Shuttle as an astronaut, on social media even questioning his rank of captain and threatening him with a “uniform inspection” as if he were just a young subordinate.

    Panetta says Hegseth’s fixation on Kelly speaks to a deeper danger to national security.

    “When it basically overwhelms you and becomes an obsession, then I think what I worry about is that it really does weaken our national defense because the message to the world is that we’re spending time on this kind of frivolous activity,” he says. It also “sends a message of weakness” to China, North Korea, and Iran that the Pentagon’s boss is more worried about domestic critics than foreign adversaries.

    “It’s diverting attention, frankly, from the national-security issues that are of concern. You know, what’s happening in Ukraine, what’s happening in Venezuela, where we have 15,000 people deployed there along with a carrier and no clear strategy as to what it’s all going to be used for,” he says.

    Hegseth, 45, is the least experienced Defense secretary in modern history, plucked from hosting a Fox News show to run an organization with more than 2 million employees. Since he was barely confirmed by the Senate, Hegseth has generated a steady stream of screwups, from sending classified war plans over Signal to halting military aid to Ukraine without Trump’s knowledge. He has seemed to hang on to the job by sheer loyalty to the president, including going along with Trump’s desire to rename the organization the Department of War.

    Panetta, who retired to California after leaving Washington, D.C., says he keeps in touch with people there who are “very nervous about whether or not the Defense Department is performing its basic mission. That’s what really worries them.”

    The way he sees it, Hegseth’s investigation into Kelly is more about messaging than substance.

    “Taking this action, which is obviously their way of sending a message that nobody should say anything critical of anybody in the administration … it becomes a waste of time, frankly,” he says. “They should have learned a lesson from the Comey investigation, which was thrown out of court because of the way they handled it. And in this situation, you’re dealing with a United States senator who happens to be a war hero.”

    Hegseth has suggested Kelly, who earned numerous military decorations in his extensive career, could be recalled to active duty to face court-martial proceedings. But legal and military experts have said they can’t see how the matter would ever even make it to court as Kelly simply stated facts in the video about members of the military having the right to refuse illegal orders. Hegseth would almost certainly be accused of undue command influence during such proceedings.

    Panetta, likewise, says if the case ever made it to court, it would almost certainly get tossed. “You know, I guess for these people in the administration, they must feel that even though it fails, even though it took a lot of time, that somehow they sent a message that they want others to be intimidated by.”

    “It’s making, frankly, Senator Mark Kelly more of a hero, and there’s more attention on what he said, and it’s creating more headlines,” he says.

    Hegseth has only doubled down amid the controversy, demanding a briefing on the results of the investigation into Kelly’s conduct by December 10, according to a memo published on Tuesday.

    If optics are the point for Hegseth, who’s made it his personal mission to eradicate “woke” policies while focusing on the importance of “physical fitness and appearance” in the military, that might also explain his beef with the group formerly known as the Boy Scouts. Hegseth has apparently moved to end the military’s century-long relationship with the group, now called Scouting America, because it has angered him by becoming “genderless.” He complained in a draft memo to Congress that the organization had become too inclusive and now serves only to “attack boy-friendly spaces.”

    Chuckling at the Defense secretary’s complaints against the Scouts, Panetta appeared to sigh before saying, “He’s really somebody who has become secretary of war against culture issues. It has nothing to do with defense; it has everything to do with politics and culture wars.”

    Allison Quinn

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  • US military could cut ties with Scouts

    The U.S. Military could be preparing to sever ties with the Scouts, according to a leaked Pentagon memo. 

    U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to bring an end to the centuries-old partnership between the military and Scouting America because he believes the organization has developed a tendency to “attack boy-friendly spaces,” according to documents reportedly seen by NPR.

    A Department of Defense official told NPR the Pentagon would not comment on “leaked documents that we cannot authenticate and that may be predecisional.” Newsweek contacted the U.S. Department of Defense for further comment via email.  

    Why It Matters

    The U.S. military’s relationship with Scouting America (formerly Boy Scouts of America) is a long-standing association that has influenced youth leadership training and military recruitment. 

    The possible break stems from new policy directions within both organizations relating to inclusion, diversity, and shifting values, raising questions about the military’s approach to civic engagement and youth development at a time when both national security considerations and recruitment remain top priorities. 

    What To Know

    Documents obtained and reviewed by NPR indicate that Hegseth is advancing plans to end all Defense Department ties with Scouting America, citing misalignment with traditional military values.

    In a draft memo to Congress, not yet sent, Hegseth is reported to have criticized Scouting America for becoming “genderless” and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, arguing that Scouting America has shifted away from a “meritocracy which holds its members accountable to meet high standards.”

    The Department of Defense has supported the Scouts in various ways since formalizing assistance in 1937, including providing medical and logistical aid to the National Jamboree and allowing Scouts to meet on military installations. 

    However, under Hegseth’s proposal, these supports—along with recruitment advantages for Eagle Scouts and the use of military resources at Scouting events—would end.

    The draft documents reveal concerns about the Jamboree, which attracts up to 20,000 scouts to a remote Virginia site, suggesting that sending personnel and equipment to support it would divert resources from border operations and protecting U.S. territory at a time of international security challenges and limited budgets. 

    A source familiar with the Pentagon documents told NPR the memo was prepared to notify Congress but stressed it had not yet been formally delivered. 

    What People Are Saying

    Scouting America said: “Scouting is and has always been a nonpartisan organization…Over more than a century, we’ve worked constructively with every U.S. presidential administration—Democratic and Republican—focusing on our common goal of building future leaders grounded in integrity, responsibility, and community service.” 

    Retired Army Staff Sergeant Kenny Green, a military parent of three Scouts who has relocated many times as a result of his work, told NPR: “We went from Louisiana to Alaska. From Alaska to Germany. From Germany to Texas…At every military base, there was a Scout troop that could help ease the transition to a new home…I can’t even say how vast their benefits are, especially for military families.” 

    Criticism of the proposed cut also comes from within the Pentagon. Navy Secretary John Phelan said in a memo viewed by NPR: “Passive support to Scouting America through access to military installations and educational opportunities serves as a crucial recruiting and community engagement tool for the [Navy]…Prohibition of access could be detrimental to recruitment and accession efforts across the department.”

    President Donald Trump, speaking at the 2017 Jamboree, previously lauded the Scouts, saying: “The United States has no better citizens than its Boy Scouts. No better.” 

    What Happens Next

    The move could disrupt not only the Scouts’ annual Jamboree but the broader pipeline of service-minded youth entering the U.S. armed forces. Planning for next summer’s Jamboree continues, but without clarity—uncertainty hangs over whether military support and access to installations will persist or cease by directive.

    The Pentagon said it is reviewing all partnerships to ensure they “align with the president’s agenda and advance our mission.”

    Congress could weigh in, given its legislative oversight and the statutory requirements around military support for scouting events.

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  • President Trump threatens possible military action in Nigeria

    President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he is directing the Pentagon to prepare for possible military action in Nigeria, as he accused the country’s government of failing to stop the killing of Christians. “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote on social media. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom the Trump administration is now referring to as the Secretary of War, responded soon after with his own post, saying, “Yes sir.” “The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately,” Hegseth wrote.On Friday, Trump also said he would designate Nigeria “a country of particular concern” for allegedly failing to rein in the persecution of Christians. Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu responded on social media Saturday, saying his administration is open to deepening cooperation with the United States and the international community to protect people of all faiths. He also acknowledged the country’s security challenges but rejected Trump’s framing of his government’s response. “The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” Tinubu said. More from the Washington Bureau:

    WASHINGTON —

    President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he is directing the Pentagon to prepare for possible military action in Nigeria, as he accused the country’s government of failing to stop the killing of Christians.

    “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote on social media.

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom the Trump administration is now referring to as the Secretary of War, responded soon after with his own post, saying, “Yes sir.”

    “The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately,” Hegseth wrote.

    On Friday, Trump also said he would designate Nigeria “a country of particular concern” for allegedly failing to rein in the persecution of Christians.

    Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu responded on social media Saturday, saying his administration is open to deepening cooperation with the United States and the international community to protect people of all faiths. He also acknowledged the country’s security challenges but rejected Trump’s framing of his government’s response.

    “The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” Tinubu said.

    More from the Washington Bureau:

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  • Fail fast, fight smarter: Silicon Valley’s startup mentality is rewiring the Pentagon | Fortune

    Long known for its massive scale and bureaucratic complexity, the Pentagon is slowly transforming itself into a more streamlined organization, much like a Silicon Valley company.

    The “fail fast” mentality, once confined to startups, is taking root in the Department of War, previously known as the Department of Defense, thanks to AI and other systems that are revolutionizing the way the U.S. approaches global conflicts, speakers at the Fortune Most Powerful Women conference said on Tuesday.

    Radha Iyengar Plumb, a former chief digital and AI intelligence officer at the Pentagon who is now the vice president of AI-first transformation at IBM said the Pentagon is in some ways similar to a $1 trillion business. It has about three million employees, more ground vehicles than FedEx, and a supply chain three times larger than that of Walmart. Yet, for years, the massive amount of data linked to its operations was handled manually and inefficiently.

    Analysts would “literally swivel chair between multiple different computers” to gather intelligence and paste it into PowerPoint slides, she noted. 

    “When it is the world around you that is changing over time, that swivel chair just gets updated slowly,” Plumb said. “People don’t have full information about the world around them and that makes it harder to make good decisions.”

    Modernizing the Pentagon

    However, the government’s more recent efforts are slowly improving this situation. Shannon Clark, a former Pentagon analyst and current head of defense growth at Palantir, cited Project Maven, a Pentagon initiative launched in 2017 to consolidate data and integrate AI into battlefield operations, as a key driver of improvements. Palantir is a government contractor assisting the Pentagon in executing Project Maven. 

    Still, modernization also requires a new mindset, said Clark. The government and Congress need to take more risks, although they are already making strides, thanks in part to some outside influence, she added.

    “They’ve seen what the companies in Silicon Valley are doing,” said Clark. “I think they’re seeing that that’s the only way that we’re going to be able to forge forward faster, is by watching and failing and then learning from those mistakes, just as much as learning from success.”

    Incorporating AI into government has already helped drive results in part by speeding up how fast the Pentagon can buy and deliver things, said Plumb.

    Another positive development over the years has been the emergence of numerous defense technology companies that are helping the U.S. gain an edge over its adversaries, said Clark.

    “All of this technology was used for the 12-day war. All this technology was used for the conflict with Russia and Ukraine, and it’ll be used for whatever the next conflict is as well,” she said. “We really need America’s best and brightest to be working on this.” 

    Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

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  • Commentary: I turned in my Pentagon credential — not my commitment – WTOP News

    After 20 years of covering the U.S. military, WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green turned in his Pentagon press pass after it enacted its new policy.

    After twenty years of covering the U.S. military, I turned in my Pentagon press credential today.

    My photo will soon come down from the wall outside the briefing room, where it’s hung among so many much more talented colleagues who’ve chronicled the story of American defense for decades.

    That’s all that changes; My commitment to covering the men and women of the U.S. military and the institution they serve remains exactly the same.

    The Pentagon has introduced a new policy requiring journalists to sign a memo warning that press credentials can be revoked for “soliciting” even unclassified information that hasn’t been officially cleared for release.

    The 17-page document also restricts reporters’ movements inside the building and bars them from holding or obtaining “unauthorized material.” Those who choose not to sign will lose their credentials.

    I declined.

    That decision wasn’t an act of protest. It was an act of principle. For two decades, my work has depended on trust, accuracy and respect. I’ve never asked anyone to reveal classified information, and no one has ever offered it. What I have done is ask questions, sometimes hard ones. And I’ve listened carefully to those who serve.

    That’s how journalism works in a democracy. It’s how the public learns what its military is doing in its name.

    I first covered the military as an embedded reporter in 2005, a journey that took me from U.S. bases to Canada, Scotland, Romania, Turkey, Germany, Iraq, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Djibouti. Along the way, I met extraordinary people — soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and civilians who remain friends and trusted sources to this day. They taught me that transparency isn’t a threat to security, it’s a reflection of strength.

    Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Robert P. Ashley, Jr., left, speaks with WTOP radio National Security Correspondent J.J. Green after the DIA Mentoring Summit, Jan. 17, 2019, at the DIA headquarters. (Courtesy Robert Kanizar/DVIDS)

    WTOP has trusted me to bring those stories home; stories about deployment struggles, family separations, post-combat reintegration and the quiet courage of service members whose names never make headlines. Those experiences, and those voices, are what keep me committed to this work — credential or not.

    It’s difficult to see veteran reporters, people who’ve walked those halls every day for decades suddenly told to sign or get out. The Pentagon has always represented, to me, not just power but the ideals behind it: accountability, integrity and public service. Walking those corridors reminded me that the building was designed not to keep people out, but to connect the American military to the citizens it serves.

    So yes, I’ll lose a photo on the wall. But I will continue to do what I’ve always done, which is ask questions, seek facts and tell the stories that matter.

    Access isn’t a badge, it’s a responsibility. And that responsibility doesn’t end at the Pentagon’s doors.

    I surrendered my credential, not my voice.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    J.J. Green

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  • Pete Hegseth launches new military task force to “crush” cartels

    Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Friday announced the creation of a new “counter-narcotics Joint Task Force” which has been ordered to “crush the cartels” believed to be smuggling drugs into the United States that are operating out of Latin America and the Caribbean.

    Newsweek contacted the Department of Defense for comment on Saturday via email outside of regular office hours.

    Why It Matters

    The Donald Trump administration has vowed to crackdown on drug smuggling into the U.S. Drug overdoses were responsible for 105,000 deaths across the country in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    The creation of a new task force indicates the administration could step up military operations against cartels following a series of airstrikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats off the coast of Venezuela that have killed at least 21 people.

    What To Know

    On Friday, Secretary Hegseth wrote on X that “at the President’s direction” the Pentagon had launched a new “counter-narcotics Joint Task Force in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility to crush the cartels, stop the poison and keep America safe.” The U.S. Southern Command covers the Caribbean, Central America and South America.

    According to a press release published by the U.S. Southern Command, the new task force combines personnel from the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) “with Joint Force and U.S. interagency partners, represented by the Homeland Security Task Force.”

    Lt. Gen. Calvert Worth, commanding general of II MEF, has been appointed as the new Joint Task Force’s commander

    The U.S. Southern Command press release said the new Joint Task Force would have a number of responsibilities including “identifying narcotics trafficking patterns to interdict illegal shipments of narcotics before they reach the U.S.,” intelligence fusion between the U.S. military and federal law enforcement and “enhancing partner-nation counter narcotics operations.”

    In recent weeks, the U.S. military has redeployed significant resources to the Caribbean sparking speculation strikes could be launched against suspected cartel targets in Venezuela, though the Venezuelan government has accused Washington on intimidation and “military harassment.”  

    Trump has labeled a number of drug-trafficking groups as terrorist organizations and informed Congress the U.S. is in a state of “noninternational armed conflict” against them. According to the Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank over 10 percent of deployed U.S. naval assets are now operating under the U.S. Southern Command in the Caribbean, the highest level since the Cold War.

    What People Are Saying

    Hegseth wrote on X : “At the President’s direction, the Department of War is establishing a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force in the @SOUTHCOM area of responsibility to crush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe. The message is clear: if you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold.”

    Adm. Alvin Holsey, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, said: “Transnational criminal organizations threaten the security, prosperity, and health of our hemisphere.

    “By forming a JTF [Joint Task Force] around II MEF headquarters, we enhance our ability to detect, disrupt, and dismantle illicit trafficking networks faster and at greater depth—together with our U.S. and partner-nation counterparts.”

    Lt. Gen. Worth commented: “This is principally a maritime effort, and our team will leverage maritime patrols, aerial surveillance, precision interdictions, and intelligence sharing to counter illicit traffic, uphold the rule of law, and ultimately better protect vulnerable communities here at home.”

    What Happens Next

    It remains to be seen whether the creation of a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force, and the U.S. military buildup, will lead to an intensification of the Trump administration’s anti-cartel campaign amid speculation airstrikes could be extended to the Venezuelan mainland.  

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  • Illinois and Chicago sue Trump administration over deployment of National Guard

    (CNN) — The state of Illinois and Chicago on Monday sued the Trump administration over its move to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago as the White House targets Democrat-led cities amid weeks of protests against the federal government’s immigration enforcement campaign.

    The lawsuit opens a new front in the legal battles the White House is waging against state and local officials, coming just hours after a federal judge blocked a similar deployment of the guard to Portland, Oregon.

    “Defendants’ deployment of federalized troops to Illinois is patently unlawful,” the lawsuit says. “Plaintiffs ask this court to halt the illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional federalization of members of the National Guard of the United States, including both the Illinois and Texas National Guard.”

    The lawsuit comes two days after the White House announced President Donald Trump authorized sending 300 members of the Illinois National Guard to Chicago to “protect federal officers and assets,” reprising a strategy he first used against anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests in Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

    News of the deployment was condemned by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who said he refused to call up the National Guard after the Trump administration demanded he do so. On Sunday – after learning the administration also planned to send 400 members of the Texas National Guard to Illinois and Oregon, among other places – Pritzker likened the move to an “invasion.”

    The lawsuit asks the court to order the administration to stop federalizing or deploying any National Guard troops to Illinois, and to declare the federalization of National Guard troops more broadly as unlawful. Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are among the defendants named.

    In a statement, a White House spokesperson said the president “will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.”

    “Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson told CNN.

    The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, argued the deployments are politically motivated, claiming Trump has a long history of making “threatening and derogatory” comments about Chicago and the state of Illinois, dating to at least 2013.

    Among other examples, it calls out a September 6 social media post by Trump in which he said Chicago would “find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” referring to the president’s rebranded name for the Pentagon.

    Illinois and Chicago have already seen a “surge” of federal agents, some of whom have responded to demonstrations at an ICE facility in Broadview, near Chicago, the lawsuit says. Those protests are a “flimsy pretext” to deploy National Guardsmen to the state, the lawsuit says.

    Instead, “Defendants’ provocative and arbitrary actions have threatened to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry,” the lawsuit says, because local and state law enforcement have been sent to “maintain the peace” in Broadview while ICE continues operating the facility.

    “There is no legal or factual justification” for the National Guard federalization order, the lawsuit says.

    Illinois’ complaint follows a similar challenge to the administration’s move to assign federalized guard troops from Oregon and California to Portland.

    Officials in both states had objected, and a Trump-appointed federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard from anywhere in the US to Portland.

    The president, the judge said, appeared to have “exceeded his constitutional authority” by federalizing troops, because protests in Portland “did not pose a ‘danger of rebellion.’”

    This story has been updated with additional information.

    We’ve moved to Live Updates for coverage of this developing story. Follow the latest here.

    Dakin Andone and CNN

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  • Pentagon Asks to Quadruple Missile Production: Report

    The Pentagon has told suppliers of missiles to the U.S. that their production of the weapons needs to as much as quadruple, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

    This urgency to increase missile production, as the U.S. looks with concern at its stockpiles over the potential for a future war with China, was laid out at meetings between top Pentagon officials and representatives from U.S. weapons manufacturers, the Journal reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

    The depletion of missiles has been a focus of concern in recent years, particularly as the U.S. supplied Ukraine during Russia’s ongoing invasion. U.S. President Donald Trump is now weighing whether to give Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles.

    This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.

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  • DJI loses lawsuit over classification as Chinese military company | TechCrunch

    A federal judge has rejected drone maker DJI’s efforts to get off a Department of Defense list of Chinese military companies.

    U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled Friday that the DoD had provided “substantial evidence” that DJI contributes “to the Chinese defense industrial base.”

    Pointing to the use of modified DJI drones in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Friedman wrote, “Whether or not DJI’s policies prohibit military use is irrelevant. That does not change the fact that DJI’s technology has both substantial theoretical and actual military application.”

    At the same time, Judge Friedman rejected some of the DoD’s other rationales for the listing.

    Other government agencies, including the Department of Commerce and the Treasury Department, placed DJI on similar lists before it was added to the DoD list in 2022.

    When DJI filed the lawsuit last year, the company said it was “not owned or controlled by the Chinese military” and that “the DoD itself acknowledges that DJI makes consumer and commercial drones, not military drones.”

    The lawsuit also said the company had “suffered ongoing financial and reputational harm, including lost business” as a result of the listing.

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    TechCrunch has reached out to DJI for comment. The company told Reuters that it’s considering its legal options and said Judge Friedman’s decision was “based on a single rationale that applies to many companies that have never been listed.”
    DJI faces other legal hurdles in the United States, including a potential ban on sales starting in December unless a national security agency determines that its drones do not “pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.”

    Anthony Ha

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  • NCAI: “Wounded Knee Was Not a Battle, It Was the Deliberate Mass Killing of 350 Lakota

    The aftermath of the Wounded Knee Massacre (Photo/Wikimedia Commons)

    On Friday, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) pushed back on the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) decision to retain the Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers involved in the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890. This decision announced on Thursday  disregards the well-documented truth of a brutal, unprovoked massacre carried out by the 7th Cavalry against the Lakota people—and ignores the moral obligation to confront past injustices with integrity.

    Wounded Knee was not a “battle.” It was the deliberate mass killing of more than 350 unarmed Lakota men, women, and children who had sought refuge at Wounded Knee Creek. Contrary to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s claim that these medals are “no longer up for debate,” the event is widely recognized as a historical atrocity. This includes acknowledgment by historians, Tribal Nations, and even the U.S. Senate, which expressed its regret through Concurrent Resolution 153 in 1990. By preserving these medals, the DoD perpetuates the injustice and deepens the pain felt by the victims’ descendants and Native communities across the country.

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    “Honoring those involved in the Wounded Knee Massacre with the United States’ highest military award is incompatible with the values the Medal of Honor is meant to represent,” said Larry Wright Jr., NCAI Executive Director. “Celebrating war crimes is not patriotic. This decision undermines truth-telling, reconciliation, and the healing that Indian Country and the United States still need.”

    These medals should never have been awarded. In 2024, the DoD initiated a formal review of the medals, but despite decades of advocacy by tribal nations, historians, and members of Congress, this week’s announcement confirms the medals will remain. NCAI stands in solidarity with the Lakota Nations, Tribal communities, Native veterans, and active-duty service members—who serve the United States at higher rates than any other demographic—calling for the correction of the historical record and the alignment of our highest honors with our highest principles.

    NCAI echoes the powerful voices of tribal leaders whose communities continue to bear the intergenerational trauma of this horrific event.

    “Secretary Hegseth’s decision is another act of violence against our Lakota people,” said Chairwoman Janet Alkire, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. “The Wounded Knee Massacre was an unprovoked attack on men, women, children and elders who had been rounded up by the military. As Indian people, we know what bravery and sacrifice means. We serve in the military at greater rates than any other group in the United States. I served in the Air Force with men and women who were brave and served with honor. The actions at Wounded Knee were not acts of bravery and valor deserving of the Medal of Honor. There is nothing Hegseth can do to rewrite the truth of that day.”

    “The Wounded Knee Massacre was one of the darkest days in U.S. history,” added Chairman Ryman LeBeau, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. “The U.S. Cavalry stopped our people out on the high plains, surrounded them with guns and cannons, disarmed them, opened fire, and murdered them. Women and children were chased down and shot in the back. This is one of America’s darkest days and the medals must be revoked. They tarnish America’s Medals of Honor. There is no honor in murder. Secretary Pete Hegseth made this decision on his own concurrence with no contact or request for consultation to the Tribes.”

    NCAI calls on the Department of Defense to immediately release the findings of the review that led to this deeply flawed and ahistorical decision. The DoD must reverse course and engage directly with NCAI and the leaders of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association. In addition, we urge Congress to pass the “Remove the Stain Act” to ensure the Medal of Honor reflects true courage—not cowardice and cruelty—and that our nation’s history is preserved with honesty and respect.

    About the Author: “Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at editor@nativenewsonline.net. “

    Contact: news@nativenewsonline.net

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  • DJI loses lawsuit over Pentagon’s ‘Chinese military company’ list

    It’s been nearly a year since DJI sued the Department of Defense over its designation as a “Chinese military company.” On Friday, a judge ruled against the drone maker. US District Judge Paul Friedman said the DoD presented enough evidence that DJI contributes to the Chinese military.

    “Indeed, DJI acknowledges that its technology can and is used in military conflict but asserts that its policies prohibit such use,” Friedman wrote in his opinion. “Whether or not DJI’s policies prohibit military use is irrelevant. That does not change the fact that DJI’s technology has both substantial theoretical and actual military application.”

    DJI challenged the designation in October 2024. It told the court it is “neither owned nor controlled by the Chinese military.” The company claimed in its filing that it suffered “ongoing financial and reputational harm” as a result of the inclusion. The designation can prevent companies from accessing grants, contracts, loans and other programs.

    The drone maker has a contentious history with the US government. The Department of Commerce added it and 77 other companies to its Entity List in 2020, effectively blocking US businesses from dealing with them. A year later, the Treasury Department included DJI on its “Chinese military-industrial complex companies” list. That designation was for its alleged involvement in the surveillance of Uyghur Muslim people in China. Last year, US customs began holding up DJI’s consumer drones at the border.

    The company now faces a potential import ban in the US by the end of this year. The ban was initially scheduled for 2024. But a clause in the $895 billion US Defense Bill gave it a year to prove that its products don’t pose a national security risk. In March, DJI pleaded with five national security agencies (DHS, DoD, FBI, NSA, and ODNI) to begin evaluating its products “right away.”

    Will Shanklin

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  • Detroit Defense and FieldAI Federal Announce Strategic Partnership to Deliver Next-Generation Autonomous Solutions to the Global Defense Market

    Partnership Will Deliver Scalable AI-Enabled Technologies That Expand Mobility and Resilience


    DETROIT and IRVINE, Calif., September 16, 2025 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Detroit Defense and FieldAI Federal, a subsidiary of FieldAI that develops autonomous navigation technologies for government and defense applications, today announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the development and deployment of autonomous solutions for global defense applications. The collaboration combines Detroit Defense’s deep expertise in vehicle integration, sustainment, and lifecycle support with FieldAI Federal’s pioneering advancements in off-road autonomy and safe embodied AI.

    Together, the two companies will focus on advancing mission-ready autonomous capabilities designed to operate reliably in the most demanding and unpredictable environments. This partnership will deliver a flexible, platform-agnostic solution with a common interface, empowering defense forces to modernize and integrate autonomous capabilities across entire fleets – new or legacy – without dependence on a single OEM.

    Detroit Defense delivers vehicle platform integration and full lifecycle support while FieldAI Federal provides the AI autonomy stack that allows vehicles and robotic platforms to navigate unstructured terrain without maps or GPS. By bringing complementary strengths, the companies aim to enhance operational effectiveness, expand mobility, and improve safety for defense forces.

    “Detroit Defense has spent decades mastering vehicle integration, sustainment, and lifecycle support for some of the world’s most demanding defense missions,” said Pete Roney, CEO of Detroit Defense. “By partnering with FieldAI Federal, we are combining that proven foundation with the most advanced autonomy technology available today. Together, we’re not just accelerating innovation – we’re delivering mission-ready solutions that are rugged, reliable, and built to dominate in the toughest operational environments.”

    “FieldAI Federal is proud to partner with Detroit Defense to bring our world-class unstructured autonomy to the defense sector,” said Jon Ross, Director of FieldAI Federal. “Our safety-first approach combined with real-world deployments at scale enables us to deliver reliable solutions that thrive in the most complex and challenging environments.”

    The partnership underscores the growing importance of industry collaboration in delivering autonomous systems that are technically advanced, deployable, adaptable, fully integrated into fielded platforms, and backed by long-term sustainment and support.

    About Detroit Defense

    At Detroit Defense, we ensure success for the DoD and its allies with innovative systems, technical services, and integrated logistics for any military system. From fielding advanced safety systems to synchronizing digital logistics across domains, we excel at turning complex challenges into operational advantages. Our mission-focused approach enhances readiness, extends platform effectiveness, and delivers decision dominance. As an OEM-agnostic solution provider, we can bring cutting-edge capability to legacy systems, enabling seamless integration of next-gen capabilities across forces. With Detroit Defense, succeed with the capabilities that the mission demands. Detroit Defense. Behind the Mission. Beyond the Challenge.

    About FieldAI Federal

    FieldAI Federal, a leading provider of autonomous applications in government and defense, is a subsidiary of FieldAI and leverages FieldAI’s expertise in developing embodied AI software that is redefining autonomous robot operations in real-world environments. Headquartered in Irvine, CA, FieldAI Federal uses FieldAI’s Field Foundation Models to provide an embodiment-agnostic autonomy brain, empowering robots to navigate dynamic and unpredictable conditions without maps, GPS or predefined trajectories. For more information, visit www.fieldaifederal.com or contact PR@fieldaifederal.com.

    Source: Detroit Defense

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  • Protecting New Mexicans’ water and health requires transparency

    Firefighters with the 27th Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron test hose water pressure before an exercise Aug. 14, 2015, at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. In January, New Mexico environment officials cited the base for a spill of wastewater containing firefighting foam with PFAS which soaked into the aquifer after a retaining pond leaked. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Alex Mercer)

    In mid-July, Neil Dolly left Albuquerque near dawn and headed to Clovis. Under the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act, he and his co-workers with the New Mexico Environment Department have the authority to conduct surprise inspections of hazardous waste sites, take samples and shoot photos. 

    Parked at a gas station near Cannon Air Force Base, Dolly called the base to confirm names and email addresses. About 30 minutes later, he emailed officials to say he was arriving. 

    Once inside, base officials and attorneys told Dolly and his assistant they wouldn’t be allowed to collect soil and water samples to test for PFAS. According to Dolly, they cited ongoing litigation between the state and the Pentagon.

    No one paying attention to New Mexico’s PFAS saga should be surprised that the military kept Dolly from doing his job. But we should all stay alert to how the U.S. government thwarts the ability — indeed, the right — of states to protect their lands, waters and people. 

    Patented in the 1940s, PFAS, or Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances have been used since then in cookware, clothing, food wrappers, furniture and firefighting foams. The same qualities that make them useful — water and sunlight don’t destroy their molecules of joined carbon and fluorine atoms — also make them hard to clean up. Instead of breaking down over time, they move up the food chain, persisting in soils and waters and accumulating in the bodies of animals and humans. Some people refer to this toxic family as “forever chemicals.”

    In 2018, the Air Force notified New Mexico officials that tests at Cannon — and Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo — detected perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Firefighting foams the military started using in the 1970s had contaminated groundwater with PFOA and PFOS, just two of the thousands of compounds in the PFAS family.  

    When New Mexico called for cleanup, the U.S. Department of Defense sued, challenging the state’s authority. Currently, the state is part of a multi-district federal lawsuit seeking past and future clean-up costs and all natural resource damages at Cannon Air Force Base, Holloman Air Force Base, Kirtland Air Force Base, White Sands Missile Range and Fort Wingate. And in June, the state filed another lawsuit, ordering the Pentagon to clean up the plume at Cannon under a new law that clarifies the state’s ability to regulate hazardous PFAS, even if the federal government has neglected to set standards for the chemicals. 

    By now, the contaminated plume is roughly six miles long, and New Mexicans have spent about $12 million on litigation. We’ve spent millions more testing well water and residents’ blood and connecting rural Curry County residents to a public water system because they can’t safely drink their well water.

    “I spend a lot of time battling the PFAS monster that is just omnipresent every day with some new filing or some new denial of access or whatever it is,” NMED Secretary James Kenney told me in an interview. “There is no single more recalcitrant polluter, that is more litigious, than the Department of Defense.” 

    Kenney says he’s frustrated that the Pentagon keeps trampling the rights of states like New Mexico that are grappling with PFAS contamination. “Where is this notion of cooperative federalism, that states rights are supreme when implementing federal law?” he asks. “I feel like the Department of Defense is giving the middle finger salute to Congress, and they’re OK with it.”

    Meanwhile, the toxic chemicals have traveled beyond Cannon into the Ogallala Aquifer, and into the blood of people working on and living near the base. A few years ago, Art Schaap, whose dairy farm overlooks Cannon, euthanized 3,500 cows because their blood — and milk — was poisoned. 

    More recently, the state released test results for 628 people who worked on or lived near Cannon, all but two of whom had at least one type of PFAS in their blood, and more than 90% of whom tested positive for multiple types of the toxic chemicals. 

    PFAS’ threat to human health is well known. 

    Beginning in the 1960s, manufacturers like 3M and DuPont knew from testing workers and nearby water supplies that different PFAS chemicals caused reproductive and development problems; birth defects; liver and kidney disease; and immune system problems. Additional studies have linked exposure to high cholesterol, low infant birth weights, and certain cancers, along with thyroid and hormone disruption.

    As a longtime environment reporter, I have witnessed generations of state officials try to protect public health and rein in legacy pollution from federal installations. Despite the massive amount of money American taxpayers invest in the Pentagon — more than a trillion dollars this year alone — the federal government continues to punt on cleanup and put people, and our precious waters, at risk. 

    At Kirtland Air Force Base, for example, 24 million gallons of jet fuel leaked into the aquifer — and still hasn’t been cleaned up. Los Alamos National Laboratory has long polluted tributaries of the Rio Grande, and few people want to consider what lies in the sediment at the bottom of Cochiti Lake. At White Sands Test Facility, the U.S. Army and NASA have contaminated groundwater with multiple pollutants. Confirmed PFAS contamination also has been established at Fort Wingate Depot, the Santa Fe Army Aviation Support Facility, the Army National Guard’s Roswell Field Maintenance Shop and White Sands Missile Range. 

    New Mexico will become increasingly arid, and our water challenges will only get tougher. We can all see the parched forests and fields, shallow reservoirs and drying riverbeds. We should also be clear-eyed about the legacy of federal pollution, and what all that contaminated water means for the state’s future. That is water lost to farms, families and the future. And the recently renamed U.S. Department of War isn’t likely to prioritize cleanup anytime soon.

    As the federal government openly challenges — or just ignores — the authority of states to protect their own lands, waters and people, New Mexicans can’t be kept in the dark about what we face from legacy or emerging pollutants. And New Mexicans on opposite sides of the political aisle should at least align with one another to protect the state’s waters. No matter what else is happening in the country, our water future here in New Mexico depends on transparency and unity. 

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  • Military families sue Trump administration over gender-affirming care ban

    Three military families are suing the Department of Defense over a policy that prevents military clinics or insurance from covering gender-affirming care.

    The case, Doe v. Department of Defense, was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) and the National Center for LGBTQ Rights (NCLR) on behalf of three servicemembers and their families. The plaintiffs, who are using pseudonyms, had obtained the care for their transgender children through the military health system for over a decade before the Trump administration prohibited it.

    “President Trump has illegally overstepped his authority by abruptly cutting off necessary medical care for military families,” Shannon Minter, Legal Director at NCLR, said in a statement. “This lawless directive is part of a dangerous pattern of this administration ignoring legal requirements and abandoning our servicemembers.”

    Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a rule in February banning gender-affirming medical care for trans service members as well as preventing new enlistments of individuals with a history of gender dysphoria, which stated, “Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for service members are paused.”

    Hegseth’s orders were temporarily blocked by a federal court in April, with the judges finding the restrictions to be unconstitutional. Despite this, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Stephen Ferrara issued a decision in May to move forward with the restrictions.

    The Pentagon policies came alongside Donald Trump’s executive order banning trans troops from serving in the military altogether. The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the administration to enforce the ban while lawsuits against it are heard.

    “This is a sweeping reversal of military health policy and a betrayal of military families who have sacrificed for our country,” said Sarah Austin, Staff Attorney at GLAD Law. “When a servicemember is deployed and focused on the mission they deserve to know their family is taken care of. This Administration has backtracked on that core promise and put servicemembers at risk of losing access to health care their children desperately need.”

    This article originally appeared on Advocate: Military families sue Trump administration over gender-affirming care ban

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  • Trump says Chicago ‘will find out why it’s called the Department of WAR’ ahead of planned crackdown

    (CNN) — President Donald Trump posted a meme on social media Saturday saying that Chicago “will find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” as the city’s officials brace for an immigration crackdown.

    “I love the smell of deportations in the morning … Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the post reads. Trump signed an executive order Friday to rebrand the Pentagon as the “Department of War.”

    The post includes what appears to be an artificially generated image of the president wearing a hat and sunglasses, with the Chicago skyline in the background, accompanied by text reading “Chipocalypse Now.”

    Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Saturday called Trump’s post “not normal.”

    “The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal,” Pritzker wrote on X. “Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”

    It comes as Trump has ramped up his rhetoric against the country’s third most-populous city. CNN previously reported the Trump administration’s plans to conduct a major immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, and that officials there were bracing for it to begin as early as Friday.

    In recent days, personnel from Immigration and Border Protection as well as Customs and Border Protection have begun trickling into the city, White House officials told CNN.

    The Trump administration has also reserved the right to call in the National Guard if there is a reaction to the operation that warrants it, the officials said. The Chicago operation is being modeled off of a similar operation carried out in Los Angeles in June. A judge ruled this week that the June deployment broke federal law prohibiting the military from law enforcement activity on US soil in most cases; the Trump administration has appealed.

    White House officials have made clear the Chicago immigration crackdown is distinct from the idea the president has floated to use federal law enforcement and National Guard troops to carry out a broader crime crackdown in the city, similar to the operation in Washington, DC.

    When asked by a reporter Tuesday about sending National Guard troops into the city, Trump said, “We’re going,” adding, “I didn’t say when. We’re going in.”

    Democratic officials who represent Chicago and Illinois also condemned Trump’s post Saturday.

    “The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution,” wrote Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on social media. “We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”

    Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth described Trump’s post on X as “Stolen valor at its worst,” writing, “Take off that Cavalry hat, you draft dodger. You didn’t earn the right to wear it.”

    CNN’s Alayna Treene contributed to this report.

    Samantha Waldenberg and CNN

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  • Defense Department Scrambles to Pretend It’s Called the War Department

    The Pentagon’s website and social media channels were overhauled Friday at President Donald Trump’s behest to reflect the United States Defense Department’s new “Department of War” persona, shifting from Defense.gov to War.gov—a symbolic rebranding that highlights the administration’s preference for projecting strength through the language of war rather than the idiom of defense.

    Trump on Friday signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to once again be named the so-called Department of War, reviving a name retired after World War II to mark America’s turn to deterrence as the principle bulwark against nuclear annihilation.

    At an Oval Office ceremony, Trump said the change was about attitude, declaring, “It’s really about winning.”

    “We won the First World War, we won the Second World War, we won everything before that and in between,” Trump said during the order’s signing. “And then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to the Department of Defense.”

    The order authorizes defense secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials to use titles such as “secretary of war” in official correspondence, though Trump also instructed Hegseth to recommend steps needed to make the change permanent.

    “We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct,” Hegseth said during Friday’s signing ceremony. “We’re going to raise up warriors, not just defenders.”

    Every prior name change—from the War Department created by Congress in 1789, to the National Military Establishment in 1947, to the Department of Defense in 1949—came through legislation. Allies in Congress quickly introduced a bill to back Friday’s change to the so-called Department of War, but the administration appears to be seeking a workaround anyway, as it has done in the past, whether by invoking sweeping emergency powers or withholding congressionally approved foreign aid. Currently, “Department of War” is a “secondary” title after the Department of Defense.

    Within hours of Trump’s order, Pentagon officials rebranded the department’s social media platforms. The Department of Defense’s official Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts quietly rolled out the “Department of War” name and seal, adopting labels at odds with its legal identity.

    As of around 6 pm ET on Friday, the new Department of War page still lists all the department’s other social channels and its website as using the “Defense” name, as did its YouTube channel.

    How far the rebranding might go is unclear, but any comprehensive effort would saddle taxpayers with costs in the hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars, as every sign, logo, uniform, computer system, and piece of official paperwork tied to the Pentagon’s identity across the globe would need to be replaced.

    A prior effort to recommend changes at military installations commemorating the Confederacy carried a projected cost of $39 million and covered only nine bases. The Defense Department’s real property portfolio spans hundreds of thousands of facilities, from major bases to small outposts worldwide.

    Dell Cameron

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  • Trump order aims to rebrand Defense Department as Department of War

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aiming to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War — a long-telegraphed move aimed at projecting American military toughness around the globe.

    “It’s a much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now,” Trump said. He said the previous name was “woke.”

    The order comes as some of Trump’s closest supporters on Capitol Hill proposed legislation that would codify the new name into law, with Congress having the sole power to establish, shutter and rename federal departments. Absent a change in law, Trump will authorize the Pentagon to use secondary titles.

    Trump will seek ‘Department of War’ rebrand for Pentagon

    “From 1789 until the end of World War II, the United States military fought under the banner of the Department of War,” Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube, an Army veteran, said in a statement. “It is only fitting that we pay tribute to their eternal example and renowned commitment to lethality by restoring the name of the ‘Department of War’ to our Armed Forces.”

    Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, are introducing companion legislation in the Senate.

    The Department of War was created in 1789, then renamed and reorganized through legislation signed by President Harry Truman in 1947, two years after the end of World War II. The Department of Defense incorporated the Department of War, which oversaw the Army, plus the Department of the Navy and the newly created independent Air Force.

    “We decided to go woke and change the name to Department of Defense,” he said. “So we’re going Department of War.”

    Pentagon leader Pete Hegseth, who spoke alongside Trump, said, “We haven’t won a major war since” the name was changed. He said, “We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense.”

    Trump has said he wants to change the name back to the Department of War because it “just sounded better,” and Hegseth recently hinted that the switch was around the corner.

    Speaking to an auditorium of soldiers Thursday at Fort Benning in Georgia, he said he might have “a slightly different title tomorrow.”

    In August, Trump told reporters that “everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense.”

    When confronted with the possibility that making the name change would require an act of Congress, Trump told reporters that “we’re just going to do it.”

    “I’m sure Congress will go along,” he said, “if we need that.”

    Trump and Hegseth have been on a name-changing spree at the Pentagon as they uproot what they describe as “woke” ideology, sometimes by sidestepping legal requirements.

    For example, they wanted to restore the names of nine military bases that once honored Confederate leaders, which were changed in 2023 following a congressionally mandated review.

    Because the original names were no longer allowed under law, Hegseth ordered the bases to be named after new people with similar names. For example, Fort Bragg now honors Army Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II paratrooper and Silver Star recipient from Maine, instead of Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg.

    In the case of Fort A.P. Hill, named for Confederate Lt. Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill, the Trump administration was forced to choose three soldiers to make the renaming work.

    The base now honors Union soldiers Pvt. Bruce Anderson and 1st Sgt. Robert A. Pinn, who contributes the two initials, and Lt. Col. Edward Hill, whose last name completes the second half of the base name.

    The move irked Republicans in Congress who, in July, moved to ban restoring any Confederate names in this year’s defense authorization bill.

    Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a Republican who co-sponsored the earlier amendment to remove the Confederate names, said that “what this administration is doing, particularly this secretary of defense, is sticking his finger in the eye of Congress by going back and changing the names to the old names.”

    Associated Press writer Matt Brown contributed to this report.

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  • President Trump Executive Order Aims To Rename The Department Of Defense As The Department Of War – KXL

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aiming to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War — a long-telegraphed move aimed at projecting American military toughness around the globe.

    “It’s a much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now,” Trump said. He said the previous name was “woke.”

    The order comes as some of Trump’s closest supporters on Capitol Hill proposed legislation that would codify the new name into law, with Congress having the sole power to establish, shutter and rename federal departments. Absent a change in law, Trump will authorize the Pentagon to use secondary titles.

    “From 1789 until the end of World War II, the United States military fought under the banner of the Department of War,” Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube, an Army veteran, said in a statement. “It is only fitting that we pay tribute to their eternal example and renowned commitment to lethality by restoring the name of the ‘Department of War’ to our Armed Forces.”

    Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, are introducing companion legislation in the Senate.

    The Department of War was created in 1789, then renamed and reorganized through legislation signed by President Harry Truman in 1947, two years after the end of World War II. The Department of Defense incorporated the Department of War, which oversaw the Army, plus the Department of the Navy and the newly created independent Air Force.

    “We decided to go woke and change the name to Department of Defense,” he said. “So we’re going Department of War.”

    Pentagon leader Pete Hegseth, who spoke alongside Trump, said, “We haven’t won a major war since” the name was changed. He said, “We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense.”

    Trump has said he wants to change the name back to the Department of War because it “just sounded better,” and Hegseth recently hinted that the switch was around the corner.

    Speaking to an auditorium of soldiers Thursday at Fort Benning in Georgia, he said he might have “a slightly different title tomorrow.”

    In August, Trump told reporters that “everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense.”

    When confronted with the possibility that making the name change would require an act of Congress, Trump told reporters that “we’re just going to do it.”

    “I’m sure Congress will go along,” he said, “if we need that.”

    Trump and Hegseth have been on a name-changing spree at the Pentagon as they uproot what they describe as “woke” ideology, sometimes by sidestepping legal requirements.

    For example, they wanted to restore the names of nine military bases that once honored Confederate leaders, which were changed in 2023 following a congressionally mandated review.

    Because the original names were no longer allowed under law, Hegseth ordered the bases to be named after new people with similar names. For example, Fort Bragg now honors Army Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II paratrooper and Silver Star recipient from Maine, instead of Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg.

    In the case of Fort A.P. Hill, named for Confederate Lt. Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill, the Trump administration was forced to choose three soldiers to make the renaming work.

    The base now honors Union soldiers Pvt. Bruce Anderson and 1st Sgt. Robert A. Pinn, who contributes the two initials, and Lt. Col. Edward Hill, whose last name completes the second half of the base name.

    The move irked Republicans in Congress who, in July, moved to ban restoring any Confederate names in this year’s defense authorization bill.

    Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a Republican who co-sponsored the earlier amendment to remove the Confederate names, said that “what this administration is doing, particularly this secretary of defense, is sticking his finger in the eye of Congress by going back and changing the names to the old names.”

    Grant McHill

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  • MARS, Inc. Wins U.S. Army xTech Soldier Lethality Competition

    MARS’s groundbreaking 30mm Squad Support Rifle System answers the U.S. Army’s need for an innovative Precision Grenadier System

     


    HELENA, Mont., June 9, 2025 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The U.S. Army recently announced MARS, Inc. as the winner of its xTech Soldier Lethality competition. The MARS team’s live fire demonstration in April 2025 showcased the advanced capabilities of its 30mm Squad Support Rifle System (SSRS) in support of the U.S. Army’s call for a Precision Grenadier System (PGS) solution.

    The SSRS is a shoulder fired, fully integrated weapon system that enables rapid acquisition, engagement, and destruction of a variety of enemy targets. This portable and modular grenade rifle system is capable of engaging targets in defilade out to a range of 500 meters using air burst grenade ammunition, targets in close range using CQB (Close Quarter Combat) rounds, and UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) targets out to 200 meters using counter UAS ammunition.

    In 2023, the xTech Soldier Lethality competition was developed to work with industry to identify, facilitate, and accelerate research and development of innovative Precision Grenadier Systems that enhance lethality and survivability of Soldiers on the battlefield. The MARS team has conducted research and development on innovative squad level weapons since 2007 and saw the opportunity to use their knowledge and experience to develop a truly novel solution to the PGS challenge. “We have diligently and consistently been improving and continue to push the boundaries on what was previously thought possible,” said Mike Merino, Founder and President of MARS, and a service-disabled combat Veteran. “We are capitalizing on these experiences to develop a technologically advanced and incredibly versatile weapon for U.S. Army’s arsenal,” said Merino.

    Dave Lake, MARS’s Chief Research & Development Engineer and lead designer of the weapon and ammunition said, “The SSRS project started on a blank sheet. It went from a napkin sketch to a functional and effective weapon in the span of five months.” MARS, along with its teammates in the xTech effort, Barrett Firearms, AMTEC Corporation, and Precision Targeting worked together to bring the SSRS to life. Lake highlighted two interesting facts about the SSRS: The barrels used in the prototypes were scavenged from a GAU-8 Avenger cannon used in Afghanistan. Also, the energy generated by the ammunition is so much that it is not recommended to shoot from a traditional fixed-barreled firearm. The energy can be equated to the recoil from an elephant gun. “We’ve cracked the code and our unique system mitigates dangerous recoil, making it possible to safely fire from the shoulder,” Lake said. Merino added, “When completed, the SSRS will be the most lethal shoulder fired weapon ever made.”

    The MARS team does not intend to rest on its laurels with the xTech win. “There’s plenty of room for improvement and growth,” said Merino. The MARS team is preparing for the Army’s PGS Program of Record, expected to commence in early 2026. “We look forward to demonstrating what passion, agile innovation, and collaboration can achieve,” said Merino.

    About MARS
    MARS, Inc. is a Montana-based research and development company that designs, tests, and fields innovative technology for military and law enforcement. Known for its innovative solutions, MARS created an ultra-low-recoil 7.62x51mm battle rifle using unique reciprocating barrel technology. After it was selected as the winner in the U.S. Army’s xTech Soldier Lethality competition, MARS continues to advance its patented technologies, continue innovation and explore new R&D opportunities with industry partners. For more information, please visit www.marsrifle.com.

    About Barrett
    Barrett is the world leader in long-range, large-caliber, precision rifle design and manufacturing. Barrett products are used by civilians, sport shooters, law enforcement agencies, the United States military and more than 80 US Department of State approved countries around the world. The Barrett Quality Management System (QMS) has received the prestigious ISO 9001:2015 certification for the design and manufacture of firearms, ammunition, and accessories, and to provide training for those systems. Barrett is part of the NIOA Group. For more information, please visit www.barrett.net.

    About AMTEC
    AMTEC Corporation is the largest volume producer of 40mm Grenade Ammunition and Fuzing in the world. It is the current sole Prime Contractor to the US Department of Defense for the 40mm Family of Grenade Ammunition. The 40mm Family of Grenade Ammunition includes both low velocity and high velocity cartridges across tactical high explosive, training, illumination, and non-lethal configurations. AMTEC Corporation also produces various precision fuzes, firing devices, impact switches, and initiators for the US Department of Defense, other prime contractors, and international allies. For more information, please visit www.nationaldefensecorp.com/amtec-corp.

    About Precision Targeting
    Precision Targeting, LLC is a US Small Business founded in 2011 that produces innovative fire control system technologies. For more information, please visit www.precisiontargetingllc.com.

    Source: MARS, Inc.

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