Tag: pentagon

Pete Hegseth Takes Action Against Sen. Mark Kelly, Who Egged On Military To Defy Trump In Viral Video

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Monday began taking steps to demote Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly from his current military rank over his role in a viral video telling U.S. service members and spy agencies they must “refuse illegal orders” by the Trump administration.

Hegseth posted a statement to social media saying the Pentagon is taking administrative action to initiate retirement grade proceedings  to demote Kelly from a retired Navy captain to a lower rank, with a corresponding deduction in pay. Hegseth also announced a formal letter of censure, outlining Kelly’s “reckless misconduct.”

“Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline. As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice,” Hegseth wrote in a Monday morning X post.

“Therefore, in response to Senator Mark Kelly’s seditious statements — and his pattern of reckless misconduct — the Department of War is taking administrative action against Captain Mark E. Kelly, USN (Ret),” the War Secretary added. “The department has initiated retirement grade determination proceedings under 10 U.S.C. § 1370(f), with reduction in his retired grade resulting in a corresponding reduction in retired pay.”

“Captain Kelly’s status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action,” Hegseth’s statement added.

Kelly responded to the Pentagon’s move in a statement later Monday, saying there’s nothing “more un-American” than the message he says Hegseth is trying to send by the move to demote him.

“Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way. It’s outrageous and it is wrong,” Kelly wrote in the statement.

“If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it,” the Arizona Democrat added. “I will fight this with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.”

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Pentagon Awards $328.5 Million Lockheed Martin Contract to Boost Taiwan’s Air Force

The Pentagon on Dec. 31 announced that Lockheed Martin had been awarded a contract to sell military equipment to Taiwan, as the island remains on high alert amid repeated military drills by Beijing.

In a news release, the Pentagon said it was issuing the $328.5 million ceiling contract to “meet the urgent operational need of the Taiwan Air Force.”

“This contract provides for the procurement and delivery of fifty-five Infrared Search and Track Legion Enhanced Sensor pods, processors, pod containers, and processor containers,” the Pentagon stated.

Foreign military sales worth $157.3 million are obligated at the time of the award. The work, which will be conducted in Orlando, Florida, is expected to be completed by June 30, 2031, the Pentagon stated.

The United States transitioned from officially recognizing Taiwan to maintaining formal diplomatic ties with China after adopting the U.S.-P.R.C. Joint Communique in 1979, essentially recognizing the People’s Republic of China—the Chinese communist regime—as the “sole legal government of China,” according to the State Department.

Even though the United States has upheld unofficial ties with Taiwan since 1979, the Taiwan Relations Act of that same year requires the Pentagon to supply Taiwan with “defensive capability” as a means of allowing the island to defend itself.

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Pentagon Fails Audit For 8th Consecutive Year

The Pentagon has failed to pass a full financial audit for the eighth year in a row.

Congress initially mandated annual independent audits across the Department of Defense in 2018. In that time, the department has failed to pass a single full audit.

The Department of Defense—also known as the Department of War—lists $4.65 trillion in assets and $4.72 trillion in liabilities through fiscal year 2025, which ended on Sept. 30. The Pentagon cannot account for its full balance sheet.

An audit report, finalized on Dec. 18 by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, identified 26 material weaknesses and two significant deficiencies in the Pentagon’s financial reporting practices for the year.

Auditors rendered adverse opinions in 10 of 28 subaudits contained within the overall Pentagon audit for the year. Adverse opinions are issued when audits find financial reporting to be inaccurate.

The audit also listed further disclaimers of opinion, meaning auditors could not be certain one way or another whether the balance sheets of certain funds or programs were accurately recorded.

Auditors applied the disclaimers of opinion to the Department of the Army General Fund, the Department of the Army Working Capital Fund, the U.S. Navy General Fund, the Department of the Air Force General Fund, the Department of the Air Force Working Capital Fund, the U.S. Transportation Command Transportation Working Capital Fund, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Defense Health Program General Fund, the Defense Information Systems Agency General Fund, and the Defense Logistics Agency Working Capital Fund.

The audit report said the disclaimers of opinion cover programs and funds that comprise a combined 43 percent of the U.S. military’s total assets and at least 64 percent of the military’s total budgetary resources.

Auditors found material misstatements within the Joint Strike Fighter program, which oversees the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter used by the various U.S. military branches and numerous partner nations.

The report found the program did not properly account for its global pool of spare parts.

The audit also found misstatements in the various programs the U.S. military uses to build up the military strength of various global allies and partners. Auditors determined there were $18.9 billion worth of material misstatements across partnership programs.

Despite eight attempts and eight failures, the Pentagon still has a way to go before it passes a full audit. The Pentagon is currently set on a goal to pass its first audit in 2028.

“We have reviewed the audit report and acknowledge the findings and results. The Department of War is committed to resolving its critical issues and achieving an unmodified audit opinion by 2028,” Jules Hurst, who is performing the duties of the Pentagon comptroller, said in a Dec. 18 statement attached to the audit report.

Despite the setbacks, the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the latest report showed continuing improvements across the Pentagon’s accounting efforts.

“This year’s audit revealed remediations in key areas, reflecting significant progress in financial management,” Hegseth said in a statement attached to the audit report.

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Pentagon to ‘downgrade’ US military command from Eurasia to Africa, consolidate ‘AMERICOM’: Report

The Pentagon is working on a comprehensive restructuring of US military command – including a “downgrade” of major headquarters and a “shift in the balance of power” among prominent generals, the Washington Post reported on 16 December. 

Sources familiar with the matter told the US outlet that the “major consolidation” is being sought by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. 

The ambitious plan is described as part of Hegseth’s vow to “break the status quo” and cut the number of four-star army generals.

“It would reduce in prominence the headquarters of US Central Command, US European Command, and US Africa Command by placing them under the control of a new organization known as US International Command,” the sources said to the Washington Post.

“The plan also calls for realigning US Southern Command and US Northern Command, which oversee military operations throughout the Western Hemisphere, under a new headquarters to be known as US Americas Command, or Americom,” the report adds. 

“Pentagon officials also discussed creating a US Arctic Command that would report to Americom, but that idea appears to have been abandoned.”

This would reduce the number of major army headquarters from 11 to eight, while reducing the number of four-star generals and admirals who report to Hegseth.

According to the sources, the plan aligns with President Donald Trump’s national security strategy, published on 5 December.

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Pentagon Escalates Investigation into Sen. Mark Kelly for ‘Serious Allegations of Misconduct’

The Department of War (DOW) is escalating its review of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a retired Navy captain, to an official command investigation into his participation in a video dubbed “seditious” by President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

DOW officials announced the preliminary review on November 24 in response to a video he published with fellow Democrat lawmakers calling on military service members and intelligence officials to “refuse illegal orders” from the Trump administration.

Hegseth called the video “despicable, reckless, and false,” calling Kelly, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), and Jason Crow (D-CO) the “Seditious Six” in a social media post.

While four of the other participants in the video are former military, Hegseth explained that they are not “retired” so they “are no longer subject” to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

The video made by the “Seditious Six” was despicable, reckless, and false. Encouraging our warriors to ignore the orders of their Commanders undermines every aspect of “good order and discipline.” Their foolish screed sows doubt and confusion, which only puts our warriors in danger.

“However, Mark Kelly (retired Navy Commander) is still subject to UCMJ — and he knows that,” the secretary stated. “As was announced, the Department is reviewing his statements and actions, which were addressed directly to all troops while explicitly using his rank and service affiliation — lending the appearance of authority to his words. Kelly’s conduct brings discredit upon the armed forces and will be addressed appropriately.”

The investigation could result in further actions, including recalling Kelly to active duty status to initiate “court-martial proceedings or administrative measures,” the DOW said. 

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The New York Times Is Suing the Pentagon. The Case Is Laughable

Just a few days ago, The New York Times filed a sweeping lawsuit accusing the Pentagon of violating the First and Fifth Amendments by updating the rules for Pentagon Facility Alternate Credentials. 

The Times frames these rules as an attack on journalism itself. That framing is completely inaccurate. The Department of War implemented a policy aimed at securing one of the most sensitive buildings in the United States, and the policy neither restricts publication nor bars legitimate reporting. 

It simply establishes basic conditions for physical access to the Pentagon. 

Those conditions are lawful, reasonable, and consistent with long-standing principles governing access to nonpublic government facilities.

What the Times avoids acknowledging is that no journalist has a constitutional right to roam the Pentagon on an unescorted basis. Courts have been clear for decades that facilities such as the Pentagon are “nonpublic forums,” allowing the government to impose reasonable access limits that protect security and operational integrity. 

Access can be granted or denied based on compliance with building rules. It cannot be demanded as if the First Amendment guarantees a permanent press badge. 

The new Pentagon policy does not regulate what the Times may print, what sources it may speak with, or what stories it may pursue. It regulates whether a reporter may carry a credential that functions as a secure building pass.

Under the updated system, reporters seeking Pentagon Facilities Alternative Credentials (PFACs) must acknowledge that the Pentagon expects credentialed visitors not to solicit or encourage the unauthorized release of protected information. 

Federal employees already face strict rules governing how classified and controlled unclassified information is handled. The Pentagon’s policy simply reflects that reality: if reporters want special access inside a secure military headquarters, they cannot use that access to induce potential violations of federal disclosure rules. 

That standard does not restrict publication. It applies only to conduct inside a restricted facility and to abuses of the access privilege itself.

The Times argues that prohibiting solicitation of unauthorized disclosures “chills journalism.” 

It does not. 

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Murder for Christmas?

When Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted a meme of Franklin the Turtle, the amiable child’s cartoon character, in a helicopter using a military weapon to kill people in a small boat below him, and captioned it “For your Christmas wish list,” it understandably caused an uproar.

Should the secretary of defense be mocking the people his troops have killed? Should he engage a child’s cartoon character to produce this mockery? Should anyone in his right mind, who professes to understand Christianity, suggest that this killing should be on a child’s Christmas wish list? Should he be killing nonviolent boatpeople?

Here is the back story.

President Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Defense to annihilate persons in speedboats in the Caribbean Sea, 1,500 miles from the United States and elsewhere. The true targets of these killings are not the boats but the persons in the boats. We know this because the president has stated so, and because in a particularly gruesome event, two survivors of an initial attack on Sept. 2, 2025, who were clinging to the broken remains of their boat hoping to be rescued, were hit with a second attack, which obliterated them.

Based on evidence he says he has and chooses not to share, Trump has designated these folks in the speedboats as “narco-terrorists” and argued that his designation offers him legal authority to kill them. But “narco-terrorist” is a political phrase, not a legal one. There is no such designation or defined term in American law. Labeling them confers no additional legal authority.

Lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice who advise the attorney general on the meaning of the law have apparently authored a legal opinion informing her that she can tell the president what he wants to hear; that it is lawful to kill these boatpeople. This is the same office that told President George W. Bush that he could legally torture prisoners and President Barack Obama that he could legally kill unindicted Americans — including a child — overseas.

Neither the president nor the attorney general will produce this legal opinion for public scrutiny.

These killings constitute murder under federal law and under international law, and persons who use the force of government to commit murder may themselves be prosecuted for it in U.S. courts, courts of the countries from which their victims came, and in international courts. These killings constitute murder because none of the 81 dead boatpeople was engaged in any violence at the times of their deaths.

It doesn’t matter, Trump has claimed, just look at the numbers of drug deaths in the U.S., they are “way down.” Does the president believe that murder is justified by a diminution in drug deaths? Drug distribution is not a capital offence. If the police see a nonviolent person distributing dangerous drugs in an American city, can they summarily kill that person? Of course not.

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Pentagon Seeks To Explain A Little-Known, Forgotten ‘Forever War’

The US Department of War insisted on Tuesday that it’s not waging a “forever war” in Somalia despite the fact that the Trump administration has shattered the record for annual airstrikes in the country.

Liam Cosgrove, a reporter for ZeroHedge, noted during a Pentagon press briefing on Tuesday that the US has launched 101 airstrikes (now 102) in Somalia and that US troops reportedly conducted a recent ground raid, and asked why the US military is still in the country.

“I can assure you this is an America First Department of War and president, so we aren’t conducting forever wars in Somalia, we aren’t seeking regime change, and we’re not nation building,” Pentagon spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson said in reply.

The Trump administration has dramatically escalated the US war in Somalia, launching more than 10 times the number of airstrikes that the US conducted in 2024, and more than the combined total of airstrikes launched during the 12 years that Presidents Obama and Biden were in office. Despite the unprecedented scale of US strikes, Kingsley described the campaign as “narrowly scoped.”

She told Cosgrove, “I will say that this Department’s narrowly scoped, intelligence-driven, counterintelligence operations in places like Somalia, alongside our partners, allow us to protect the American homeland from terrorist threats and to protect our interests.”

US airstrikes this year have targeted a small ISIS affiliate based in caves in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region and al-Shabaab in southern and central Somalia.

The US has been fighting al-Shabaab since it backed an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006, which ousted the Islamic Courts Union, a coalition of Muslim groups that briefly held power in Mogadishu after taking the capital from CIA-backed warlords.

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US War Department Claims It’s Not Waging a ‘Forever War’ in Somalia Despite Record Airstrikes

The US Department of War insisted on Tuesday that it’s not waging a “forever war” in Somalia despite the fact that the Trump administration has shattered the record for annual airstrikes in the country.

Liam Cosgrove, a reporter for ZeroHedge, noted during a Pentagon press briefing on Tuesday that the US has launched 101 airstrikes (now 102) in Somalia and that US troops reportedly conducted a recent ground raid, and asked why the US military is still in the country.

“I can assure you this is an America First Department of War and president, so we aren’t conducting forever wars in Somalia, we aren’t seeking regime change, and we’re not nation building,” Pentagon spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson said in reply.

The Trump administration has dramatically escalated the US war in Somalia, launching more than 10 times the number of airstrikes that the US conducted in 2024, and more than the combined total of airstrikes launched during the 12 years that Presidents Obama and Biden were in office. Despite the unprecedented scale of US strikes, Kingsley described the campaign as “narrowly scoped.”

She told Cosgrove, “I will say that this Department’s narrowly scoped, intelligence-driven, counterintelligence operations in places like Somalia, alongside our partners, allow us to protect the American homeland from terrorist threats and to protect our interests.”

US airstrikes this year have targeted a small ISIS affiliate based in caves in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region and al-Shabaab in southern and central Somalia. The US has been fighting al-Shabaab since it backed an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006, which ousted the Islamic Courts Union, a coalition of Muslim groups that briefly held power in Mogadishu after taking the capital from CIA-backed warlords.

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Tensions Escalate Within NATO as Pentagon Abruptly Halts Ukraine-Related Communications with Germany

Strains within NATO appear to have intensified following the Pentagon’s sudden decision to sever routine communications with Germany’s Defense Ministry on matters related to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, according to German officials who described the move as unexplained and ‘disruptive.’

Lieutenant General Christian Freuding, head of Germany’s Ukraine coordination task force, told reporters on Tuesday that what had been round-the-clock exchanges with U.S. counterparts have now ceased entirely, leaving Berlin without direct insight into American strategic planning.

German defense sources said they have been forced to route inquiries through their embassy in Washington, with senior military figures acknowledging a lack of dependable channels to engage Pentagon officials amid the communications blackout.

The freeze coincides with the U.S. administration’s efforts to revise its proposed Ukraine peace framework, reducing it from 28 to 22 points after consultations with both Kyiv and Moscow, highlighting what critics call a faltering approach to a war that has dragged on without resolution.

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is Moscow meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin for additional talks, a development that has caught European allies off guard after years of insistence from NATO leaders that direct negotiations with Moscow were untenable.

Berlin only learned of the Trump administration’s suspension of certain weapons shipments to Ukraine last summer when deliveries failed to materialize, despite Germany’s key involvement in coordinating NATO support, sources familiar with the matter said.

Freuding emphasized the shift, noting that “day and night” messaging with American officials has “broken off— completely,” underscoring a broader erosion of trust in between the traditionally close  transatlantic partners.

In response, German policymakers are accelerating an overhaul of the country’s security posture, investing billions in domestic arms production and converting civilian industries to bolster military capabilities.

Officials in Berlin have stated that Germany must prepare for potential U.S. disengagement, with commitments to forge Europe’s most robust armed forces marking a stark departure from the nation’s post-World War II pacifist traditions.

Freuding has publicly cautioned that the once-solid U.S.-led security architecture is unraveling, with many in Germany perceiving Washington as increasingly unreliable in upholding alliances it previously championed.

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