All posts tagged "Pentagon"

Disgruntled Pentagon insiders have quietly built a hidden cache they believe could finally end Pete Hegseth's tenure as defense secretary.

Several Defense Department officials have spent close to two years collecting emails, memos and meeting notes about Hegseth and stashing copies in separate hiding spots, the Daily Mail reported Saturday. One set sits in a gun safe in Northern Virginia, another in a safe-deposit box at a Washington bank and a third somewhere on the West Coast, according to the outlet.

The insiders said the records document times Hegseth and his inner circle allegedly brushed aside strategic and legal guidance, lashed out at the advisers who offered it, kept information from Congress and the public and threatened the careers of subordinates who challenged him or whom he saw as disloyal....

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed out yet another senior military leader, leaving those still at the Pentagon to guess why.

Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, the Pentagon's chief planner, was removed from the Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier this week with no explanation given, The Atlantic reported Wednesday. Sylvia ran the Joint Staff's strategy, plans and policy directorate, known as the J5, and is the second person pushed out of that job within a year. His predecessor, Army Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, was forced to retire.

The shakeup comes at a delicate moment. President Donald Trump is weighing renewed combat against Iran after next week's elections, according to The Atlantic. U.S. Central Command has drawn up strike options ranging from a quick hit on Iran's nuclear sites to a longer campaign aimed at squeezing the country's economy. Trump has not made a decision, and strikes are unlikely before next week, the outlet reported....

Wind energy companies and their allies say the Pentagon is stalling projects despite a court order to restart reviews, according to The Washington Sun.

In a lawsuit by trade groups, wind developers, and environmental organizations, a judge directed the Defense Department in August to get stalled projects moving. This week, the plaintiffs told the court the agency is “maintaining its review freeze through new mechanisms” and asked the judge to enforce the order.

Their filing says none of the agreements negotiated earlier with wind projects has been signed. Instead, they allege, the Pentagon wrote a new 119-page mitigation agreement, far longer than the roughly 20-page version it used before, with added requirements like vetting personnel and supply chains. The plaintiffs argue those terms don’t address the radar and drone worries the agency cites....

The wife of a top Pete Hegseth aide is backing away from part of her new job after a reporter asked questions.

Jill Buria, whose husband Ricky Buria serves as Hegseth's chief of staff at the Pentagon, registered on Sunday to lobby the Defense Department on behalf of a federal contractor, according to a report published Thursday by Politico. After reporter Daniel Lippman reached out, her firm said she would no longer lobby the Pentagon.

Buria joined the lobbying shop Checkmate Government Relations last month and signed on to represent Cartridge Technologies, a federal data management contractor also known as CTI. The disclosure listed her alongside four Checkmate colleagues working on Pentagon acquisition issues for the company, which paid the firm $110,000 in the most recent quarter, Politico reported....

A former Republican congressman with deep ties to the military warned that a Pentagon decision will inflict lasting damage on U.S. forces.

Appearing in a Thursday episode of "The Bulwark Daily" with host Tim Miller, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said one of his sources told him that Air National Guard pilots deployed to the Middle East have now been extended until April, keeping them away from home for 15 months.

Kinzinger, an Air Force veteran who flew for the Air National Guard, said many of those pilots are part-timers who fly for commercial airlines like United and put in five or six days a month in uniform. He said they were called up with almost no warning....

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Pentagon has spent months quietly standing up a new covert agency that has insiders worried about who's watching it.

The Technology Support Office, or TSO, was set up in April to secretly undermine rival nations' defense technology, Politico reported Thursday, citing a dozen current and former national security officials. No senior Pentagon official has mentioned it publicly.

Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, a billionaire who made his fortune in private equity, spearheaded the effort and signed the April 14 memo creating the office. He and Hegseth avoided scrutiny by merging two classified programs that had run smaller sabotage operations since 2023....