Tag: pentagon

Report: Pentagon Agency Believes US Needs To Drop A Nuke To Destroy Iran’s Fordow Nuclear Plant

The Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has told US officials that in order to destroy Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant, which is buried deep underground, the US may need to drop a nuclear weapon, The Guardian has reported.

According to the report, Pentagon officials who received the briefing were told that dropping GBU-57s, conventional 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs, would not penetrate deep enough underground and that it would only do enough damage to collapse tunnels and bury the facility under rubble.

The officials were told that in order to destroy Fordow completely, the US would likely need to first soften the ground with conventional bombs and then ultimately drop a tactical nuclear weapon from a B2 bomber.

The report said that President Trump is not considering using a nuclear weapon and that the option was not presented to him by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. According to a report from Axios, Trump is casting doubt on the idea that the GBU-57s could do enough damage to destroy the facility.

Israel wants the US to drop the bunker-busting bombs on Fordow since it lacks the capability, but so far, Trump has not given the order for US airstrikes on Iran. The president said on Thursday that he would decide within two weeks, although there are indications that attacks could begin this weekend.

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Pentagon Officer on Joint Chiefs Of Staff Planning Team Removed For Calling Israel a “Death Cult”

An officer serving on the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Levant desk, tasked with assessing Israel-related matters, was sacked by the Pentagon after social media posts revealed he labeled the Zionist Israeli regime a “death cult.”

Reports claim U.S. Army Capt. Nathan McCormack, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s J5 planning directorate for the Levant and Egypt branch, was recently expelled over posts critical of Israel’s war on Gaza and more.

“The information on the X account does not reflect the position of the Joint Staff or the Department of Defense,” the Pentagon noted in a statement to the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS). “The individual is being returned to his service while the matter is being investigated.”

“He will no longer be on the joint staff while the matter is being investigated,” the Pentagon wrote.

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Hegseth orders ‘additional capabilities’ to Middle East

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Monday that he has directed “the deployment of additional capabilities” to the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.

“Protecting US forces is our top priority and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region,” Hegseth said in a post on social platform X.

He did not name the additional capabilities, though earlier on Monday a U.S. official confirmed to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network, that the U.S. military has moved a large number of refueling tanker aircraft to Europe.

The move is intended to “provide options” to Trump amid the escalating tensions, the official added.

Pentagon and White House officials have declined to say how many aircraft have been moved, but the flight tracking website AirNav Systems counted more than 31 Air Force refueling aircraft such as KC-135s and KC-46s leaving the United States on Sunday and flying east. The military flights eventually landed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and in the United Kingdom, Estonia and Greece, according to the website.

A Defense official also confirmed to The Hill that Hegseth directed the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group be sent to the Middle East “to sustain our defensive posture and safeguard American personnel.”

Multiple outlets have reported that the action was a pre-planned deployment that had been expedited. The vessel is able to hold some 5,000 personnel and more than 60 aircraft, including fighter jets.

U.S. European Command also deployed two destroyers to the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Friday. The vessels can help defend against guided missile strikes.

The Navy “continues to conduct operations in the Eastern Mediterranean in support of U.S. national security objectives,” the official said.

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Hegseth says the Pentagon has contingency plans to invade Greenland if necessary

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared to acknowledge that the Pentagon has developed plans to take over Greenland and Panama by force if necessary but refused to answer repeated questions at a hotly combative congressional hearing Thursday about his use of Signal chats to discuss military operations.

Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee repeatedly got into heated exchanges with Hegseth, with some of the toughest lines of questioning coming from military veterans as many demanded yes or no answers and he tried to avoid direct responses about his actions as Pentagon chief.

In one back-and-forth, Hegseth did provide an eyebrow-raising answer. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., asked whether the Pentagon has developed plans to take Greenland or Panama by force if necessary.

“Our job at the Defense Department is to have plans for any contingency,” Hegseth said several times.

It is not unusual for the Pentagon to draw up contingency plans for conflicts that have not arisen, but his handling of the questions prompted a Republican lawmaker to step in a few minutes later.

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Pentagon quietly boosts presence in Syria despite ‘withdrawal’ plans

The US-led international coalition has deployed over 100 trucks of military and logistical reinforcements to its bases in northeastern Syria over the past two days, according to a report by Shafaq on 12 June. The move comes despite recent US announcements of troop drawdowns and base closures in the country.

The convoy, which crossed from Iraq through the Al-Waleed border crossing, was loaded with military vehicles, fuel, food, water, and sealed containers believed to contain weapons and ammunition. The supplies were delivered to coalition bases in Khrab al-Jeer, Qasrak, and Al-Shaddadi in Syria’s Hasakah province.

A source from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told the Shafaq news outletthat “weekly deliveries of military and logistical equipment are ongoing,” despite Washington’s claims of scaling down operations. The source confirmed that US forces remain stationed at their posts in Kurdish-controlled territories, actively cooperating with the SDF to contain Islamic State (ISIS) activities.

“The Coalition, in coordination with the SDF, continues to monitor ISIS cells to prevent the group from exploiting the current situation to reorganize or carry out attacks in Syria,” the source stated.

On Wednesday, the SDF announced a joint operation with coalition forces in Al-Mansoura, west of Raqqa, that resulted in the arrest of two prominent ISIS operatives. 

Abdul Sattar Abdul Fattah al-Mohammed, known as “Abu Amira,” and his brother, Mohammed Abdul Fattah al-Mohammed, known as “Abu Al-Baraa,” were captured at a workshop used for manufacturing car bombs and explosive silencers.“These individuals were directly involved in producing improvised explosive devices,” the SDF said in a statement. “The Islamic State’s efforts to destabilize the region will be met with firm resistance to safeguard civilians and public institutions.”

The redeployment of coalition assets comes amid renewed warnings from regional and western intelligence sources that ISIS is attempting a resurgence in both Syria and Iraq.

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Hegseth Says DOD Was Spending Tens of Millions Sticking Marbles Inside the Rear Ends of Cats During Jaw-Dropping Senate Testimony

President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, testified before the Senate that the Department of Defense was spending tens of millions of dollars on tests that involved sticking “marbles in the rear ends of cats.”

Hegseth brought up the cruel and wasteful animal research during his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on Wednesday.

The exchange began as Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin grilled Hegseth about his administration ending many wasteful research grants.

“Give me an example of a ‘boondoggle’ in medical research and defense health,” Sen. Durbin said, likely unprepared for the response.

“I mean, we’re talking about some stuff I shouldn’t say in public, you know, marbles in the rear ends of cats, tens of millions of dollars,” Hegseth said while pantomiming inserting a marble in a cat’s rectum. “Things that don’t have a connection to what you’re talking about.”

“Is this like three hundred and fifty year old Social Security check that the president told us about?” the senator shot back.

Hegseth replied, “I respect completely the issue that you’re speaking with, and this department couldn’t be more sympathetic to that and ensure that it’s funded. But the Defense Department has been a place where organizations, entities, and companies know they can get money almost unchecked to whether or not it actually applies to things that happen on the battlefield.”

Sen. Rand Paul thanked Hegseth for highlighting the spending that he worked with White Coat Waste, an organization dedicated to ending taxpayer-funded animal testing, to expose.

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THE GREAT HOAX IN THE SKY: AARO Report Shows Many UFO Conspiracy Theories Were Disseminated by the Pentagon To Disguise Secret Weapons Programs

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) was created by the United States Department of Defense in 2022 to investigate the countless UFO sightings and conspiracy theories with access to classified Government documents and top personnel.

In 2024, the AARO produced an in-depth report about the phenomenon, showing that many of the most disseminated UFO theories — including the one about aliens being kept at Area 51 in Nevada — were fueled by the Pentagon.

This was done, according to the report, to provide cover for secret weapons programs.

The report was initially reviewed by the Wall Street Journal and is making the rounds throughout the MSM.

An incident reported by the AARO tells how, in the 1980s, an Air Force colonel visited a Nevada bar near the infamous Area 51 and gave the owner fabricated photos of flying saucers near the secret government base.

The New York Post reported:

“The incident renewed local fervor over UFOs, with the now-retired colonel confessing to Pentagon investigators that he was on an official mission to spread disinformation and hide the true purpose of the site, where the government was testing the first-ever stealth warplane, the F-117 Nighthawk.”

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Trump’s Pentagon keeps sending destroyers that fought in the Red Sea to the US southern border — a fourth one is on its way

A fourth US Navy destroyer that participated in the Red Sea conflict is on its way to support President Donald Trump’s southern border mission, bringing a range of advanced naval combat capabilities to a very different operating environment.

The Navy announced Friday that the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Cole had left its homeport in Florida to support US Northern Command’s “border security objectives.”

The Trump administration has made cracking down on maritime-related criminal activity, including weapons smuggling, drug trafficking, and illegal immigration, a top priority, and the Defense Department has sent military assets to the US-Mexico border. Among these assets are five destroyers and a littoral combat ship on staggered deployments.

Cole, like the other warships, is set to be accompanied by a US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment. They specialize in military operations at sea, such as counterterrorism, counterpiracy, and anti-immigration missions.

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers like the Cole are advanced naval surface ships with robust communications and sensor suites and are suited for long-endurance missions. These vessels can be armed with surface-to-air and land-attack missiles. Other armaments include the ship’s five-inch deck gun, machine guns, and a Phalanx Close-In Weapons System.

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Pentagon redirects missile components from Kiev to own forces – WSJ

The Pentagon has redirected key missile components originally intended for Ukraine’s air defense to American forces in the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a confidential notification sent to Congress last week. The move comes as US President Donald Trump has been winding down support for Ukraine since entering office. 

According to the WSJ, the move concerns proximity fuzes used in ground-based Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) – a guided rocket system that Ukraine has reportedly been using for the past several years to shoot down drones. The fuzes were acquired under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative under former US President Joe Biden. Although funding for the initiative has already been spent, previously approved shipments are still scheduled to arrive in Ukraine later this year and the next.

However, the WSJ has claimed that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the transfer of the fuzes via an internal memo last month, designating it as a “Secretary of Defense Identified Urgent Issue.” The decision was reportedly communicated to the Senate Armed Services Committee, although the Pentagon has declined to comment publicly.

Citing anonymous sources and internal documents, the WSJ said the US Air Force intends to use the reallocated fuzes in rockets mounted on F-16 and F-15E fighter jets. The redirection was permitted under an emergency military spending bill passed last year.

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Trump’s $795M Data Power Play Sends Palantir Soaring 140%–But Here’s the Hidden Risk

Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) is riding a wave of government contracts as the Trump administration ramps up efforts to centralize and analyze federal data. Since Trump signed an executive order in March calling for more interagency data sharing, Palantir has quietly become the go-to vendor for building that digital infrastructure. The company has landed more than $113 million in new and extended federal contracts since Trump took office including a blockbuster $795 million deal with the Pentagon last week. Palantir’s Foundry platform is already in use at Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, and engineers were recently embedded at the IRS to begin building a unified, searchable database for taxpayer records. Talks are also underway with the Social Security Administration and Department of Education, suggesting more agencies could follow.

Investor enthusiasm hasn’t lagged. Since Trump’s re-election, Palantir shares have surged more than 140%, fueled by the prospect that the company may now become the digital backbone of the U.S. federal government. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)a Musk-led initiativehas been instrumental in Palantir’s rise, with several DOGE members having ties to Palantir or Peter Thiel-backed ventures. The company’s tools are now being used to connect data points ranging from immigration status and bank accounts to student loans and disability claims. In April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded Palantir a $30 million contract to track migrant movements in real time another sign of how fast the government is scaling its use of Foundry.

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