Pentagon

The Pentagon is scrambling to justify its actions in restricting the government watchdog investigating a $766-million task force in Afghanistan — with more controversy seemingly erupting by the day. Now there are allegations that Defense Department officials retaliated against a whistleblower and news of several ongoing criminal investigations.

Thirteen years after the 9/11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and spun America into a renewed decade of war, President Obama reflects on the time that has passed and the future generation growing up in the shadow of the day that changed America forever.

The Pentagon spends about $100 million annually to recover and identify missing service members from the Vietnam War, Korean War and World War II, but identified just 60 last year — far short of the 200 per year mandated by Congress starting next year. This latest restructuring is the broadest one yet, taking on the science used to make identifications and creating public-private partnerships, but it's unclear whether it will be a reorganization just on paper like it was in the past.

The United States' campaign to encourage China to be more open about its military growth and intentions got a symbolic boost Monday, but efforts to get the Asian giant to be more transparent about other defense operations, including cybersecurity, have so far lagged behind. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel got a rare tour of China's first aircraft carrier, becoming the first foreign visitor to go aboard the ship, according to Chinese leaders.

The Pentagon is overhauling its efforts to find and identify missing service members from past wars, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Monday. The changes address the problems laid out in an investigation by ProPublica and NPR, including outdated scientific methods, overlapping bureaucracy, a risk-averse disinterment policy for the 9,400 unknowns buried around the world, and poor laboratory management that inhibited the mission.

The GOP is targeting Medicaid in its next attack on health care reform. House Republicans want to take away $20 billion budgeted for the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion and use it to cover defense cuts. This is who they are.

Security assistance – a broad category that covers about $25 billion in yearly spending – skyrocketed in the wake of 9/11, growing by 227 percent from 2002 to 2012. A slew of recent reports from government watchdog agencies have found a glaring lack of accountability around security assistance. In 2012, Congress drafted a bill that would have subjected all foreign aid, including security assistance, to stricter monitoring and transparency requirements. The Pentagon successfully opposed the effort for security aid. The bill never made it to a vote.

Do you read Salon or The Onion? Are you a federal employee? Then you could be deemed a high risk for leaking classified information, according to the Pentagon.

Republicans controlling the House pressed ahead Tuesday with efforts to slash funding for the departments of Education, Interior and State that go deeper than those already implemented under a painful round of automatic austerity.

The Pentagon long has battled with Congress over politically sensitive spending cuts. But this year, military officials say Congress' refusal to retire ships and aircraft means the Navy and Air Force are spending roughly $5 billion more than they would if they were allowed to make the cuts.