President Trump’s sweeping executive order to halt foreign aid threatens to freeze a U.S. program supporting security forces inside a notorious camp in the Syrian desert that holds tens of thousands of Islamic State members and their families, Syrian and U.S. officials said. The order has also wreaked havoc on another U.S. organization in Syria … Read more
President Trump on Monday moved toward pushing openly transgender people out of the military, directed the Pentagon to end diversity programs and ordered the reinstatement of many service members dismissed for refusing the coronavirus vaccine as he sought to reshape America’s armed forces. The directives, contained in a batch of executive orders, advanced what Mr. … Read more
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived on Monday for his first full day leading the Pentagon, vowing to support President Trump’s priorities of sealing the U.S. border with Mexico, using military planes to deport migrants with uncertain or contested legal status and increasing the military’s combat readiness. The Pentagon last week rushed 1,500 active-duty Marines and … Read more
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he believes the U.S. military has been weakened by diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and has vowed to restore “the warrior ethos” to the armed forces. In one of his first directives to Pentagon employees, Mr. Hegseth sent a short, handwritten note on his official letterhead making this priority clear. … Read more
Pete Hegseth, the newly confirmed defense secretary, has pledged to restore “the warrior ethos” to the U.S. military, which he believes has been weakened by its diversity. His view that the military has diminished standards in welcoming women and racial minorities to the armed forces might run into resistance as he takes the reins at … Read more
Two military jets landed in Guatemala City on Friday carrying deported migrants from Tucson, Ariz., and El Paso, according to local migration authorities and the American Embassy in Guatemala. Guatemala appears to be one of first countries to have struck an agreement with the United States to receive deported citizens transported on U.S. Air Force … Read more
The Senate barreled on Friday toward a late-night vote on whether to confirm Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, with the outcome still uncertain as a handful of Republicans weighed whether to back President Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon. Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation was further complicated earlier this week, when a former sister-in-law submitted a … Read more
Pete Hegseth, who faces a Senate confirmation vote on Friday night, could be approved by the narrowest margin for any secretary of defense in modern history. Defense secretaries have historically been consensus nominees, and senators have typically provided strong backing in a demonstration of U.S. governmental unity on national security issues. With the exception of … Read more
The U.S. Army has indicated that it plans to eliminate a Pentagon office established just a year and a half ago to protect civilians in war zones as the Trump administration continues its efforts to undo the legacy of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The office, called the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, is … Read more
When the career staff of the National Security Council popped onto a video call at 11:30 on Wednesday morning, a sense of dread had already settled in. They knew exactly what President Trump thought of the council: that it was the core of the deep state, whose employees, almost all drawn from the State and … Read more