Tag Archives: Air Force

Associated Press: Defense Secretary Hegseth, bedeviled by leaks, orders more restrictions on press at Pentagon

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Bedeviled by leaks to the media during his short tenure, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a series of restrictions on the press late Friday that include banning reporters from entering wide swaths of the Pentagon without a government escort — areas where the press has had access in past administrations as it covers the activities of the world’s most powerful military.

Newly restricted areas include his office and those of his top aides and all of the different locations across the mammoth building where the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Space Force maintain press offices.

The media will also be barred from offices of the Pentagon’s senior military leadership, including Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, without Hegseth’s approval and an escort from his aides. The staff of the Joint Chiefs has traditionally maintained a good relationship with the press.

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
Step out of line, the men come and take you away

Defense Secretary Hegseth, bedeviled by leaks, orders more restrictions on press at Pentagon
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered further restrictions on how the press operates at the Pentagon.

https://apnews.com/article/military-pentagon-hegseth-press-access-ff9ed0431848cae8816108a8b19c640f

MSNBC: Trump admin accepts jet from Qatar, ignoring legal restrictions and bipartisan pushback

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Team Trump’s decision to accept the Qatari “gift” doesn’t end the controversy; it starts the controversy.

The Times’ report added that the Defense Department “has not given an estimate of when the work on the Qatari plane might be done, even though Mr. Trump and the White House have made clear the president wants it soon, perhaps even by the end of the year.”

What the president “wants” is likely to prove irrelevant: NBC News recently reported that converting the luxury jet will “take years to complete.”

Indeed, it’s worth emphasizing that the administration’s decision to accept the Qatari “gift” doesn’t end the controversy; it starts the controversy.

Now that this plan is moving forward, the president and his White House team should prepare for a series of questions for which there are no easy answers. Where will Trump find the money to pay for this “free” plane? Why does he keep pretending that this “gift” isn’t for him personally, even after he’s publicly suggested otherwise? How does Trump intend to overcome the seemingly obvious fact that the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause still exists, and it appears to prohibit exactly this kind of arrangement?

Why was Attorney General Pam Bondi involved in approving this process after having served as a paid registered lobbyist for Qatar? How does Trump plan to explain away his earlier condemnations of presidents accepting foreign gifts? Why is the president apparently indifferent to the fact that even many of his Republican allies have expressed opposition to this idea? Will Congress have any role in approving the transfer, as is required for such gestures of international generosity?

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-admin-accepts-jet-qatar-ignoring-legal-restrictions-bipartisan-p-rcna208306

Daily Beast: Trump’s Joint Chiefs Pick Throws Prez Under the Bus in Confirmation Hearing

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President Donald Trump’s pick to be chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff refused to lie for the president and instead threw his prospective boss under the bus at a confirmation hearing.

Retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine told a Senate committee on Tuesday morning that he was not wearing a red MAGA hat when he first met Trump in Iraq in 2018—after the president claimed he was.

“For 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission,” Caine told Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican, according to Politico. “And I have never worn any political merchandise.”

Trump’s Joint Chiefs Pick Throws Prez Under the Bus in Confirmation Hearing

Trump’s Joint Chiefs Pick Throws Prez Under the Bus in Confirmation Hearing

Defense One: Space Force may use SpaceX satellites instead of developing its own, senator says

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The satellites in question are part of the data transport layer of the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

More shameless corruption benefitting Musk:

The Air Force may cancel the development of hundreds of Space Development Agency satellites and give the work to SpaceX, one senator said Thursday—a move that would shut out other companies hoping to bid. 

The satellites in question are part of the data transport layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a planned network of hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit.

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Cutting these bids “means maybe eight, or more, small-, mid-sized companies would not be allowed to bid,” Cramer said.

Space Force may use SpaceX satellites instead of developing its own, senator says
The satellites in question are part of the data transport layer of the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

Space Force may use SpaceX satellites instead of developing its own, senator says – Defense One

The Hill: House Republican on war plans chat: ‘There’s no doubt that Russia and China saw this stuff’

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Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said there’s “no doubt” that Russia and China were monitoring the U.S. officials’ devices used for a war plan text chat.

“I will guarantee you, 99.99 percent with confidence, Russia and China are monitoring those two phones,” Bacon told CNN’s Manu Raju. “So I just think it’s a security violation, and there’s no doubt that Russia and China saw this stuff within hours of the actual attacks on Yemen or the Houthis.”

National security adviser Mike Waltz reportedly invited The Atlantic’s top editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, into the Signal group, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared secret war plans.

Bacon, a former Air Force brigadier general and a member of the House Armed Services committee, said he always was concerned about Hegseth, an Army veteran who was a longtime Fox News host.

Bacon called the group chat, which also included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President Vance, among others, a “gross error.”

“They intentionally put highly classified information on an unclassified device,” he told CNN. “I would have lost my security clearance in the Air Force for this and for a lot less.”

House Republican on war plans chat: ‘There’s no doubt that Russia and China saw this stuff’
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said there’s “no doubt” that Russia and China were monitoring the U.S. officials’ devices used for a war plan text chat. “I will guarantee you, 99.99 percent with conf…

Don Bacon says Russia, China likely saw war plans group chat