PENTAGON

Half of the people in the U.S. support the Pentagon’s ongoing supply of weapons to Ukraine for its defense against Russian forces.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says he won’t support a fellow GOP senator’s blockade of military nominees, backing Democrats and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who have said that the holdup is harming national security.

The Pentagon says the United States will provide $1.2 billion more in long-term military aid to Ukraine to further bolster its air defenses.

The Biden administration will send 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border amid an expected migrant surge following the end of coronavirus pandemic-era restrictions.

The U.S. has transferred Guantanamo detainee Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush back to his home country of Algeria citing that his continued detention was no longer necessary, the Department of Defense announced Thursday.

A Massachusetts Air National Guard member has been arrested in connection with the disclosure of highly classified military documents about the Ukraine war and other top national security issues.

The Pentagon says online leaks of scores of highly classified documents about the Ukraine war present a “very serious” risk to national security and senior leaders are quickly taking steps to mitigate the damage.

The Justice Department has launched an investigation into the possible release of Pentagon documents that were posted on several social media sites and appear to detail U.S. and NATO aid to Ukraine, but may have been altered or used as part of a misinformation campaign.

The Biden administration says the U.S. will send Ukraine about $500 million in ammunition and equipment and spend more than $2 billion to buy an array of munitions, radar and other weapons for that country in the future.

The top U.S. military officer says the Pentagon “has a long ways to go” to beef up its munitions stockpiles and ensure the country is ready for any large-scale war.

Pentagon leaders have told Congress that the U.S. military must be ready for possible confrontation with China.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles says his country made no promises to the United States that Australia would support its ally in any future conflict over Taiwan in exchange for American nuclear-powered submarines.

A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and, for the first time, shows that ground crews who fuel, maintain and launch those aircraft are also getting sick.

The Biden administration has released video of a Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone, as the U.S. sought to hold Russia responsible for the collision that led to the drone’s crash into the Black Sea without escalating already fraught tensions with the Kremlin.

The Pentagon's inspector general says his office has found no evidence yet that any of the billions of dollars in weapons and aid to Ukraine has been lost to corruption or diverted into the wrong hands.

An independent panel says the Defense Department should implement a series of gun safety measures to reduce suicides in the force.

The Biden administration is declaring its solidarity with Ukraine by piling sweeping new sanctions on Moscow and approving a fresh $2 billion weapons package for Kyiv.

The Pentagon is announcing a new package of long-term security assistance for Ukraine.

A U.S. military fighter jet has shot down an unknown object flying off the northern coast of Alaska.

When a giant Chinese balloon made an uninvited visit to the United States, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin turned to a hotline system set up with Beijing to defuse the situation.

COVID-19 vaccinations are no longer required for military personnel.

The Chinese balloon drifting high above the U.S. and first revealed over Montana has created a buzz down below among residents — and raised a chorus of alarm from elected officials.

A huge, high-altitude Chinese balloon is sailing across the U.S. The spectacle drew severe Pentagon accusations of spying on Friday, while sending some excited or alarmed Americans outside with binoculars.

The U.S. says it is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted over U.S. airspace for a couple days.

The Pentagon says the U.S. will send 90 Stryker combat vehicles and an additional 59 Bradley fighting vehicles to Ukraine, in addition to hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition.

A Russian spy ship has been patrolling off the coast of Hawaii but so far has remained in international waters.

The Pentagon has formally dropped its COVID-19 vaccination mandate, but a new memo signed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also gives commanders some discretion in how or whether to deploy troops who are not vaccinated.

The White House has announced a new $3.75 billion military assistance package to help Ukraine and its neighbors on NATO's eastern flank as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds on.

The Biden administration says it will provide $1.85 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

Officials tell The Associated Press the U.S. will send $1.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine in a massive package that will for the first time include a Patriot missile battery and precision-guided bombs for their fighter jets.

U.S. officials say the Pentagon will expand military combat training for Ukrainian forces, using the slower winter months to instruct larger units in more complex battle skills.

U.S. officials say the Biden administration is poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, finally agreeing to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles.

China's Defense Ministry says the country strictly adheres to a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons “at any time and under any circumstances."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the U.S. is at a pivotal point with China and will need military strength to ensure that American values, not Beijing’s, set global norms in the 21st century.

NATO member and Russia’s neighbor Estonia is boosting its defense capabilities by acquiring an advanced U.S. rocket artillery system.

The United States' newest nuclear stealth bomber has made its public debut after years of secret development.

A new Pentagon report warns that China continues to rapidly modernize its nuclear force and is on track to have 1,500 active warheads by 2035.

The intense firefight over Ukraine has the Pentagon rethinking its weapons stockpiles.

The United States is sending an additional $400 million in ammunition and generators to Ukraine.

The U.S. will send $400 million more in military aid to Ukraine amid concerns financial assistance for the war against Russia could decline if Republicans take control of Congress.

The U.S. is sending Ukraine an additional $400 million in military aid, including badly needed air defense missiles, and establishing a security assistance headquarters in Germany that will oversee all weapons transfers and military training for Ukraine.

The U.S. and South Korea are jointly warning North Korea that use of any kind of nuclear weapon against Seoul or other regional allies would result in the end of Kim Jong Un’s regime.

The Biden administration says Russia has given notice that it intends to stage routine drills of its nuclear capabilities amid heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine.

Ash Carter, the Obama administration defense secretary who opened military combat jobs to women, has died at age 68.

A new report and Pentagon data show that suicides across the active duty U.S. military decreased over the past 18 months, driven by sharp drops in the Air Force and Marine Corps last year and a similar decline among Army soldiers during the first six months of this year.

Ukrainian leaders are pressing the U.S. and Western allies for air defense systems and longer-range weapons to keep up the momentum in their counteroffensive against Russia and fight back against Moscow’s intensified attacks.

The Pentagon will deliver the first two advanced NASAMS anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the next two months, providing Kyiv with a weapon that it has pressed for since earlier this year.

9/11 is remembered, 21 years after the terrorist attacks

President Joe Biden has marked the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, taking part in a somber wreath-laying ceremony held at the Pentagon under a steady rain.

Americans are remembering 9/11 with tear-choked tributes and pleas to “never forget,” 21 years after the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.

Defense officials say that as other nations see the impact of U.S. weapons in the Ukraine war, the Pentagon is getting more requests for them.

The White House says President Joe Biden will mark the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Sunday by delivering remarks and laying a wreath at the Pentagon.

The U.S. military says four Iranian-backed militia members have been killed in U.S. strikes in Syria in response to recent attacks by the group.

The Pentagon has rejected a request from the District of Columbia seeking National Guard assistance for the thousands of migrants being bused to the city from two southern states.

The U.S. will spend $1.3 billion to develop advanced satellites that will be able to better track hypersonic missile threats.

The Pentagon says it has killed a leader of the Islamic State group in Syria in a drone strike.

The U.S. has announced it will provide Ukraine with $820 million in new military aid, including new surface-to-air missile systems and counter-artillery radars to respond to Russia’s heavily reliance on long-range strikes in the war.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called off a series of in-person meetings in Germany and Romania because he has contracted shingles.

Russia took aim at Western military supplies for Ukraine by launching airstrikes on Kyiv that it claimed destroyed tanks donated from abroad.

The U.S. and Germany are pledging to equip Ukraine with some of the advanced weapons it has long craved for shooting down aircraft and knocking out artillery.

Republican Katie Arrington’s suspended security clearance is becoming an issue in her primary campaign against incumbent South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace.

President Joe Biden has named Pentagon press secretary John Kirby to be the new National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby is joining the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter, adding star power to the West Wing’s foreign policy communications team.

Congress held its first hearing in half a century Tuesday on unidentified flying objects.

President Joe Biden is reaffirming his administration’s support for Jordan’s long-running role as the custodian of Muslim holy sites at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The U.S. says it shared intelligence with Ukraine about the location of the Russian missile cruiser Moskva before the strike that sank the warship.

When President Joe Biden visits a Lockheed Martin plant on Tuesday that manufactures an antitank weapons system, he’s certain to herald the U.S.-made arms as a gamechanger in Ukraine’s stiff resistance to the Russian invasion.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with his Chinese counterpart for the first time since becoming Pentagon chief more than a year ago.

Russian forces are tightening the noose around the defenders holed up in a mammoth steel plant that is the last known Ukrainian stronghold in in the besieged city of Mariupol.

The Pentagon's inspector general's office says U.S. military bases in the Arctic and sub-Arctic are failing to prepare their installations for future climate change as required.

President Joe Biden approved $800 million in new military assistance to Ukraine, including artillery and helicopters, to bolster its defenses against an intensified Russian offensive in the country’s East.

The Pentagon says it may have to go back to Congress for additional money to support Ukraine’s battle to defeat Russia’s invasion.

Republican U.S. senators are imploring the Biden administration to reverse course and allow the transfer of Poland’s MiG fighter jets to the Ukrainians to fight the Russian invasion.

Veteran Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin took on an unusual role around the start of Russia's incursion into Ukraine.

A massive Russian military convoy has sat, largely stalled about 15 miles (25 kilometers) outside the Ukrainian capital.

In the opening hours of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, ballistic missiles by the dozens struck mostly military targets across the country, but there was little sign of Russian soldiers crossing the border or naval infantry landing on Ukraine’s shores.

A convoy of truckers demanding an end to coronavirus mandates has begun a cross-country drive from California to the Washington, D.

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has dropped a lawsuit against the Defense Department.

Facing criticism for civilian deaths in U.S. airstrikes, the Biden administration targeted the leader of the Islamic State group in a way that was riskier for American forces, landing dozens of U.S. commandoes outside his Syrian hideout rather than targeting him with an airstrike.

An animal welfare organization says a wandering chicken was caught sneaking around a security area at the Pentagon.

President Joe Biden is ordering 2,000 U.S. troops to Poland and Germany amid the stalled talks with Russia over the Kremlin's military buildup on Ukraine's borders.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in letters to seven governors, is reaffirming the need for members of their states' Army and Air National Guards to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine or lose their Guard status.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered his staff to quickly develop an “action plan” for improving how the Pentagon limits and responds to civilian casualties caused by American airstrikes.

Federal regulators are suing to block a Lockheed Martin acquisition that it says would limit competition among companies that supply missiles to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered about 8,500 U.S. troops on heightened alert, preparing for possible deployment to Europe, if needed, to reassure NATO allies in the face of Russian aggression on the border of Ukraine.

A federal judge in Texas has granted a preliminary injunction stopping the Navy from acting against 35 sailors for refusing on religious grounds to comply with an order to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms while quarantining at home.

Warning that extremism in the ranks is increasing, Pentagon officials are issuing detailed new rules prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities.

The Air Force has discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate to get the shots.

U.S. defense officials say no U.S. troops involved in the August drone strike that killed innocent Kabul civilians and children will face disciplinary action.

The Pentagon says there are “active discussions” within the department about making COVID-19 vaccine booster shots mandatory for service members, even as thousands refuse or seek exemptions from the initial shot mandate.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a full review of a U.S. airstrike in Syria in 2019 that killed dozens, including women and children, and was not properly reported up the chain of command.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has rejected a request by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt that his state’s National Guard be exempt from a Pentagon requirement that all military members be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Officials say that after months of study, the Pentagon has decided no immediate major changes are needed in the global positioning of U.S. forces.

An independent review has concluded that the Defense Department and its top leaders acted appropriately before and during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the U.S. government is unsure why Russian President Vladimir Putin is building up military forces near the border with eastern Ukraine.

The Pentagon will increase housing payments for troops in key areas and look into ways to combat hunger across the force,.

An independent Pentagon review has concluded that the U.S. drone strike that killed innocent Kabul civilians and children in the final days of the Afghanistan war was not caused by misconduct or negligence, and it doesn’t recommend any disciplinary action.

The Pentagon says China is expanding its nuclear force much faster than U.S. officials predicted just a year ago.

The U.S. Defense Department says it is committed to offering condolence payments to relatives of the 10 people who were killed in an errant U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August.