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Tag: Lloyd Austin

  • Hegseth says Wounded Knee massacre soldiers will keep Medals of Honor

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    Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that 20 US soldiers who took part in the 1890 massacre of hundreds of Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee will keep the Medals of Honor that were awarded to them.

    The move is the latest in a number of contentious actions taken by the Trump administration to reinterpret US history.

    The long debate over the events at Wounded Knee includes a dispute over its characterization as a “battle” given that, according to historical records, the US army killed about 250 Lakota Sioux people – many of whom were unarmed women and children – despite fighters in the camp having surrendered.

    Related: Native public radio braces for ‘devastating and catastrophic’ Trump budget cuts

    “We’re making it clear that [the soldiers] deserve those medals,” Hegseth said, announcing the move in a video on social media on Thursday. Calling the men “brave soldiers”, he said a review panel had concluded in a report that the medals were justly awarded. “This decision is now final, and their place in our nation’s history is no longer up for debate.”

    Hegseth’s Democratic predecessor at the Pentagon, former defense secretary Lloyd Austin, ordered the review of the honors in 2024 after Congress called for it in the 2022 defense bill. Announcing the review, the Pentagon said Austin wanted to “ensure no awardees were recognized for conduct inconsistent with the nation’s highest military honor”.

    But in Thursday’s video, Hegseth – who has a history of Christian nationalist sympathies – said his predecessor had been “more interested in being politically correct than historically correct”. It is unclear if the report will be made public.

    Hegseth’s move also halts a push from Democratic lawmakers to revoke medals tied to the massacre at a camp on what is now the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. For Native Americans, the massacre marked a devastating climax to the tragedy of Indigenous removals from their land.

    “We cannot be a country that celebrates and rewards horrifying acts of violence against Native people,” senator Elizabeth Warren said in a statement earlier this year after reintroducing the proposed Remove the Stain Act.

    After the massacre, 19 soldiers from the seventh cavalry were awarded the Medal of Honor for their “bravery” and “gallantry” over actions ranging from rescuing fellow troops to efforts to “dislodge Sioux Indians” hiding in a ravine.

    Native Americans have long pushed for revocation of the medals. As time has gone on, the isolated site has become a place of mourning for many tribes, symbolizing the genocidal history of brutality and repression they have suffered at the hands of the US government. While Congress issued a formal apology in 1990 to the descendants of the massacre, the medals were left in place and no reparations offered.

    Thursday’s announcement is the latest move to sanitize the nation’s history taken by the Trump administration since Donald Trump signed an executive order in March titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”.

    In recent months, Hegseth has reverted the names of several US army bases back to Confederate-linked names, monuments to the Confederacy and Confederate figures have been restored, and he renamed a US navy ship that honored gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

    The Trump administration has also gone after cultural institutions like Smithsonian museums for exhibits it considers “unpatriotic”, purged and rewritten federal webpages related to topics including slavery, diversity and discrimination (some of which were later restored), and cut funding to grants to institutions that honor the lives of enslaved people.

    Some historians took to social media to denounce the administration’s latest move.

    “Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a ‘battle’ rather than what it truly was,” Columbia University history professor Karl Jacoby posted on Bluesky.

    Jacoby added: “Fortunately, history does not work as Hegseth seems to believe. It is never “settled” and the government cannot (at least for now!) impose its interpretation of events on the rest of us.”

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  • News organizations seek unsealing of plea deal with 9/11 defendants

    News organizations seek unsealing of plea deal with 9/11 defendants

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Seven news organizations filed a legal motion Friday asking the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to make public the plea agreement that prosecutors struck with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two fellow defendants.

    The plea agreements, filed early last month and promptly sealed, triggered objections from Republican lawmakers and families of some of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks. The controversy grew when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced days later he was revoking the deal, the product of two years of negotiations among government prosecutors and defense attorneys that were overseen by Austin’s department.

    Austin’s move caused upheaval in the pretrial hearings now in their second decade at Guantanamo, leading the three defendants to suspend participation in any further pretrial hearings. Their lawyers pursued new complaints that Austin’s move was illegal and amounted to unlawful interference by him and the GOP lawmakers.

    Seven news organizations — Fox News, NBC, NPR, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Univision — filed the claim with the military commission. It argues that the Guantanamo court had failed to establish any significant harm to U.S. government interests from allowing the public to know terms of the agreement.

    The public’s need to know what is in the sealed records “has only been heightened as the Pretrial Agreements have become embroiled in political controversy,” lawyers for the news organizations argued in Friday’s motion. “Far from threatening any compelling government interest, public access to these records will temper rampant speculation and accusation.”

    The defendants’ legal challenges to Austin’s actions and government prosecutors’ response to those also remain under seal.

    The George W. Bush administration set up the military commission at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo after the 2001 attacks. The 9/11 case remains in pretrial hearings after more than a decade, as judges, the government and defense attorneys hash out the extent to which the defendants’ torture during years in CIA custody after their capture has rendered evidence legally inadmissible. Staff turnover and the court’s distance from the U.S. also have slowed proceedings.

    Members of the press and public must travel to Guantanamo to watch the trial, or to military installations in the U.S. to watch by remote video. Court filings typically are sealed indefinitely for security reviews that search for any classified information.

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  • US to boost military presence in Mideast, sending fighter jet squadron and keeping carrier in region

    US to boost military presence in Mideast, sending fighter jet squadron and keeping carrier in region

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    WASHINGTON – The U.S. will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, the Pentagon said Friday, beefing up the American military presence to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and safeguard U.S. troops.

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the European and Middle East regions and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defense weapons there, the Pentagon said in a statement Friday evening.

    The shifts make good on a promise President Joe Biden made to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a call Thursday afternoon, Biden discussed new U.S. military deployments to protect against possible attacks from ballistic missiles and drones, according to the White House. In April, U.S. forces intercepted dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran against Israel and helped down nearly all of them.

    U.S. leaders worry about escalating violence in the Middle East in response to recent attacks by Israel on Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, which triggered threats of retaliation. Iran also has threatened to respond after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur was killed in Beirut.

    Israel has vowed to kill Hamas leaders over the group’s Oct. 7 attack, which sparked the war in Gaza.

    Austin is ordering the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which is in the Gulf of Oman but scheduled to come home later this summer. That decision suggests the Pentagon has decided to keep a carrier consistently in the region as a deterrent against Iran at least until next year.

    The Pentagon did not say where the fighter jet squadron was coming from or where it would be based in the Middle East. A number of allies in the region are often willing to base U.S. military forces but don’t want it made public.

    The Pentagon has options to provide additional land-based ballistic missile defense, such as the Patriot or the terminal high altitude area defense, known as THAAD, both of which launch interceptor missiles from specialized trailer-based mobile launching systems. The Pentagon did not identify what system it would be deploying to augment defenses in the region.

    The White House in a statement said Biden “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.”

    Earlier Friday, Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters that moves were in the works. She said Austin “will be directing multiple” force movements to provide additional support to Israel and increase protection for U.S. troops in the region.

    Military and defense officials have been considering a wide array of options, from additional ships and fighter aircraft squadrons to added air defense systems or unmanned weapons. In many cases the U.S. does not provide details because host nations are very sensitive about the presence of additional U.S. forces and don’t want those movements made public.

    It’s unclear what new ships would move to the Middle East.

    The U.S. has had a consistent warship presence there and in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, including two Navy destroyers, the USS Roosevelt and the USS Bulkeley, as well as the USS Wasp and the USS New York. The Wasp and the New York are part of the amphibious ready group and carry a Marine expeditionary unit that could be used if any evacuation of U.S. personnel is required.

    In addition, a U.S. official said that two U.S Navy destroyers that are currently in the Middle East will be heading north up the Red Sea toward the Mediterranean Sea. At least one of those could linger in the Mediterranean if needed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Lolita C. Baldor And Tara Copp, Associated Press

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  • U.S., Japan to announce upgrade in military cooperation

    U.S., Japan to announce upgrade in military cooperation

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    Tokyo — The Pentagon is expected to announce that the U.S. will upgrade U.S. Forces Japan to a Joint Force Headquarters run by a three-star commander, a major step in U.S.-Japan plans to enhance their defense cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. 

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, alongside his Japanese counterpart, Minister of Defense Minoru Kihara, will announce the change in Tokyo on Sunday. However, defense officials who previewed the announcement to reporters said there are still some details that will take time to work out, like how many personnel it will involve and what infrastructure might be necessary.  

    The decision to make the upgrade came out of the Biden administration’s summit in April with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, when the two said they would enhance their command and control systems, part of the two countries’ work to deter a growing threat from China. 

    According to a defense official, the change in U.S. Forces Japan will give it the primary responsibility of tasks that largely have been in Hawaii previously, like planning exercises and command operations. Shifting that responsibility to Japan would give the U.S. the opportunity to work more closely side-by-side with Japanese forces. 

    “We view this as a historic announcement with Japan among the strongest improvements to our military ties in seventy years,” the defense official said. “Bottom line is that this is a transformative change.” 

    This step is not intended to look like the U.S. Forces Korea, where the command structure of the South Koreans and U.S. forces are integrated. Instead, U.S. Forces Japan will work with Japan’s updated Joint Operations Command. 

    President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
    President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment Event at the G7 Summit at the Borgo Egnazia resort in Savelletri, Italy, on June 13, 2024. 

    MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images


    Since the April summit in Washington, D.C., the Pentagon has been working on implementing the change, and officials say that Adm. Samuel Paparo, who started as the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in May 2024, led much of the planning for the proposal. 

    Defense officials say this announcement is just the beginning of the transition to actually making the change. There is still work to be done with working groups in Tokyo, as well as with Congress in the U.S. to flesh out what exactly this upgraded U.S. Forces Japan will look like. 

    That work will begin in earnest once Austin returns to the U.S. from his trip visiting first Japan and then the Philippines this week. 

    Eleanor Watson

    Eleanor Watson is a CBS News reporter covering the Pentagon.

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  • US defense secretary says war with China neither imminent nor unavoidable, stressing need for talks

    US defense secretary says war with China neither imminent nor unavoidable, stressing need for talks

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    United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told a gathering of top security officials Saturday that war with China was neither imminent nor unavoidable, despite rapidly escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, stressing the importance of renewed dialogue between him and his Chinese counterpart in avoiding “miscalculations and misunderstandings.”

    Austin’s comments at the Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore came the day after he met for more than an hour on the sidelines with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun, the first in-person meeting between the top defense officials since contacts between the American and Chinese militaries broke down in 2022 after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, infuriating Beijing.

    Neither side budged from their longstanding positions on Taiwan — which China claims as its own and has not ruled out using force to take — and on China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea, which has led to direct confrontations between China and other nations in the region, most notably the Philippines.

    While declining to detail the specifics of their conversation, Austin said the most important thing was that the two were again talking.

    “As long as we’re talking, we’re able to identify those issues that are troublesome and that we want to make sure that we have placed guardrails to ensure there are no misperceptions and no miscalculations … that can spiral out of control,” he said.

    “You can only do that kind of thing if you are talking.”

    Addressing the same forum on Friday night, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. bluntly outlined what could be at stake, saying that if a Filipino were killed as China confronts his country’s coast guard and merchant fleet to press its claims in the South China Sea, it would be “very, very close to what we define as an act of war and therefore we will respond accordingly.”

    Marcos added that he assumed the Philippines’ treaty partners, which include the U.S., “hold the same standard.”

    In his own speech, Austin lauded how Marcos “spoke so powerfully last night about how the Philippines is standing up for its sovereign rights under international law.” But when pressed later, he would not say how the U.S. might react if a Filipino were killed in a confrontation with China, calling it hypothetical.

    He did say the U.S. commitment to the Philippines as a treaty partner is “ironclad,” while again stressing the importance of dialogue with China.

    “There are a number of things that can happen at sea or in the air, we recognize that,” he said. “But our goal is to make sure that we don’t allow things to spiral out of control unnecessarily.”

    Beijing in recent years has been rapidly expanding its navy and is becoming growingly assertive in pressing its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea.

    Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles noted that not only had Philippine ships been rammed and hit with water cannons by China, but said a Chinese warplane dropped flares above an Australian helicopter earlier in the year, and in November a Chinese navy ship injured Australian divers in Japanese waters with sonar.

    “In the face of these multiple sources of tension, it’s even more imperative that every country plays its part in managing increasing strategic risk,” he said.

    The U.S., meantime, has been ramping up military exercises in the region with its allies to underscore its “free and open Indo-Pacific” concept, meant to emphasize freedom of navigation through the contested waters, including the Taiwan Strait.

    Chinese Senior Col. Cao Yanzhong, a researcher at China’s Institute of War Studies, asked Austin whether the U.S. was trying to create an Asian version of NATO with its emphasis on partnerships and alliances, a common Chinese claim. He suggested that could trigger conflict with China, citing ally Russia’s claim that NATO’s eastward expansion was a threat, which President Vladimir Putin has used as an excuse for his invasion of Ukraine.

    “The eastern expansion of NATO has led to the Ukraine crisis,” Cao said. “What implications do you think the strengthening of the U.S. alliance system in the Asia-Pacific will have on this region’s security and stability?”

    Austin said the U.S. is simply cooperating with “like-minded countries with similar values” and not trying to create a NATO-type alliance, while rejecting Cao’s interpretation of the cause of the Ukraine war.

    “The Ukraine crisis obviously was caused because Putin made a decision to unlawfully invade his neighbor,” Austin said.

    Expressing the concerns of some in the region, Indonesian academic Dewi Fortuna Anwar said any de-escalation of tensions “would be very welcome to this part of the world,” but wondered whether the U.S. would allow China’s assertive military posture to grow uncontested if Washington’s main emphasis was now dialogue.

    “We are also worried if you guys get too cozy, we also get trampled,” she said.

    Austin said that many of those issues were best addressed through talks, but also assured that Washington will continue to ensure that the rights of nations in the region were protected and that they continued to have access to their exclusive economic zones.

    “War or a fight with China is neither imminent, in my view, or unavoidable,” Austin said.

    “Leaders of great power nations need to continue to work together to ensure that we’re doing things to reduce the opportunities for miscalculation and misunderstandings,” he said. “Every conversation is not going to be a happy conversation, but it is important that we continue to talk to each other. And it is important that we continue to support our allies and partners on their interests as well.”

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    David Rising, Associated Press

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  • Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to undergo

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to undergo

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    Austin testifies about hospitalization


    Lloyd Austin testifies about hospitalization: “I did not handle it right”

    05:48

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will undergo a procedure related to the bladder issue that prompted his hospitalization earlier this year, the Department of Defense said Friday afternoon.

    The department called it a “scheduled, elective and minimally invasive” procedure that will take place at Walter Reed Medical Center later Friday, according to a statement.

    Austin will transfer his duties temporarily to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, the department said.

    This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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  • Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to undergo procedure at Walter Reed, will transfer power to deputy

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to undergo procedure at Walter Reed, will transfer power to deputy

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    WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will undergo a medical procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Friday evening and will transfer power temporarily to his deputy, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.

    Austin is continuing to deal with bladder issues that arose in December following his treatment for prostate cancer, Ryder said.

    The procedure is elective and minimally invasive, “is not related to his cancer diagnosis and has had no effect on his exrcellent cancer prognosis,” the press secretary said.

    Austin will transfer authority to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks while he is indisposed, the Pentagon said.

    Austin, 70, has had ongoing health issues since undergoing surgery to address a prostate cancer diagnosis. He spent two weeks in the hospital following complications from a prostatectomy. Austin faced criticism at the time for not immediately informing the president or Congress of either his diagnosis or hospitalization.

    Austin was taken back to Walter Reed in February for a bladder issue, admitted to intensive care for a second time and underwent a non-surgical procedure under general anesthesia at the time.

    The Pentagon has notified the White House and Congress, Ryder said.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Tara Copp, Associated Press

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  • Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin To Undergo Procedure At Walter Reed, Will Transfer Power To Deputy – KXL

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin To Undergo Procedure At Walter Reed, Will Transfer Power To Deputy – KXL

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will undergo a medical procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Friday evening and will transfer power temporarily to his deputy as he continues to deal with bladder issues that arose in December following his treatment for prostate cancer, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.

    The procedure is elective and minimally invasive, “is not related to his cancer diagnosis and has had no effect on his excellent cancer prognosis,” Ryder said.

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    Grant McHill

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  • U.S. Files Serial Numbers Off Missiles Sent To Israel

    U.S. Files Serial Numbers Off Missiles Sent To Israel

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    WASHINGTON—In an effort to ensure the munitions were completely untraceable, the U.S. military began filing the serial numbers off all missiles being sent to the Israeli government, anonymous sources within the Pentagon confirmed Friday. “In the wake of recent IDF operations in Rafah, we will no longer serve as arms supplier to Israel without first removing the serial numbers from rocket artillery,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reportedly told the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explaining that after assessing the situation, he and President Biden had agreed to pause shipments of high-payload munitions until the military could erase all evidence that they came from the United States. “We cannot in good conscience continue to enable a military campaign targeting innocent civilians in Gaza unless we’ve covered all our tracks. Tell your men and women that we have secured nearly 6 tons of steel wool that they are to use to sand down any identifying markers on missiles, ammunition, and tanks so we can confidently feign ignorance when the U.N. or the International Criminal Court comes around asking a bunch of questions. Be sure to scrape the little U.S. flags off the side, too—in fact, if there’s time, cover it with France’s or something. Then hit them all with a shammy to remove any fingerprints.” At press time, reports confirmed the armaments had arrived in Israel with no return address marked on the crates.

    Biden Announces Plans For Extra PlayStation 5 Controller In Case Someone Visits Nation

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  • The Latest | Blinken says Israel hasn’t told US of any specific date for Rafah ground invasion

    The Latest | Blinken says Israel hasn’t told US of any specific date for Rafah ground invasion

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    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said Israel has not apprised the U.S. of any specific date for the start of a major offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but added that American and Israeli officials remained in contact to try to ensure that “any kind of major military operation doesn’t do real harm to civilians.”

    Blinken spoke a day after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed that a date has been set to invade Rafah. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, says a ground operation into Rafah would be a mistake and has demanded to see a credible plan to protect civilians.

    Rafah is filled with around 1.4 million Palestinians, most of whom are displaced from other parts of the Gaza Strip. Israel’s war against the militant group Hamas has pushed Gaza into a humanitarian crisis, leaving more than 1 million people on the brink of starvation.

    International efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas are taking place in Cairo this week.

    Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza over the past six months have killed at least 33,360 Palestinians and wounded 74,993, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tally, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

    The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

    Currently:

    — Austin tells Congress Israel is taking steps to boost aid to Gaza as lawmakers question US support

    — Turkey and Israel announce trade barriers on each other as relations deteriorate over Gaza

    — At U.N. court, Germany rejects allegations that it’s facilitating acts of genocide in Gaza

    — A Moroccan activist was sentenced to 5 years for criticizing the country’s ties to Israel

    — Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

    Here’s the latest:

    AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CRITICIZED FOR SUGGESTING POSSIBLE RECOGNITION OF A PALESTINIAN STATE

    MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong is facing criticism after she raised the prospect of Australia recognizing a Palestinian state.

    Wong said in a speech late Tuesday that recognizing Palestinian statehood could be the only way to end the cycle of violence in the Middle East and build momentum toward a two-state solution amid ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israel. She said Wednesday she wasn’t changing Australia’s position, but was starting a conversation.

    “We’ve made no such decision. The discussion I want to have is to look at what is happening in the international community where there is the very important debate about how it is we secure long-lasting peace in a region which has known so much conflict,” Wong told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

    Wong said Hamas must free hostages and that the militant group would have no place in a Palestinian state. She also said there needed to be an immediate humanitarian cease-fire so that aid could be delivered to Gaza. And she urged Israel not to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah because of the risk to civilians.

    Both Australia’s center-left Labor Party government and the conservative opposition parties support a two-party solution in the Middle East.

    But opposition spokesperson on foreign affairs Simon Birmingham called it “downright dangerous to reward (Hamas for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel) with a fast track to recognition of statehood.”

    ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE ON HOME IN CENTRAL GAZA KILLS 11 PEOPLE

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit a home in central Gaza on Tuesday evening, killing at least 11 people, including seven women and children, hospital officials said.

    After the strike hit in the town of Zawaida, Associated Press footage showed one man carrying the limp body of a little girl and laying her with the bodies of other dead children on the floor at the main hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah. Hospital officials said the dead included five children and two women.

    The strike came as the Israeli military withdrew its forces from the southern city of Khan Younis this week, ending a monthslong ground assault that left large parts of the city in ruins. Still, airstrikes have continued in the past days, including in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where Israel says it plans to launch its next ground assault.

    FAMILIES OF HOSTAGES HELD IN GAZA MEET WITH U.S. VICE PRESIDENT

    WASHINGTON — Several family members of hostages held by Hamas met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House on Tuesday and urged for a deal that would release their loved ones and implement a temporary cease-fire in Gaza.

    “The only hope for peace is through the release of all the hostages now,” said Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen. On a potential hostage agreement, Dekel-Chen stressed that the world is waiting for “Hamas to get to yes.”

    Rachel Goldberg, the mother of American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, called the meeting with Harris “very productive.” She expressed gratitude to the White House and lawmakers for their support, but added: “We need results. We need our people home.”

    “You can believe as we do that it is horrible that innocent civilians in Gaza are suffering,” Goldberg said. “And at the same time, you can also know that it is horrible and against international law for hostages to be held against their will.”

    During the meeting, Harris emphasized that she and President Joe Biden “have no higher priority than reuniting the hostages with their loved ones,” according to a White House readout, as she gave an update on the administration’s efforts on a hostage deal.

    U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY TELLS CONGRESS THAT ISRAEL IS TAKING STEPS TO BOOST AID TO GAZA

    WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Congress Tuesday that pressure on Israel to improve humanitarian aid to Gaza appears to be working, but he said more must be done and it remains to be seen if the improvement will continue.

    “It clearly had an effect. We have seen changes in behavior, and we have seen more humanitarian assistance being pushed into Gaza,” Austin said in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. “Hopefully that trend will continue.”

    Austin’s comments came during a session that was interrupted several times by protesters shouting at him to stop sending weapons to Israel. “Stop the genocide,” they said, as they lifted their hands, stained in red, in the air. A number of senators also decried the civilian casualties, saying the administration needs to do more to press Israel to protect the population in Gaza.

    In response, Austin said he spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on Monday and that he repeated U.S. insistence that Israel must move civilians out of the battlespace in Gaza and properly care for them.

    Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown Jr. were testifying on Capitol Hill about the Pentagon’s $850 billion budget for 2025.

    BLINKEN SAYS ISRAEL HASN’T TOLD U.S. ABOUT ANY SPECIFIC DATE TO LAUNCH RAFAH INVASION

    WASHIGNTON — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said Israel has not apprised the U.S. of any specific date for the start of a major offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but added that American and Israeli officials remained in contact to try to ensure that “any kind of major military operation doesn’t do real harm to civilians.”

    Blinken spoke a day after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed that a date has been set to invade Rafah. The city is filled with around 1.4 million Palestinians, most of whom are displaced from other parts of the Gaza Strip. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has said a ground operation into Rafah would be a mistake and has demanded to see a credible plan to protect civilians.

    Washington has also been applying pressure on Israel to improve humanitarian aid to Gaza, where half the population is starving and on the brink of famine due to Israel’s tight restrictions on allowing aid trucks through.

    “We’re looking at a number of critical things that need to happen in the coming days,” Blinken said, referring to recent Israeli announcements on the opening of new aid routes into Gaza and more active efforts to avoid casualties to both civilians and humanitarian relief workers. “But what matters is results and sustained results and this is what we will be looking at very carefully in the days ahead.”

    That includes getting assistance in and distributed to all of the territory “not just in the south, or in central Gaza. It has to get to the north as well,” he said.

    FRANCE USING ‘ALL INFLUENCE’ TO PERSUADE ISRAEL TO OPEN GAZA CROSSINGS TO AID CONVOYS

    PARIS — France’s foreign minister says his country is using “all levels of influence,” including threats of sanctions, to force Israel to open crossings with Gaza for vital humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians.

    France was the first country to propose European Union sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné said in an interview Tuesday with French broadcasters RFI and FRANCE 24.

    He added: “We have multiple ways to utilize our influence, obviously, we can provide more sanctions … to let humanitarian aid convoys cross checkpoints” and reach people in Gaza.

    Sejourne did not elaborate on what kind of sanctions he was referring to. It is highly unlikely that France would impose any eventual sanctions without broader EU support, and the EU has been divided over policy toward Israel.

    ISRAEL SHOOTS DOWN A DRONE OVER THE RED SEA

    JERUSALEM — Israel shot down a drone over the Red Sea overnight in what the military described as the first deployment of its naval Iron Dome missile defense system.

    The military said that a Corvette warship shot down the drone as it flew east over waters near the southern Israeli city of Eilat. The military released grainy aerial footage of the missile making contact with an aircraft.

    It was not immediately clear who was directing the drone. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been conducting near daily attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, launching drones and missiles from rebel-held areas of Yemen.

    The Israeli defense system, called the “C-Dome,” is a naval version of the Iron Dome, which has been used to shoot down rockets fired from the Gaza Strip for the past decade.

    TURKEY AND ISRAEL PUTTING UP TRADE BARRIERS AS RELATIONS DETERIORATE

    JERUSALEM — Foreign Minister Israel Katz says Israel is preparing a ban on products from Turkey after Ankara announced it was restricting exports to Israel.

    Turkey said earlier Tuesday it is restricting exports of dozens of products to Israel, including aluminum, steel, construction products and chemical fertilizers. It said it would continue the measures until Israel declares a cease-fire and allows the uninterrupted flow of aid to Gaza.

    Katz said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is sacrificing the economic interests of his citizens “for his support of Hamas.”

    Relations between Turkey and Israel have been frosty for years, although trade ties between the two countries are strong.

    NATO-member Turkey is among the strongest critics of Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

    Erdogan has repeatedly called for an immediate cease-fire and accused Israel of committing genocide in its military campaign in Gaza. The Israeli Foreign Ministry had no additional comment.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • The Latest | Israel says it will reopen border crossing with hard-hit northern Gaza

    The Latest | Israel says it will reopen border crossing with hard-hit northern Gaza

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    Israel says it’s taking steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, including reopening a key border crossing into northern Gaza.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the plans Friday, hours after President Joe Biden told him that future U.S. support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel taking more action to protect civilians and aid workers. The announcement did not elaborate on quantities or types of items to be let in.

    Still, despite their differences, the Biden administration has continued to provide Israel crucial military aid and diplomatic support for Israel’s six-month war against Hamas. Israel faces growing international isolation after its forces killed seven aid workers helping deliver food in Gaza.

    The Palestinian death toll has passed 33,000, with another 75,600 people wounded, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tally, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

    The United Nations says much of the population in northern Gaza is on the brink of starvation. The top United Nations court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies — and the U.N. Security Council has issued a legally binding demand for a cease-fire.

    The war began Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

    Currently:

    — After six months of war, Israel’s isolation grows with no end in sight

    — Israeli strike on building in October killed 106 in apparent war crime, rights group says

    — Biden tells Netanyahu future US support for war depends on new steps to protect civilians

    — Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

    Here’s the latest:

    IRANIANS MOURN AT FUNERAL FOR GUARD MEMBERS KILLED AT CONSULATE

    TEHRAN, Iran — Thousands of Iranians have held a funeral for Revolutionary Guard members killed by an airstrike at Iran’s consulate in Syria this week.

    People at the funeral ceremony held Friday in Tehran protested the airstrike widely blamed on Israel that killed 12 people, including two elite Iranian generals.

    Late Thursday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei performed the Islamic funeral prayer for seven Revolutionary Guard members.

    The funeral took place on Quds Day, a pro-Palestine event that uses the Arabic name for Jerusalem, that is held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

    State TV showed people at the funeral waving Iranian and Palestinian flags and some chanting “death to America” and “death to Israel.” Similar rallies took place in other Iranian cities and towns.

    ISRAELI POLICE DETAIN 8 PALESTINIAN WORSHIPPERS AT AL-AQSA

    JERUSALEM — Israel police said they detained eight Palestinian worshippers for allegedly chanting inflammatory slogans at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound as thousands gathered at Islam’s third holiest site for dawn prayers marking the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

    The incident marks the first flare-up between Israeli forces and worshippers at the compound during this Ramadan, as the Hamas-Israel war rages on in Gaza.

    The Islamic militant group Hamas, meanwhile, issued a call to Muslims around the world to participate in a “Friday of Rage for Palestine.”

    Police said the eight had chanted in support of what it called “terrorist organizations,” an apparent reference to Hamas. The eight were taken away for questioning.

    Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 TV said some of the worshippers were chanting in support of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing.

    Both Channel 13 TV and the Qatari network Al-Jazeera said Israeli forces also fired tear gas at worshippers.

    Ramadan has passed mostly peacefully in Jerusalem despite the Gaza war in which more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health officials.

    Israel declared war on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants invaded southern Israel and killed over 1, 200 people and took about 250 hostages.

    The Al Aqsa Mosque compound has long been a deeply contested religious space. It’s on the Temple Mount, the most sacred site in Judaism where biblical Jewish temples once stood.

    ISRAEL SAYS IT’S TAKING STEPS TO ALLOW MORE AID INTO GAZA, AFTER REBUKE FROM U.S.

    JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says his Security Cabinet has approved steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including the reopening of a key crossing into hard-hit northern Gaza that was destroyed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

    A statement early Friday said the Erez crossing would be temporarily reopened for the first time since the Hamas attack. It also said Israel would allow its port in Ashdod to process aid shipments bound for Gaza, and to increase Jordanian aid shipments through another land crossing.

    “This increased aid will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war,” Netanyahu’s office said.

    The announcement did not elaborate on quantities or types of items to be let in.

    The decision came after President Joe Biden called on Israel, in a phone conversation with Netanyahu, to take steps “to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers.”

    The United Nations says much of the population in northern Gaza is on the brink of starvation.

    The heavily fortified Erez crossing for years was the only passenger terminal for people to move in and out of the territory.

    U.N. SECURITY COUNTIL TO MEET ABOUT ATTACKS ON AID WORKERS IN GAZA

    UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting about attacks on humanitarian workers in Gaza and the risk of famine in the territory.

    The meeting for Friday was requested by Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, joined by Guyana, Slovenia and Switzerland. Israeli airstrikes earlier this week killed seven aid workers from the charity World Central Kitchen, which has demanded an independent investigation.

    A U.N. aid convoy is scheduled to head out Thursday night after the U.N. paused night operations for 48 hours, said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. He told reporters the convoy “will hopefully make it to the north.”

    “Because of what happened to World Central Kitchen, we had to pause … and regroup and reassess all sorts of factors,” he said.

    On the health front, Dujarric said, the World Health Organization reached two hospitals in Gaza City — Al Sahaba and Al Ahil — and delivered supplies and carried out assessments.

    But he said Israel has still not given WHO permission to visit Shifa Hospital, and has not provided a reason. Israel’s military recently ended its second raid on the facility.

    The WHO team spoke with patients who were able to leave Shifa afterward. ”They described dire conditions during the siege, with no food, water or medicine available,” Dujarric said. “One patient said that doctors there resorted to putting salt and vinegar on people’s wounds in place of antiseptics, which are non-existent.”

    U.S. MILITARY SAYS PLAN TO BUILD PIER FOR GAZA AID IS STILL ON SCHEDULE

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is on schedule to build a pier off the Gaza coast to expand humanitarian aid deliveries, the Defense Department said Thursday, even as other agencies have pulled back after Israel killed several aid workers.

    The pier will be on line by the end of the month or early May, said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary.

    “Everything is on track, on schedule at this point,” Ryder said. He said Israel has agreed to provide security on the shore as aid is transferred and distributed, but details are still being worked out.

    On Thursday, several of the Army boats carrying soldiers and equipment for the pier construction were docked in the Canary Islands for fuel and maintenance and are expected to continue on into the Mediterranean Sea. And a ship operated by the Military Sealift Command, the USNS Benavidez is in the Mediterranean Sea, near Crete, carrying some of the larger equipment for the project.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin transfers duties after being hospitalized with

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin transfers duties after being hospitalized with

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    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin addresses media


    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin takes questions from media for first time since hospitalization

    02:20

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Sunday afternoon following symptoms of an “emergent bladder issue,” according to the Pentagon. He has since transferred his duties to his deputy.

    “Today, at approximately 2:20 pm, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was transported by his security detail to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to be seen for symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue,” Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement Sunday afternoon. 

    Ryder initially reported that Austin would retain his duties as defense secretary while in the hospital. However, Ryder said Sunday evening that Austin had “transferred the functions and duties of the office” to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. 

    The initial statement said that Hicks, along with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, White House, and Congress were notified. 

    A White House official confirmed Sunday evening that the Office of the Secretary of Defense had informed the White House and National Security Council about Austin’s hospitalization. The official directed further questions about Austin’s health to the Pentagon.

    Earlier this year, Austin was hospitalized for two weeks following complications related to treatment for prostate cancer. He returned to work in-person at the Pentagon at the end of January, and in a press conference said he was still recovering. 

    Austin is scheduled to go to a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group this week in Brussels, Belgium, in what would be his first overseas trip since his initial hospitalization. 

    Eleanor Watson

    Eleanor Watson is a CBS News reporter covering the Pentagon.

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  • US starts retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran-linked targets

    US starts retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran-linked targets

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    President Joe Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on January 30, 2024.

    Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

    The United States launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and the militias it backs, reportedly killing more than 30 people, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. troops.

    The strikes, which included the use of long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States, were the first in a multi-tiered response by President Joe Biden’s administration to the attack last weekend by Iran-backed militants.

    More U.S. military operations were expected in the coming days.

    The strikes intensified a conflict that has spread into the region since war erupted between Israel and Hamas after the militant Palestinian group’s deadly assault on Israel on Oct.7.

    Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said in a statement the U.S. attacks represented “another adventurous and strategic mistake by the United States that will result only in increased tension in instability in the region”.       

    Iraq also condemned the U.S. attacks, saying they had killed 16 people including civilians. In Syria, the strikes killed 23 people who had been guarding the targeted locations, said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian

    Observatory for Human Rights, an organization that reports on war in Syria.

    Joint Chiefs of Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II arrives to brief members of the House of Representatives in a classified, closed-door briefing about Hamas’ attack on Israel in the Capitol Visitors Center Auditorium on October 11, 2023 in Washington, DC.

    Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    U.S. Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, said the attacks appeared to be successful, triggering large secondary explosions as the bombs hit militant weaponry. He said the strikes were undertaken knowing that there would likely be casualties among those in the facilities.

    Despite the strikes, the Pentagon has said it does not want war with Iran and does not believe Tehran wants war either, even as Republican pressure has increased on the Biden to deal a blow directly.

    Iran, a backer of Hamas, has sought to stay out of the regional conflict itself even as it supports groups that have entered the fray from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria – the so-called “Axis of Resistance” that is hostile to Israeli and U.S. interests.   

    ‘We do not seek conflict’ 

    U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after the strikes that Biden had directed additional action against the IRGC and those linked to it. “This is the start of our response,” Austin said.

    “We do not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else, but the president and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces,” Austin said.   

    An Iraqi government statement said the areas bombed by U.S. aircraft included places where Iraqi security forces are stationed near civilian locations. It said 23 people had been wounded in addition to the 16 killed.

    The White House said the United States had informed Iraq ahead of strikes. Baghdad later accused the United States of deception, saying a U.S. claim of coordination with the Iraqi authorities was “unfounded”.

    The Syrian foreign ministry said the United States was fueling conflict in the region in a “very dangerous way”.

    On Friday, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said his country will not start a war, but it will “respond strongly” to anyone who bullies it.

    Hamas condemned the U.S. strikes and said Washington was pouring “oil on the fire”.

    Britain called the United States its “steadfast” ally and said it supports Washington’s right to respond to attacks.

    Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, arriving for an EU meeting in Brussels, said the U.S. strikes were the result of Iranian proxies “playing with fire”.  

    More than 160 attacks on U.S. troops   

    The strikes hit targets including command and control centers, rockets, missiles and drone storage facilities, as well as logistics and munition supply chain facilities, the U.S. military said in a statement.

    In Iraq, local residents said several strikes hit the Sikak Neighborhood in Al-Qaim, a residential area that locals said was also used by armed groups to store large amounts of weapons. Militants had left the area and gone into hiding in the days since the Jordan attack, local sources said.

    U.S. troops have been attacked over 160 times in Iraq, Syria and Jordan since Oct. 7, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones, prompting the United States to mount several retaliatory attacks even before the latest strikes.

    The United States has assessed that the drone that killed the three soldiers and wounded more than 40 other people in Jordan was made by Iran, U.S. officials have told Reuters.

    “Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” Biden said.

    The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, criticized Biden for failing to impose a high enough cost on Iran, and taking too long to respond.

    Iranian advisers assist armed groups in both Iraq, where the United States has around 2,500 troops, and Syria, where it has 900.   

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  • Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin takes questions from media for first time since hospitalization

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin takes questions from media for first time since hospitalization

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    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin takes questions from media for first time since hospitalization – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    Walking slowly and with a limp, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin entered the Pentagon briefing room to apologize for keeping his bout with prostate cancer secret, even from President Biden. “I did not handle this right,” he said. David Martin reports.

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  • Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologizes for keeping hospitalization secret

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologizes for keeping hospitalization secret

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    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologized for keeping his recent hospitalization hidden from the White House and the American people.

    “We did not handle this right. I did not handle this right,” he told reporters Thursday in his first news conference since his secret hospitalization and since the deadly drone attack in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. 

    He said he was proud of the work the Defense Department has done, “but we fell short on this one,” and he added he apologized directly to President Biden, who, he said received his apology with the “grace and warm heart that anyone who knows President Biden would expect.” He also said he never directed any of his staff to hide his hospitalization. 

    Austin, who said he is still experiencing some leg pain and is for now using a golf cart to move around inside  the Pentagon, said that his prostate cancer diagnosis “was a gut punch.” “The news shook me, and I know that it shakes so many others, especially in the Black community,” he admitted to reporters. 

    He admitted “my first instinct was to keep it private,” adding he doesn’t like “to burden others,” but he  conceded that his role in the administration means “losing some of the privacy most of us expect.” A “wider circle should have been notified,” he said, especially the president. He noted that the Pentagon is conducting an internal review, and there is also an ongoing inspector general review.

    On Sunday, Austin issued a statement in response to their deaths by warning the U.S. “will respond at a time and place of our choosing.” CBS News has learned that plans have been approved for a series of retaliatory strikes in Iraq or Syria potentially over several days. 

    In the news conference Thursday, Austin is likely to face questions about the drone attack, ongoing tensions in the Middle East and his recent hospitalization and cancer diagnosis, which he hid from the White House, Congress and the public. 

    Austin was released from the hospital on Jan. 15 and returned to work in person at the Pentagon on Monday. He was hospitalized on New Year’s Day, following complications from a recent surgery to treat and cure prostate cancer. Neither Austin nor his staff informed the White House or the public for several days that he had been hospitalized and spent time in the ICU. 

    In a written statement, he took “full responsibility” for decisions made about disclosing his health, but Thursday is his first opportunity to tell the public why he made those decisions. 

    Eleanor Watson

    Eleanor Watson is a CBS News reporter covering the Pentagon.

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  • Defense Secretary Austin is 'actively involved and engaged' while hospitalized

    Defense Secretary Austin is 'actively involved and engaged' while hospitalized

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    US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin testifies before a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan at the Rayburn House Office building on Capitol Hill on September 29, 2021 in Washington, DC. 

    Olivier Douliery | Afp | Getty Images

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is still hospitalized following doctors’ advice, but he’s “actively involved and engaged,” according to national security spokesperson John Kirby.

    Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Kirby said that Austin took part in discussions planning strikes on Iran-allied Houthi militants in Yemen several days ago.

    “It’s also important for people to remember that the cabinet officials don’t have to sit and talk every single day to make every decision,” Kirby said. “A lot of the work that gets done in national security is done at the staff level.”

    Austin has been treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since Jan. 1, following complications from a surgery nearly two weeks earlier to treat prostate cancer. Kirby said Sunday that physical therapy is part of the reason doctors have kept Austin in the hospital.

    The Pentagon’s failure to disclose Austin’s hospital admittance to the White House or the public has stirred up controversy, although President Joe Biden is standing by Austin.

    For two days, Pentagon officials also failed to tell Austin’s second-in-command that he transferred his authority over to her while he was in the intensive care unit.

    “The Pentagon’s investigating this, and we’ll see what comes out of that, but that is not the way that the process is supposed to work,” Kirby said.

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  • This Week In Breaking News January 13, 2024

    This Week In Breaking News January 13, 2024

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  • Trump Wants SECDEF Lloyd Austin Fired In Light of Secret Hospitalization

    Trump Wants SECDEF Lloyd Austin Fired In Light of Secret Hospitalization

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    Opinion

    Boss Tweed, CC BY 2.0

    Former President and current GOP presidential candidate front-runner Donald Trump took to Truth Social to weigh in on the scandal surrounding the secret hospitalization of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The United States and, by extension, the world first learned about Secretary Austin’s hospitalization days after he was admitted and placed in an intensive care unit.

    Even more concerning is the revelations that the majority of the Biden administration, including the Commander-in-Chief himself, weren’t made aware of the Secretary’s medical condition or whereabouts until days later. Will anyone be held accountable for this apparent obfuscation of the truth?

    Donald Trump and many others think someone should be. Still, it remains to be seen if accountability, let alone transparency, will be achieved.

    You should be fired!

    Former Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social:

    “Failed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin should be fired immediately for improper professional conduct and dereliction of duty.”

    This latest attack on the Secretary of Defense comes after the Pentagon finally disclosed that the sixth person in the presidential line of succession and the second most important person in the military chain of command next to the President himself was hospitalized for an unknown reason without anyone being made aware.

    This includes the military secretaries and the National Security Council, who weren’t made aware until days later. Even the Deputy Secretary of Defense, who assumed Secretary Austin’s duties on January 1st, wasn’t told why she was doing his job until days later.

    Mr. Trump goes on to touch on the track record of senior military officials failures and lack of accountability by writing that Secretary Austin has:

    “…performed poorly, and should have been dismissed long ago, along with “General” Mark Milley, for many reasons, but in particular the catastrophic surrender in Afghanistan, perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our Country!”

    RELATED: Secrecy Behind SECDEF’s Hospitalization Raises More Questions as International Tensions, Danger Rise

    Dereliction of Duty

    It’s not just Donald Trump claiming Secretary Austin should be given his walking papers. Congressman Jim Banks pointed out that:

    “…he has been a disaster since Day One and should be replaced by someone who will focus on making the military ready to fight and win wars instead of advancing woke political causes of the Biden administration.”

    RELATED: Viewers Think Jill Biden Had To Race To Lead Confused President Away from Podium

    Mr. Trump’s former Vice President, Mike Pence, stated the following:

    “To think that at a time when we have allies at war in Eastern Europe and here in Israel, that the leader of America’s military at the Pentagon would be out of commission for a number of days, and the President of the United States didn’t know about it. I think it was a dereliction of duty…”

    While Secretary Austin is no longer in the United States military, he once was and is in every U.S. military member’s chain of command. If any soldier, sailor, Airman, or Marine were to become hospitalized and not inform their supervisor or those in their chain of command, they would have some very uncomfortable questions to answer including a possible Absent Without Leave (AWOL) charge.

    People did know

    A senior Pentagon official told CNN that they had received:

    “…strict orders to not contact him and let him rest.”

    It’s always good to allow those undergoing medical treatment the time to recover in peace. The point behind the above is that people did know about the Secretary’s condition and whereabouts, just not the people you’d think should know.

    Those closest to the Secretary surely knew which would include his staff, an entire team of personnel whose sole job is to manage the Secretary’s life and movements. In fact, on January 2nd, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown, was notified that the Secretary was hospitalized.

    Granted, General Brown technically isn’t in any chain of command, given his position. But certain questions come to mind:

    1. Who told General Brown?
    2. Did General Brown ask if the White House and military service secretaries were informed?
    3. Was he told that no one else would be notified then, and if so, did he inquire why?

    This incident has proven that the United States isn’t run by elected and appointed officials but by incompetent and self-serving bureaucrats and staffers who believe they know best what the American people and, worse yet, the President of the United States needs to know.

    Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
    The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”

    USAF Retired, Bronze Star recipient, outspoken veteran advocate. Hot mess mom to two monsters and wife to equal parts Saint and Artist husband. Writer, lifelong conservative, lover of all things American History, and not-so-secret Ancient Aliens fanatic. Homeschool maven, Masters in Political Management, constitutionalist, and chock full of opinions.

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  • White House wasn’t notified of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization for several days

    White House wasn’t notified of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization for several days

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    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since Monday due to complications following a minor elective medical procedure, his press secretary said Friday, in the Defense Department’s first acknowledgment that Austin had been admitted five days earlier to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

    A Biden administration official told CBS News Saturday that the National Security Council, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, was not informed Austin was in the hospital until Thursday morning.

    A Senate aide also confirmed Saturday to CBS News that the Senate Armed Services Committee was not notified about Austin’s hospitalization until Friday evening.

    A senior House Armed Services Committee aide told CBS News Saturday that “the committee was notified before the press notification went out” about Austin Friday.   

    In a statement released Saturday afternoon, Austin wrote that he is “on the mend” and looks “forward to returning to the Pentagon soon.”

    “I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better. But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”

    Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder had said Friday that it was not clear when Austin would be released from the hospital, but said the secretary was “recovering well.”  

    A White House official told CBS News that President Biden and Austin spoke Saturday evening, calling it a “warm conversation,” and adding that the president “absolutely has full confidence in Secretary Austin.”

    The Pentagon’s failure to disclose Austin’s hospitalization is counter to normal practice with the president and other senior U.S. officials and Cabinet members. The Pentagon Press Association, which represents media members who cover the Defense Department, sent a letter of protest to Ryder and Chris Meagher, the assistant defense secretary for public affairs.

    “The fact that he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for four days and the Pentagon is only now alerting the public late on a Friday evening is an outrage,” the PPA said in its letter. “At a time when there are growing threats to U.S. military service members in the Middle East and the U.S. is playing key national security roles in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is particularly critical for the American public to be informed about the health status and decision-making ability of its top defense leader.”

    When Attorney General Merrick Garland went in for a routine medical procedure in 2022, his office informed the public a week in advance and outlined how long he was expected to be out and when he would return to work.

    Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, cited an “evolving situation,” and said that due to privacy and medical issues, the Pentagon did not make Austin’s absence public. He declined to provide any other details about Austin’s medical procedure or health.

    Austin, 70, spent 41 years in the military, retiring as a four-star Army general in 2016.

    In a statement, Ryder said that at all times, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks “was prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the Secretary, if required.”

    Austin’s hospitalization comes as Iranian-backed militias have repeatedly launched drones, missiles and rockets at bases where U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq and Syria, leading the Biden administration to strike back on a number of occasions. Those strikes often involve sensitive, top-level discussions and decisions by Austin and other key military leaders.

    The U.S. is also the chief organizer behind a new international maritime coalition using ships and other assets to patrol the southern Red Sea to deter persistent attacks on commercial vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen.

    In addition, the administration, particularly Austin, has been at the forefront of the effort to supply weapons and training to Ukraine, and he’s also been communicating frequently with the Israelis on their war against Hamas.

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  • A Pentagon Mystery: Why Was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s Hospital Stay Kept Secret For Days?

    A Pentagon Mystery: Why Was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s Hospital Stay Kept Secret For Days?

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior Biden administration leaders, top Pentagon officials and members of Congress were unaware for days that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized since Monday, U.S. officials said Saturday, as questions swirled about his condition and the secrecy surrounding it.

    The Pentagon did not inform the White House National Security Council or top adviser Jake Sullivan of Austin’s hospitalization at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, until Thursday, according to two administration officials. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

    The Pentagon’s failure to disclose Austin’s hospitalization for days reflects a stunning lack of transparency about his illness, how serious it was and when he may be released. Such secrecy, at a time when the United States is juggling myriad national security crises, runs counter to normal practice with the president and other senior U.S. officials and Cabinet members.

    In a statement issued Saturday evening, Austin took responsibility for the delays in notification.

    “I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better,” said Austin, acknowledging the concerns about transparency. “But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”

    Austin, 70, remained hospitalized due to complications following a minor elective medical procedure, his press secretary said, as it became increasingly clear how closely the Pentagon held information about his stay at Walter Reed. In his statement, Austin said he is on the mend and is looking forward to returning to the Pentagon soon, but he provided no other details about his ailment.

    US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin speaks during a joint press conference with Israel’s defence minister, in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2023. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP) (Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)

    ALBERTO PIZZOLI via Getty Images

    Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were notified about Austin’s hospitalization, but he would not confirm when that notice happened.

    A number of U.S. officials said Saturday that many of the most senior Pentagon service leaders were unaware until Friday that Austin was in the hospital. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Politico was the first to report the White House learned of his condition on Thursday.

    Ryder said members of Congress were told late Friday afternoon, and other officials said lawmakers were informed after 5 p.m. It was not clear when key senior members of Austin’s staff were told, but across the Pentagon, many staff found out when the department released a statement about Austin’s hospital stay just minutes after 5 p.m. Many believed Austin was out on vacation for the week.

    Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who took over when Austin was hospitalized, was also away. A U.S. official said she had a communications setup with her in Puerto Rico that allowed her to do the job while Austin, who spent 41 years in the military and retired as a four-star Army general in 2016, was incapacitated.

    Ryder said Saturday that Austin is recovering well and resumed his full duties Friday evening from his hospital bed. Asked why the hospital stay was kept secret for so long, Ryder said on Friday that it was an “evolving situation,” and that due to privacy and medical issues, the Pentagon did not make Austin’s absence public. Ryder declined to provide any other details about Austin’s medical procedure or health.

    Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, called on Austin to explain the reported delay in notifying officials.

    “The Secretary of Defense is the key link in the chain of command between the president and the uniformed military, including the nuclear chain of command, when the weightiest of decisions must be made in minutes,” said Cotton in a statement, adding that if Austin didn’t immediately tell the White House, “there must be consequences for this shocking breakdown.”

    The White House has refused to say when or how it had been notified of Austin’s hospitalization. It referred questions to the Pentagon.

    The Pentagon Press Association, which represents media members who cover the Defense Department, sent a letter of protest on Friday evening to Ryder and Chris Meagher, the assistant defense secretary for public affairs.

    “The fact that he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for four days and the Pentagon is only now alerting the public late on a Friday evening is an outrage,” the PPA said in its letter. “At a time when there are growing threats to U.S. military service members in the Middle East and the U.S. is playing key national security roles in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is particularly critical for the American public to be informed about the health status and decision-making ability of its top defense leader.”

    Other senior U.S. leaders have been much more transparent about hospital stays. When Attorney General Merrick Garland went in for a routine medical procedure in 2022, his office informed the public a week in advance and outlined how long he was expected to be out and when he would return to work.

    Austin’s hospitalization comes as Iranian-backed militias have repeatedly launched drones, missiles and rockets at bases where U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq and Syria, leading the Biden administration to strike back on a number of occasions. Those strikes often involve sensitive, top-level discussions and decisions by Austin and other key military leaders.

    The U.S. is also the chief organizer behind a new international maritime coalition using ships and other assets to patrol the southern Red Sea to deter persistent attacks on commercial vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen.

    In addition, the administration, particularly Austin, has been at the forefront of the effort to supply weapons and training to Ukraine, and he’s also been communicating frequently with the Israelis on their war against Hamas.

    Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Lisa Mascaro, Tara Copp and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

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