Tag: pentagon

Police: Chairman of Pentagon Software Contractor Arrested in Pedophile Sting

A 57-year-old Pittsburgh tech entrepreneur who is the founder and chairman of a software company with federal contracts including with the Pentagon is facing felony charges for allegedly soliciting sexual contact with a young girl in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.

WTAE in Pittsburgh reports that Eric T. Gillespie, founder and chairman of software company Govini, was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly trying to arrange a meeting with a preteen girl for sexual purposes. The arrest was part of a sting operation conducted by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Child Predator Section.

According to Attorney General Dave Sunday, an agent posed as an adult in an online chat platform often used by offenders attempting to arrange meetings with children. The agent uncovered Gillespie, who was using an online pseudonym, lurking on the platform to access children.

Gillespie, a 57-year-old resident of Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood, founded Govini to transform how the U.S. government uses AI and data to make decisions. The company recently surpassed $100 million in annual revenue and has been awarded millions of dollars in contracts with federal agencies including the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security.

In response to Gillespie’s arrest, Govini placed him on administrative leave and stated the company will fully cooperate with law enforcement’s investigation. The company acknowledged the severity of the charges and vowed to hold all employees to the highest ethical standards.

Gillespie is facing four felony counts related to the incident. A judge denied bail, citing flight risk and public safety concerns. The Attorney General’s office said Gillespie denied the allegations against him.

Keep reading

Hegseth Orders Pentagon to “Wartime Footing,” Tightens Ties With Industry

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), recently rebranded as the Department of War (DOW), is shifting its focus to a “wartime footing.” In a speech to a group of defense-industry executives and DOD officials on Friday, Secretary Pete Hegseth outlined a broad plan to overhaul the Pentagon’s acquisition system and speed up weapons production:

Our objective is simple: Transform the entire acquisition system to operate on a wartime footing, to rapidly accelerate the fielding of capabilities and focus on results…. American industry and spirit are begging to be unleashed to solve our most complex and dangerous war-fighting problems. We need to get out of our own way, out of your way, and enter into real partnership with you rather than overprescribe and decelerate your natural progress.

He later underscored:

We’re not building for peacetime. We are pivoting the Pentagon and our industrial base to a wartime footing. Building for victory should our adversaries FAFO [f*** around and find out].

The “transformation” was urgent, he said:

This is a 1939 moment, or hopefully a 1981 moment, a moment of mounting urgency. Enemies gather, threats grow. You feel it. I feel it. If we are going to prevent and avoid war, which is what we all want, we must prepare now.

Bureaucracy and Rumsfeld’s Shadow

Hegseth began his address by naming his “adversary” as being not on a battlefield, but inside the Pentagon. “The foe I’m talking about is much closer to home. It’s the Pentagon bureaucracy,” he said. “Not the people, but the process; not the civilians, but the system.” He called it “one of the last bastions of central planning” that “with brutal consistency stifles free thought and crushes new ideas.”

“The modernization of the Department of War is a matter of life and death ultimately of every American,” declared the secretary.

Then came an unexpected admission. “The speech so far is not my own,” Hegseth said. “Those words are practically verbatim from a speech given by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on September 10, 2001.” He ended by again invoking Rumsfeld, urging the audience to build on “Rumsfeld’s vision.” That vision — outlined one day before 9/11 — was meant to “liberate” the Pentagon from bureaucracy. Instead, it ushered in two decades of war, privatization, and unchecked spending.

Rumsfeld’s name now carries a toxic legacy. His call to streamline defense spending became the justification for expanding it. He presided over the Iraq invasion, privatized logistics on an unprecedented scale, and normalized permanent war as policy.

By reviving that speech, Hegseth aligned himself not with meaningful reform to shrink the war machine, but with the model that made reform nearly impossible — one that equated efficiency with removing oversight and security with continuous mobilization.

Keep reading

Congress Members Fuming, Left Unsatisfied By Classified Pentagon Briefing On Drug Boat Strikes

US War Department officials don’t know the identities of the 61 people who have been extra-judicially executed in US military strikes on boats in the waters near Venezuela and in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Politico reported on Thursday, citing House Democrats who attended a classified briefing on the campaign.

“[The department officials] said that they do not need to positively identify individuals on these vessels to do the strikes, they just need to prove a connection to smuggling,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA). “When we tried to get more information, we did not get satisfactory answers.”

While the Trump administration has cited overdose deaths in the US related to fentanyl to justify the bombing campaign, lawmakers were told in the briefing that the boats that have been targeted were allegedly smuggling cocaine, though the Pentagon has not provided evidence to back up its claims about what the vessels were carrying.

“They argued that cocaine is a facilitating drug of fentanyl, but that was not a satisfactory answer for most of us,” Jacobs said.

The briefing on Thursday came after the Pentagon shut out Democrats from another briefing it held with Republicans a day earlier, which left Democratic senators fuming. Democrats who attended Thursday’s briefing said Pentagon lawyers were pulled from the meeting at the last minute.

“Am I leaving satisfied? Absolutely not. And the last word that I gave to the admiral was, ‘I hope you recognize the constitutional peril that you are in and the peril you are putting our troops in,’” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) told reporters after the briefing, according to CNN.

Jacobs said that, based on what she was told, even if Congress authorized the bombing campaign, it would still be illegal. “[T]here’s nothing that we heard in there that changes my assessment that this is completely illegal, that it is unlawful and even if Congress authorized it, it would still be illegal because there are extrajudicial killings where we have no evidence,” she said.

Criticism of the US bombing campaign has also come from Republicans, most prominently from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). “No one said their name, no one said what evidence, no one said whether they’re armed, and we’ve had no evidence presented,” Paul said this week of the people who have been targeted. “They summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public… so it’s wrong.”

Keep reading

Pentagon says Ukraine can have Tomahawk missiles: Report

The Pentagon has given approval to the White House to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, potentially fulfilling President Volodymyr Zelensky’s desire for more weapons in his country’s war with Russia if President Trump provides the final green light, CNN reported Friday.

The Hill has reached out to the White House and the Pentagon for confirmation. The Defense Department’s (DOD) approval is reportedly based on an assessment that providing Tomahawks would not negatively impact U.S. stockpiles.

After the Joint Staff gave the White House another assessment earlier this month informing Trump that European allies determined the U.S. had little reason to not send the missiles, it came as a surprise when the president pushed against giving Zelensky the missiles, two European officials told CNN.

“It’s not easy for us to give … you’re talking about massive numbers of very powerful weapons,” Trump said before meeting with Zelensky at the White House on Oct. 17.

Trump had told Zelensky that he would not provide Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, at least not yet, CNN reported.

The following week, Zelensky emphasized his discussion with Trump about the missiles as “a major investment in diplomacy — we forced Russia to reveal that Tomahawks are precisely the card they take seriously.”

Zelensky has argued that not being given the Tomahawk missiles deflated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s interest in diplomacy with Ukraine.

“The front line can spark diplomacy. Instead, Russia continues to do everything to weasel out of diplomacy, and as soon as the issue of long-range capabilities for us — for Ukraine — became less immediate, Russia’s interest in diplomacy faded almost automatically,” Zelensky said during a daily video address earlier this month. “This signals that this very issue — the issue of our deep strike capabilities — may hold the indispensable key to peace.” 

The missiles are built to travel at high, subsonic speeds and low heights to better dodge radars, providing Ukraine with a lot more capability and range to target Russian military outposts and energy facilities deep inside the country, military experts previously told The Hill. 

Russia has warned the U.S. against sending the missiles to Ukraine, arguing it would represent a major escalation. The Kremlin is currently using self-produced missiles in addition to missiles from North Korea and drones from Iran.

Keep reading

Pentagon Tells Congress It Doesn’t Know Who It’s Killing in Latin American Boat Strikes

US War Department officials don’t know the identities of the 61 people who have been extra-judicially executed in US military strikes on boats in the waters near Venezuela and in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, POLITICO reported on Thursday, citing House Democrats who attended a classified briefing on the campaign.

“[The department officials] said that they do not need to positively identify individuals on these vessels to do the strikes, they just need to prove a connection to smuggling,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA). “When we tried to get more information, we did not get satisfactory answers.”

While the Trump administration has cited overdose deaths in the US related to fentanyl to justify the bombing campaign, lawmakers were told in the briefing that the boats that have been targeted were allegedly smuggling cocaine, though the Pentagon has not provided evidence to back up its claims about what the vessels were carrying.

“They argued that cocaine is a facilitating drug of fentanyl, but that was not a satisfactory answer for most of us,” Jacobs said.

The briefing on Thursday came after the Pentagon shut out Democrats from another briefing it held with Republicans a day earlier, which left Democratic senators fuming. Democrats who attended Thursday’s briefing said Pentagon lawyers were pulled from the meeting at the last minute.

“Am I leaving satisfied? Absolutely not. And the last word that I gave to the admiral was, ‘I hope you recognize the constitutional peril that you are in and the peril you are putting our troops in,’” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) told reporters after the briefing, according to CNN.

Jacobs said that, based on what she was told, even if Congress authorized the bombing campaign, it would still be illegal. “[T]here’s nothing that we heard in there that changes my assessment that this is completely illegal, that it is unlawful and even if Congress authorized it, it would still be illegal because there are extrajudicial killings where we have no evidence,” she said.

Keep reading

Hegseth Announces 14 Killed In New, Largest Single Attack On ‘Narco-Terrorist’ Boats

Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth has announced yet more strikes on alleged drug vessels operating off South America, in what’s becoming a weekly thing. This latest strike involved four total boats – in what looks to be the largest single set of strikes yet.

Unlike most of the some nine strikes recorded thus far, these fresh attacks were on the Pacific side of Latin America, and not directly off Venezuela’s coast. There’s been only one other prior instance, announced earlier this month, of such operations on the Pacific side.

The attacks against several vessels occurred Monday. Hegseth disclosed on Tuesday, “Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out three lethal kinetic strikes on four vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO) trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific.”

“The four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth continued.

The death toll was high in comparison with other attacks which stretch back several weeks. Hegseth continues in his statement on X:

Eight male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessels during the first strike. Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the second strike. Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the third strike. A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor.

All strikes were in international waters with no U.S. forces harmed. Regarding the survivor, USSOUTHCOM immediately initiated Search and Rescue (SAR) standard protocols; Mexican SAR authorities accepted the case and assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue. 

This note about cooperation from Mexican authorities is interesting, and shows that not all regional governments are against the heightened Pentagon action off their shores – or else they are simply too scared of the Trump administration to say ‘no’.

Keep reading

Pentagon Creates New Legion of PR Toadies

When the Pentagon announced that reporters would only be credentialed if they pledged not to report on documents not expressly released by official press handlers, free press advocates, including FAIR (9/23/25), denounced the directive as an assault on the First Amendment.

The impact of this rule cannot be understated—any reporter agreeing to such terms is essentially a deputized public relations lackey.

Many journalists, thankfully, displayed solidarity with each other and the idea of a free press when they resisted the state’s new censorship efforts. “Dozens of reporters turned in access badges and exited the Pentagon…rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work,” reported the AP (10/15/25).

CNN’s Brian Stelter (10/15/25) reported:

A flyer with the words “journalism is not a crime” appeared Tuesday on the wall outside the “Correspondents’ Corridor” where journalists operate at the Pentagon. It was a silent protest of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new policy that severely restricts press access.

The policy criminalizes routine reporting, according to media lawyers and advocates, so news outlets are refusing to abide by it. Instead, they are giving up their access to the building, while vowing to continue thoroughly covering Hegseth and the military from outside the Pentagon’s five walls.

Keep reading

US military conducts ninth lethal strike on drug smuggling vessels in Eastern Pacific

Three narcoterrorists were killed in what is believed to be the ninth deadly attack on vessels attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media Wednesday evening.

Hegseth’s post included a video that showed a small boat moving along the water. Several seconds into the video, the boat explodes and is seen floating motionless in flames.

The latest strike took place in the Eastern Pacific, marking the second strike against a vessel in the Eastern Pacific within a day. The previous seven took place in the Caribbean.

Keep reading

Pentagon Slams Netflix’s Gay Teen Marine Series ‘Boots’ as ‘Woke Garbage’

The Pentagon is calling out streaming giant Netflix over its new military series Boots, which follows the story of a gay man enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1990s.

The Pentagon accused Netflix of pushing an “ideological agenda” with the series, according to the New York Post.

“Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, the US military is getting back to restoring the warrior ethos. Our standards across the board are elite, uniform, and sex-neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man, a woman, gay, or straight,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told the paper.

“We will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix whose leadership consistently produces and feeds woke garbage to their audience and children,” the statement added.

The gay military series debuted on Netflix early this month a week after War Secretary Hegseth unveiled the administration’s new personnel standards last month.

While speaking to the U.S. military’s top officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Quantico, Virginia, Hegseth called for the restoration of a “ruthless, dispassionate and common sense application of standards.” Hegseth spoke about the importance of keeping standards and having them be “uniform, gender neutral, and high,” and added that “leaders set the standard.”

“Today, at my direction, every member of the joint force at every rank is required to take a PT test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year. Every year of service,” Hegseth said. “Also, today at my direction, every warrior across our joint force is required to do PT every duty day. Should be common sense, I mean most units do that already, but we’re codifying. And, we’re not talking like hot yoga and stretching. Real hard PT. Either as a unit or as an individual. At every level from the joint chiefs to everyone in this room to the youngest private, leaders set the standard.”

“Standards must be uniform, gender-neutral, and high. If not, they’re not standards. They’re just suggestions. Suggestions that get our sons and daughters killed,” Hegseth insisted.

Keep reading

300 Investigations Opened Since Pete Hegseth Cracked Down on Celebrations of Charlie Kirk’s Death

There are reportedly 300 Defense Department investigations that have been opened as a result of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth cracking down on celebrations of Charlie Kirk’s political assassination, according to reports.

The Washington Post reports that the investigations, which include inquiries into “service members, civilian workers, and contractors,” have resulted in what the outlet described as “a smattering of disciplinary action so far.”

Per the Post:

As of Sept. 30, 128 service members have been investigated following Kirk’s death, and most of those cases are still under review, according to documents reviewed by The Post.

Of those, 26 have received administrative reprimands — an adverse mark that can hinder future assignments or promotions. Three have received “nonjudicial punishment,” which can lead to a reduction in rank or other disciplinary action, and three others are in the process of either being kicked out or leaving the military, the documents show.

A total of 158 non-uniformed personnel have been investigated as of Sept. 30, including 27 Defense Department civilians, according to the documents viewed by The Post. Two have been “removed from employment.” The status of the remaining civilians or contractors was not immediately clear.

Five former Defense Department employees are also under investigation, per the report.

Hegseth initially announced on September 11, 2025 — one day after Kirk’s horrific public assassination — that his department would be investigating all reports of Department of War and military personnel celebrating the murder of the Turning Point USA founder.

“We are tracking all these very closely — and will address, immediately,” Hegseth vowed. “Completely unacceptable.”

Keep reading