Robert Burns Posts

A new round of U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq on Monday was aimed at helping Iraqi forces regain control of the Mosul dam and averting a potential dam failure, the Pentagon said. U.S. Central Command said U.S. fighters, bombers and drone aircraft conducted 15 strikes around the dam, hitting Islamic State fighting positions as well as an anti-aircraft artillery gun and other weaponry of the Islamic State group that has captured wide swaths northern and western Iraq this summer.

Russia has everybody worried. Their invasion of Ukraine has threatened the post-Cold War security the west had enjoyed since the fall of the Soviet empire. The military's incursions "shatter the myth" of stability, said US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Failings exposed last spring at a U.S. nuclear missile base, reflecting what one officer called "rot" in the ranks, were worse than originally reported. Airmen responsible for missile operations at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., passed an inspection in March 2013 with a "marginal" rating, the equivalent of a "D" in school. But it now turns out that even that was only because of good marks received by support staff like cooks and facilities managers. Launch officers entrusted with the keys to the missiles did poorly and, on their own, would have flunked, the records show.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday proposed shrinking the Army to its smallest size in 74 years, closing military bases and making other military-wide savings as part of a broad reshaping after more than a decade of war. Hagel said that U.S. forces must adjust to the reality of smaller budgets, even as he asserted that the United States faces a more volatile, more unpredictable world that requires a more nimble military.

Around one-fifth of the Navy's trainers for nuclear power reactor operators are facing cheating allegations. This is the second cheating scandal to rock the armed forces in recent months after revelations of cheating by officers at land-based nuclear missile sites run by the Air Force.

The Pentagon's effort to account for tens of thousands of Americans missing in action from foreign wars is so inept, mismanaged and wasteful that it risks descending from "dysfunction to total failure," according to an internal study suppressed by military officials.

Lawmakers say they're outraged that for the second time this month a member of the armed forces assigned to help prevent sexual assaults in the military is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct.

The Pentagon announced Friday it will spend $1 billion to add 14 interceptors to a West Coast-based missile defense system, responding to what it called faster-than-anticipated North Korean progress on nuclear weapons and missiles.

In announcing the decision, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he is determined to ensure protection of the U.S. homeland and stay ahead of the North Korean missile threat. He acknowledged that the interceptors already in place to defend against potential North Korean missile launches have had poor test performances.

In a written message to employees, Panetta said that he notified members of Congress Wednesday that if the White House and Congress cannot strike a deficit reduction deal before March 1 to avoid the furloughs, all affected workers will get at least 30 days' advance notice.

The Army, by far the largest of the military services, had the highest number of suicides among active-duty troops last year at 182, but the Marine Corps, whose suicide numbers had declined for two years, had the largest percentage increase — a 50 percent jump to 48. The Marines' worst year was 2009's 52 suicides.

The Obama administration gave the first explicit signal Tuesday that it might leave no troops in Afghanistan after December 2014, an option that defies the Pentagon's view that thousands of troops may be needed to keep a lid on al-Qaida and to strengthen Afghan forces.