Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced today he will ask Congress to revise military law to prevent commanders from overturning major convictions. The decision is in response to a controversial overturned verdict of an Air Force pilot convicted of sexual assault. The move to makes changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) represents a partial victory for victims of ... Read More »
On 15 March Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced his commitment to increase ground based missile defense. This comes as other country’s recent increase their long range missile strike capabilities; specifically those made by North Korea (link to milpages article) and Iran. “The United States has missile defense systems in place to protect us from limited ICBM attacks, but North Korea ... Read More »
This morning, President Obama officially submitted his nomination to the Senate for who he wants to head the Department of Defense. Rumors had been flying around for some time that Chuck Hagel would be President Obama’s pick, which drew strong preemptive criticism from groups on the left and right. The President made it so this morning, and the firestorm has begun. Hagel ... Read More »
This past Sunday evening, CBS’s 60 Minutes ran a story called “An Interview with Leon Panetta”, which revealed some interesting thoughts from the Secretary of Defense. In the introduction, reporter Scott Pelley describes the former 73 year-old congressman “as the one tracked down Osama Bin Laden”. Pelley continues by saying Panetta has held the toughest jobs in Washington: as budget ... Read More »
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta reported today that there could be up to 19,000 sexual assaults amongst active military personnel. Panetta said that there were 3,191 reported sex assault cases in the military last year but believes the number to be much higher, suggesting that thousands more go unreported. Secretary Panetta said in his announcement from the Pentagon “Our men ... Read More »
Let me say up front that I admire Robert Gates, and I think that he was one of the finest secretaries of defense we’ve had, at least in my memory. I was sad to see him retire, though I know he needed some well-deserved rest. Not only did he handwrite a letter to the family of every fallen service member ... Read More »
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