Tag: pentagon

Pentagon Confirms US Troops Will Stay in Iraq After Drawdown

The US Department of War has confirmed that US troops will remain in Iraq indefinitely under a deal signed with the Iraqi government last year that called for an end to the US-led anti-ISIS mission in the country.

According to Stars & Stripes, a senior Pentagon official has said that the US is slightly reducing its troop presence, bringing the total number of US military personnel from 2,500 to under 2,000. The majority of the remaining troops will be based in Erbil in the northern Kurdistan region.

The War Department official said that US troops were in the process of leaving the Al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq. The US will be keeping some military personnel in Baghdad who will be tasked with “bilateral security cooperation.”

While the US is keeping troops in Iraq, the official claimed that the drawdown was ending the “forever war” in the country. “First, we’re ending the forever war in Iraq,” the official said.

“Second, we’re shifting the burden of responsibility for combating ISIS in Iraq, from US and coalition forces to our Iraqi partners. We’ve trained them for a decade and they have the capability to counter ISIS and they have the will. And third, high credit to the Iraqis themselves,” the official added.

The Pentagon is also consolidating its presence in neighboring Syria, where it plans to reduce troop numbers to under 1,000. It has closed some bases in northeastern Syria, handing them over to the US-backed Kurdish-led SDF. The majority of the US troops in Syria are expected to be based at al-Tanf Garrison in the south, which is situated where the borders of Syria, Iraq, and Jordan converge.

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‘PREPARE FOR WAR’: Pete Hegseth announces new mission, high standards for US Armed Forces

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke to military leaders at Quantico on Tuesday morning, letting them know just what the change from Department of Defense to Department of War really means. The new mission of the War Department, he said, is “preparing for war.”

“Fighting, preparing for war and preparing to win, unrelenting and uncompromising in that pursuit, not because we want war—no one here wants war—but it’s because we love peace,” Hegseth said. This mission is alongside his intense effort to eliminate “wokeness” from the military, which is an element in the Armed Forces that the administration believes puts service men and women at risk.

He announced 10 new directives, including that the “highest male standard” will be in place for all of those in the Armed Forces. A combat field test will also come into place, “that must be executable in any environment at any time and with combat equipment.” 

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Trump and Hegseth declare an end to ‘politically correct’ leadership in the U.S. military

U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared an end to “woke” culture in the military and targeted other policies of past administrations Tuesday before hundreds of top U.S. military officials who were abruptly summoned to Virginia from around the world.

Hegseth announced new directives for troops that include “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physical fitness, while Trump bragged about U.S. nuclear capabilities and criticized the military leaders’ previous commander in chief, U.S. President Joe Biden.

“We must be so strong that no nation will dare challenge us, so powerful that no enemy will dare threaten us,” Trump said. ”And so capable that no adversary can even think about beating us.”

Hegseth had called military leaders to convene at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, near Washington, without publicly revealing the reason until this morning. Hegseth’s address largely focused on his own long-used talking points that painted a picture of a military that has been hamstrung by “woke” policies, and he said military leaders should “do the honorable thing and resign” if they don’t like his new approach.

Meetings between top military brass and civilian leaders are nothing new, but the gathering had fueled intense speculation about the summit’s purpose given the haste with which it was called and the mystery surrounding it.

Admirals and generals from conflict zones in the Middle East and elsewhere were summoned for a lecture on race and gender in the military, underscoring the extent to which the country’s culture wars have emerged as a front-and-center agenda item for Hegseth’s Pentagon, even at a time of broad national security concerns across the globe.

During his nearly hour-long speech, Hegseth said the U.S. military has promoted too many leaders for the wrong reasons based on race, gender quotas and “historic firsts.”

“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” Hegseth said.

He said he is loosening disciplinary rules and weakening hazing protections, putting a heavy focus on removing many of the guardrails the military had put in place after numerous scandals and investigations.

Hegseth said he was ordering a review of “the department’s definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing.”

He called for “changes to the retention of adverse information on personnel records that will allow leaders with forgivable, earnest, or minor infractions to not be encumbered by those infractions in perpetuity.”

“People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career,” Hegseth said. “Otherwise, we only try not to make mistakes.”

Bullying and toxic leadership has been the suspected and confirmed cause behind numerous military suicides over the past several years, including the very dramatic suicide of Brandon Caserta, a young sailor who was bullied into killing himself in 2018.

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All Analysis and Records Withheld on DoD’s Own Released UAP Footage

The Department of Defense (DoD) has denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking records connected to the review, redaction, and release of a UAP video published by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) earlier this year.

The request, filed May 19, 2025, sought internal communications, review logs, classification guidance, legal opinions, and technical documentation tied to the public posting of the video titled “Middle East 2024.” The video, showing more than six minutes of infrared footage from a U.S. military platform, was released in May 2025 and remains unresolved by AARO.

The DoD confirmed that responsive documents exist, but a September 19, 2025, final response stated that all records are being withheld in full.

The denial cited multiple FOIA exemptions, including:

  • Exemption (b)(5): covering deliberative inter- and intra-agency material.
  • Exemptions (b)(7)(A), (B), (C), and (E): law enforcement provisions shielding records that could interfere with enforcement proceedings, risk an unfair trial, invade personal privacy, or reveal law enforcement techniques.

AARO described the video as depicting “an apparent thermal contrast within the sensor’s field of view” that may be consistent with a physical object, but noted that without corroborating data, “the available data does not support a conclusive analytic evaluation.”

The Pentagon’s decision continues a recurring pattern in UAP transparency efforts: footage may be released for public viewing, but records explaining the deliberations and analysis behind such releases remain withheld.

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War Department Pushes To Double or Quadruple Missile Production To Prepare for Potential War With China

The US War Department is pushing US weapons makers to double or even quadruple the production of missiles to help the US military prepare for a potential future war with China, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The report said that senior Pentagon officials expressed a desire for a significant increase in production during a series of meetings with representatives from several US missile manufacturers. Steve Feinberg, the deputy US Secretary of War, has taken a leading role in the effort, which has been dubbed the Munitions Acceleration Council, and regularly speaks with some executives.

The US military has been openly preparing for a war with China for years despite the obvious risk of nuclear war. The preparations have involved expanding the US military footprint in the Asia Pacific, building alliances in the region, and increasing weapons shipments to Taiwan.

The Journal report said that the effort at expanding missile production is focused on weapons the Pentagon believes it needs for a conflict with China, including Patriot interceptors, Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles, the Standard Missile-6, Precision Strike Missiles, and Joint Air-Surface Standoff Missiles.

Since 2022, the Pentagon has formally considered China the top “threat” facing the US, although that may soon change as reports say the War Department’s forthcoming National Defense Strategy (NDS) may prioritize missions in the homeland and the Western Hemisphere over countering Beijing.

In a statement back in May, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he was directing the Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby, to begin work on the new NDS, which he said will “prioritize defense of the US homeland, including America’s skies and borders, and deterring China in the Indo-Pacific.”

Colby is a well-known China hawk who has long pushed for the US to prioritize China and prepare for a war over Taiwan, though there are signs that he has started to doubt the US’s ability to defend the island. Either way, the US is expected to continue its military buildup in the region.

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US Department of Defence played a key role in coordinating the global “covid crisis”

How To Pull Off A ‘Pandemic’: “Military-Military Coordination”… of a “Crisis”

In 2025, the strategic set-up behind the covid operation is much easier to see in retrospect.

The “manufactured covid crisis” in March 2020 was deployed after the fact – in order to justify the fast-tracked “medical countermeasures” which had been in the pipeline since the sharing of the “sequence” (if not before).

Read more: First came the “vaccine solution”…, Democracy Manifest, 22 January 2025

Terrorising the public with stories of supposedly catastrophic “spread” (that could be “slowed”) was the surest way to justify this rapid “vaccine solution.”

Part of the sales pitch (aka psyop) was the need for “non-pharmaceutical interventions” in the interim.

The origins of this whole-of-Washington-led “pandemic” plan – including lockdowns – had been in plain sight since the Pentagon’s ‘Dark Winter’simulation in June 2001, and repeatedly rehearsed in the lead up to ‘The Big One’.

In June 2019, a 3-minute video by the US Department of Defence – featuring images of a novel coronavirus! – presaged the main event.

Read more: Preview: Coming Soon…, Democracy Manifest, 5 January 2024

[We have embedded the video to begin at timestamp 27 seconds, watch the critical 15 seconds that follow. “Don’t miss the pandemic-preventing hazmat suit in the DoD biolab,” Democracy Manifest said.]

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Drone Maker DJI Loses Lawsuit Over Inclusion on Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ List

China-based drone maker DJI will remain on the Pentagon’s blacklist of Chinese companies working with Beijing’s military, after a D.C. federal judge dismissed its lawsuit challenging the designation on Sept. 26.

In his 49-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled that the Pentagon’s finding that DJI contributes to the Chinese defense industrial base is “supported by substantial evidence,” even though he “cannot conclude” that DJI is “indirectly owned by the Chinese Communist Party.”

“DJI acknowledges that its technology can and is used in military conflict but asserts that its policies prohibit such use,” Friedman wrote. “Whether or not DJI’s policies prohibit military use is irrelevant. That does not change the fact that DJI’s technology has both substantial theoretical and actual military application.”

In other words, Friedman concluded that the Pentagon had presented enough evidence to call DJI a “military-civil fusion contributor” to China’s defense industrial base.

DJI, a private company headquartered in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, sells more than half of all commercial drones in the United States. In October 2024, it filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon after the latter placed the Chinese drone maker and many other Chinese companies on its list of “Chinese military companies” operating in the United States, under Section 1260H of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

In a complaint, DJI called the Pentagon’s decision “unlawful and misguided,” and said that it “is neither owned nor controlled by the Chinese military.”

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Pentagon Ends Flu Vaccine Mandate for Reservists, But Not Active Duty Troops

The Pentagon revised its flu vaccine policy for some, but not all, service members, according to a May 29 memo, first reported on today by The Associated Press.

Under the revised policy, reserve members, which include the National Guard, aren’t mandated to get the flu shot unless they are called to active duty for 30 consecutive days or more. If they choose to get the vaccine, the U.S. Department of War (formerly Department of Defense) won’t compensate them for their time and expense.

Active-duty service members are still required to get the vaccine.

According to the memo by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg:

“All Active Component Service members are required to receive the annual seasonal influenza immunization or obtain an exemption (i.e., medical or administrative). Reserve Component Service members activated for 30 consecutive days or more are required to receive the seasonal influenza immunization or obtain an exemption. During an outbreak, pandemic influenza immunizations will be required or recommended as appropriate, depending on the immunization’s regulatory status at the time of the outbreak.”

A Pentagon official today confirmed that they changed the policy, telling The Defender:

“On May 29, 2025, the Department released updated policy guidance on seasonal influenza immunizations, reflecting common-sense revisions to existing requirements.

“There are no changes to policy for active-duty Service members, who are still required to receive the annual flu vaccine. Likewise, requirements for civilian employees will continue to be based on occupational risk for contagion and spread. For example, all healthcare workers are required to receive the flu vaccine.”

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth drew attention to the May memo on Wednesday when he retweeted a celebratory post from a National Guard member who said, “I found out today that for the first time in over a decade, I won’t be forced to get a flu shot this fall for the privilege of serving my state and country.”

Military flight surgeon Lt. Col. Theresa Long told The Defender that service members are still trying to get clear information about the COVID-19 vaccine and the full implications of its impact on the health of service members.

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Oregon Files Suit After Hegseth Orders 200 National Guard Troops Federalized to Protect ICE Agents and Facilities in Antifa Stronghold State

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Sunday ordered two hundred Oregon National Guard troops to be put under federal control to protect ICE agents and facilities. The ICE facility in Portland used to process arrested illegal aliens has been the target of violent protests by Antifa terrorists all summer long, with the state and city governments refusing to help protect the facility or local residents who have been tormented and assaulted by Antifa.

Oregon’s attorney general immediately filed suit to block the federalization of the Guard troops.

The two hundred Oregon National Guard troops will be put under the command of Northern Command for a period of sixty days.

Hegseth’s orders came a day after President Donald Trump announced he was authorizing the deployment of troops to protect the Portland ICE facility.

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MSM Says It Knows What Hegseth’s Mystery Meeting Of Hundreds Of Generals Is All About

The Washington Post and CNN say they know what Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth’s big summoning of hundreds of military generals and admirals is all about. The meeting is set for Tuesday at Quantico Marine Base near Washington D.C. 

No official explanation has yet to be given for why some 800 top commanders are being gathered – some traveling from bases across the globe. Speculation has abounded, including whether it could relate to going to war with Russia, or some other dire and alarming change in force posture. Major media outlets in the US are now claiming it will merely be a big talk by Hegseth in maintaining “warrior ethos” and things like professional standards. It’s also being reported as one big “rally the troops” meeting.

Apparently this somewhat unprecedented gathering is due to his “mounting impatience that the Pentagon hasn’t readily adopted the Trump administration’s directives on military culture, according to officials briefed on the plan.”

The speech will aim to get everyone on the same page in terms of Trump’s desire to tighten up discipline and professional standards across military ranks. So far, President Trump has only said when asked about the somewhat unprecedented meeting by reporters, “It’s great when generals and top people want to come to the United States to be with a now-called secretary of war.”

The Washington Post states:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered hundreds of generals to travel from around the world to hear him make a short speech on military standards and the “warrior ethos,” multiple people familiar with the event told The Washington Post.

Commenting on the swift pushback, it continues:

Some Pentagon officials questioned the wisdom of launching a relatively large gathering on short notice to hear Hegseth speak for a matter of minutes, and bristled at the idea that long-serving military leaders — a segment of whom spent years in combat earlier in their careers — needed instruction on how to fight.

“They don’t need a talk from Secretary Hegseth on the warrior ethos,” a defense official said.

A high profile retired general has spoken up on social media, and Hegseth bat it down…

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