Tag: pentagon

Should People Be Free To Deal With the Department of War?

In a February 27 post titled “You Should Have Moral Qualms about Anthropic’s Claims,” Hoover Institution senior fellow and foreign policy scholar Amy Zegart challenged the ethics of a company named Anthropic. What I found refreshing is that a defense contractor’s CEO had a strong enough belief in his ethics that he was willing to forego a lucrative contract. According to Zegart, I should have moral qualms about that. I don’t and I’ll say why.

Anthropic had told the Department of War that it did not want its products used for either autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans. According to Zegart, the Pentagon stated that it did not contemplate such uses. But that wasn’t enough for Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, who stated that he could not “in good conscience” accept the War Department’s assurances. Here’s Brendan Bordelon in a February 26 news item in Politico:

[Secretary of War] Hegseth met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Tuesday to deliver a warning — give the military unfettered access to its Claude AI model by Friday evening or else have the government label it a “risk” to the supply chain. The designation, typically reserved for foreign firms with ties to U.S. adversaries, could ban companies that work with the government from partnering with Anthropic.

Hegseth threatened Anthropic with designating it as a risk to the supply chain. With that label, Anthropic could be forbidden, as noted above, from working with companies that work with the government. Hegseth also, though, threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel Anthropic to work with the Defense Department. A risk to the supply chain and, at the same, a firm that Hegseth wants to use? Hmmm. Bordelon quotes Dean Ball, whom he identifies as a former AI advisor in the Trump administration, noting the obvious contradiction. Said Ball, “You’re telling everyone else who supplies to the DOD you cannot use Anthropic’s models, while also saying that the DOD must use Anthropic’s models.”

Zegart cites the Politico article but doesn’t mention this contradiction. Instead, she goes after Anthropic and CEO Amodei. She writes:

There is a serious ethical question about whether one company, elected by nobody, with its own normative agenda as well as substantial global investors and customers, should be dictating the conditions of the most essential government role: protecting the lives of Americans.

But she misstates the issue. Anthropic isn’t trying to dictate the conditions of this essential government role. Anthropic is simply stating what its own limits are. If the Pentagon can find another supplier, it is free to do so and, indeed, has already done so. OpenAI has stepped up to take Anthropic’s place.

Moreover, why does Zegart think it’s important that Anthropic is elected by nobody? Does Zegart really think that companies that contemplate working with the Department of War should be elected by somebody.

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Secretary of War Brings Some Sanity Back to Scouts, Ends DEI Requirements

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that Scouting America, formerly the Boy Scouts of America, has agreed to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and clarify that membership is based solely on biological sex at birth in order to maintain its longstanding relationship with the military.

The Department of War had threatened to withdraw its support, including access to military bases and logistical assistance for major events such as the 2026 National Jamboree in West Virginia, because the organization embraced “radical, woke ideology.” An agreement has now been reached.

Under the deal, Scouting America will immediately comply with Executive Order 14173, eliminate DEI programs, and discontinue a DEI-related merit badge which had become a requirement to make Eagle Scout. Applications will list only male or female, consistent with the applicant’s birth certificate, and biological boys and girls will not share intimate spaces such as tents, showers, or restrooms.

In addition, the organization will waive registration fees for children of active-duty, Guard, and Reserve families and introduce a new military-service merit badge in partnership with the Department of War.

In exchange, Scouting America will retain its name and continue admitting girls, at least for now. Hegseth said the Department’s continued support is contingent on substantial progress over the next six months and warned that failure to comply could result in termination of military backing. He added that, ideally, the organization should return to its original identity as a group focused on developing boys into men.

Scouting America emphasized its historic ties to the armed forces, noting that Scouts are more likely than the general population to serve in uniform and that Eagle Scouts are heavily represented in ROTC programs, service academies and military leadership tracks.

The organization said it engaged in months of dialogue with the Department of War and framed the agreement as a strengthened partnership focused on serving military families and reinforcing leadership, character, duty to God and duty to country.

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President Trump Directs Every Federal Agency to Cease Use of Anthropic After AI Company Refuses to Comply with Pentagon’s Demands

President Trump on Friday ordered every federal agency to cease use of Anthropic AI after the company refused to comply with the Pentagon’s demands.

“THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS! That decision belongs to YOUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, and the tremendous leaders I appoint to run our Military,” Trump said.

“The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY,” Trump said.

“Therefore, I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again! There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels. Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow,” Trump added.

“WE will decide the fate of our Country — NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump added.

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Pentagon Fires Sicko Male ‘Transgender Wolf’ Kindergarten Teacher at Fort Bragg After Parent Complaints

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that a kindergarten teacher at Fort Bragg, North Carolina has been fired after parent complaints about the male teacher dressing as a transgender wolf in class and scaring students with his multi-personality fetish behavior, including wearing women’s clothing and a wolf tail in class, having the children howl and by having them address him as “Ms. Roxxie” or one of several other personalities.

The parents also complained the teacher’s car parked in the school lot in view of the children had among other things, profane messages, a transgender flag and a license plate that read ” “ROX XY 666.”

Liberty Counsel went public with the parents’ complaints in a bombshell letter released Wednesday that was sent to the military on February 9 that featured screen images of the teacher’s violent fantasy postings on social media.

Excerpt from CBN report:

A group of military families at Fort Bragg is expressing deep concern about a teacher at their children’s school who identifies as a transgender wolf.

With the help of Liberty Counsel, they’re calling on the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) to remove the teacher from the classroom. They point to multiple disturbing examples that have confused and terrified their kindergarten and pre-K children at Mildred B. Poole Elementary School.

The Christian non-profit sent a demand letter to DoDEA on February 9, 2026, stating that multiple parents have reported “sexually inappropriate” behavior by the male, trans-identified substitute teacher and teacher’s aide.

The parents are upset that administrators have allowed him to engage in “disturbing behavior” that involves dressing in feminine clothing in class, as well as wearing a dog collar with fetish tags and an animal tail.

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President Trump to Direct Pentagon to Release Government Files Related to Aliens and UFOs

President Trump on Thursday ordered the Pentagon and other agencies to declassify and release government files related to aliens and UFOs.

“Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” Trump said on Truth Social.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that President Trump accused Obama of leaking classified information on aliens during an interview with far-left podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen.

Obama said Aliens are “real” adding, “But I haven’t seen them. And they’re not being kept in Area 51. There’s no underground facility—unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States.”

Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked President Trump about Obama’s comments on aliens.

“Barack Obama said that aliens are real. Have you seen any evidence of nonhuman visitors to Earth?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy said to Trump.

“Well, he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump said.

“So aliens are real?” Doocy asked Trump.

“Well, I don’t know if they’re real or not. I can tell you he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information,” Trump said.

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Pentagon Expands Base Commanders’ Authority to Counter Rising Drone Threats Following Inspector General Warning

Small drones have transformed modern conflict overseas, but their rapid spread is now forcing a rethink much closer to home. From suspicious drones observed near military bases to the growing availability of inexpensive, easily modified unmanned aircraft, U.S. defense officials have begun to acknowledge that drones operating in domestic airspace pose a serious and growing security threat.

This week, the Pentagon issued updated guidance granting base commanders greater authority and flexibility to respond to unauthorized drone incursions across the United States, marking one of the most significant shifts in domestic military counter-drone policy in years.

The move comes amid rising concern over repeated drone sightings near sensitive facilities and follows a new Department of Defense Inspector General warning that gaps in policy and inconsistent implementation have left U.S. military installations vulnerable.

The updated guidance builds upon a restructuring effort already underway since last summer, when the Department stood up Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401) to centralize counter-drone efforts across the military.

The latest policy changes now push operational authority closer to the commanders responsible for defending installations day to day. Taken together, the developments represent a shift from a fragmented, slow-moving approach to one designed for speed and adaptability in the face of rapidly evolving drone threats.

“The operational landscape has fundamentally and irrevocably changed,” a statement issued by the DoD reads. “The proliferation of inexpensive, capable, and weaponizable unmanned aerial systems (UAS) by both peer competitors and non-state actors presents a direct and growing threat to our installations, our personnel, and our mission, both at home and abroad.”

It’s undeniable that small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have transformed modern warfare. Cheap, commercially available drones can now carry cameras, sensors, or even explosives, and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated just how profoundly these systems can shape and disrupt military operations.

At the same time, unauthorized drone flights near U.S. military installations, energy infrastructure, testing ranges, and training facilities have surged in recent years. While defense officials have often publicly downplayed the national security implications of many of these incidents, they have slowly begun to acknowledge that the threat posed by drones is no longer confined to distant battlefields or foreign conflicts.

The Pentagon’s new guidance expands authorities available to installation commanders to detect, track, and defeat drones threatening military assets, reducing delays previously caused by layered approval processes.

The updated policy also removes a previous “fence-line” limitation, allowing commanders to respond to drone threats beyond the physical perimeter of military installations. It additionally clarifies that “unauthorized surveillance” of facilities now explicitly constitutes a threat.

“This, combined with the authority for commanders to make threat determinations based on the ‘totality of circumstances,’ grants greater operational flexibility,” the DoD says.

The move is tied to the Department of War’s Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401), which was established in August 2025 when the Secretary of Defense disbanded the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office and created a new organization intended to streamline the acquisition, testing, and deployment of counter-drone technologies.

As described in a memorandum for senior Pentagon leadership, the task force was formed to “better align authorities and resources to rapidly deliver Joint C-sUAS capabilities to America’s warfighters, defeat adversary threats, and promote sovereignty over national airspace.”

The goal of the task force was to eliminate duplication and speed delivery of counter-drone capabilities, especially as the number of organizations involved in drone defense efforts has grown, often operating without tight coordination.

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Pentagon orders more active-duty soldiers to ready for possible Minneapolis deployment

The Pentagon has ordered active-duty military police soldiers based in North Carolina to prepare for possible deployment to Minneapolis, three people familiar with the matter told MS NOW.

A prepare-to-deploy order was issued Tuesday for a battalion with the Army’s 16th Military Police Brigade stationed at Fort Bragg, two of the people told MS NOW. At least 500 soldiers are being prepared for the possible mobilization to Minneapolis, two of the people said. All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the deployments.

Asked for comment, a Pentagon official said, “We have nothing to announce at this time, and any tip about this is pre-decisional.”

The possible infusion of military police is in addition to the Pentagon orders last Friday that two battalions with the Army’s 11th Airborne Division prepare to deploy. The 11th Airborne is stationed in Alaska and specializes in winter weather conditions. Each infantry battalion has at least 500 soldiers.

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America’s war on…sex toys! Pete Hegseth accused of policing troops’ private lives with Pentagon crackdown on use of intimate devices

As US troops carry out high-stakes missions from Venezuela to the Middle East, the Pentagon has waged an unlikely new battle at home: the war on sex toys. 

In its latest culture-war skirmish, the Daily Mail can reveal military officials recently blocked the delivery of sex toys to troops overseas, igniting ridicule and debate over how far the military should police private life.

First came prohibitions on piercings and nail polish for male military members. Then followed a ban on books with LGBTQ+ and anti-discrimination themes in military libraries. 

Then Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sniped at overweight troops, those with religious beards and chaplains embracing what he deems as new-age beliefs.

Now the Department of War, as Hegseth has renamed the Defense Department, is taking aim at a new target – adult toys. 

In a glaring display of sweating the small stuff, Hegseth’s Navy sent two testy letters to an adult emporium in Toronto slamming it for fulfilling an order to American personnel on a US base in Bahrain.

The items in question: a bullet vibrator and butt plug.

‘Pornographic materials or devices are not allowed into the Kingdom of Bahrain,’ warned one letter sent from the base with the subject line: ‘Adult item identified during X-ray mail screening,’ along with the returned pleasure goods.

Another letter categorized the items as ‘posing an immediate danger to life or limb or an immediate and substantial danger to property.’

The Pentagon has declined comment on the letters, sent over the summer, which the Navy framed as acts of cultural sensitivity meant to avoid offending the conservative Muslim majority in the Persian Gulf island kingdom.

But official customs lists published by Bahrain’s government don’t explicitly list sex toys as forbidden, although they do prohibit the sale and importation of ‘obscene or immoral materials’ that – by either Bahraini or Hegseth’s standards – could apply to personal pleasure devices.

A Navy instructional publication for trainees explicitly states that ‘possession of adult sex toys in the barracks is prohibited’.

The letters have triggered a host of playful social media posts, including sex-toy war stories about which dildos, penis pumps and anal beads current and former US service members have been using to pleasure themselves on overseas bases.

Troops deployed to Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf countries face strict social restrictions and limited interaction with locals.

One of our Pentagon sources notes that maintaining mental health among troops has been a challenge in the region, pointing most notoriously to the 2018 suicide of Vice Admiral Scott Stearney, the commander of the US Naval Forces Central Command and the Fifth Fleet based on Bahrain.

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Magistrate Judge Blocks FBI From Accessing Devices Seized From Washington Post Reporter Who Obtained Illegally Leaked Information From Pentagon Contractor

A federal magistrate judge on Wednesday blocked the FBI from accessing devices seized from the Washington Post reporter who obtained illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor.

Among the items seized from Natanson: 2 silver MacBook Pros and a Pink iPhone.

As previously reported, the FBI raided the home of a Washington Post reporter who obtained classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor.

Feds executed a search warrant at the Alexandria, Virginia, home of WaPo reporter Hannah Natanson earlier this month as part of an investigation into a Maryland system administrator who has a top security clearance.

The FBI seized Natanson’s cell phone, two laptops (one personal and one work-related), and a Garmin watch.

Natanson is not the subject of the investigation.

According to The Washington Post, Natanson was at home at the time of the raid.

The contractor who stashed the classified documents at his home, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, is currently in jail.

FBI agents reportedly found classified intelligence reports in Perez-Lugones’ lunchbox and basement.

According to The Washington Post, Natanson was at home at the time of the raid.

The contractor who stashed the classified documents at his home, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, is currently in jail.

FBI agents reportedly found classified intelligence reports in Perez-Lugones’ lunchbox and basement.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the search was conducted at the Pentagon’s request.

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How the Pentagon Is Quietly Turning Laser Communications Into the Backbone of Future Space Warfare

Military communications have long depended on radio waves bouncing invisibly across land, sea, air, and space. However, as satellites multiply in orbit and the electromagnetic spectrum grows increasingly contested, the limits of traditional radio-frequency links are becoming harder to ignore.

Now, a new empirical study suggests that a less visible—and far more powerful—alternative is edging closer to practical, operational use: laser-based communications that can adapt on the fly to harsh and unpredictable conditions.

In a paper published in Optical Engineering, researchers from the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) describe the development and testing of a new optical receiver designed to support the SDA’s latest laser communication standard.

The research focuses on how to reliably receive laser signals that fluctuate wildly in strength as satellites race overhead—but its implications extend well beyond the lab.

At stake is whether the U.S. military can build a resilient, high-speed space communications backbone capable of supporting future defense operations.

The study focuses on the Space Development Agency’s Optical Communication Terminal standard, a set of specifications intended to ensure that laser communication systems built by different vendors can communicate with one another.

Interoperability is central to SDA’s “Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture” (PWSA), a satellite architecture composed of hundreds of relatively small spacecraft operating together in low Earth orbit.

Laser links promise far higher data rates than radio systems and are inherently harder to jam or intercept. However, they also introduce new technical hurdles, especially when signals must pass through Earth’s turbulent atmosphere.

“The Space Development Agency (SDA) has developed an Optical Communication Terminal standard to ensure system interoperability among a number of industry partners by defining critical technical specifications ranging from initial pointing, acquisition, and tracking to data modulation formats and error-correction protocols,” researchers explain.

That standard, now in its fourth major revision, adds support for what are known as burst-mode waveforms—signals that trade continuous transmission for short, intense pulses.

The appeal of burst mode lies in flexibility. When a satellite passes over a ground station, the strength of its laser signal can vary by roughly 20 decibels from start to finish due to changing distance, pointing geometry, and atmospheric distortion.

Rather than designing a system for worst-case conditions and accepting inefficiency the rest of the time, burst-mode signaling allows operators to dynamically sacrifice data rate in exchange for greater signal margin. To put it simply, the link can slow down when conditions are bad, rather than dropping out entirely.

To test how well this concept works in practice, researchers built and characterized a prototype ground receiver optimized for the SDA standard’s new burst-mode formats.

Unlike more complex coherent optical systems, the receiver relies on a large-area avalanche photodiode (APD) that can collect distorted light without the need for adaptive optics. That choice reflects a broader design philosophy: favoring robustness and simplicity over maximum theoretical performance.

“Burst-mode waveforms offer extended receiver power efficiency at the expense of data rate for longer range applications or size, weight, and power constrained terminals,” researchers explain.

For a mobile ground station, a ship at sea, or even an aircraft receiving data from space, maintaining a reliable link can matter more than pushing the highest possible throughput at every moment.

The experiments described in the paper show that the prototype receiver performs close to theoretical expectations across a wide range of operating conditions, particularly once front-end signal conditioning is applied.

While researchers stop short of claiming a fully fielded system, they describe it as an initial demonstration of an SDA-compliant burst-mode optical receiver—an important milestone for a standard intended to underpin real-world deployments.

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