U.S. Defense Department

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Chinese and Russian bombers patrolling off Alaska raise concerns about growing military cooperation Russian and Chinese bombers flew together for the first time in international airspace off the coast of Alaska, in a new show of expanding military cooperation that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday raises concerns. Read more.

Why this matters: The aircraft, said Austin, didn’t enter U.S. airspace and only got within about 200 miles of the coast. They were, however, within the ADIZ, which begins where sovereign airspace ends, and aircraft must be easily identifiable and file flight plans for authorization in order to meet national security requirements.   China and Russia both acknowledged what they called a joint patrol over the Bering Sea, which divides Russia and Alaska. Their growing military relationship has triggered concerns both among NATO allies and with nations in the Asia-Pacific.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Ukraine’s foreign minister seeking ‘common ground’ with China in talks on ending war with Russia   China, Russia start joint naval drills, days after NATO allies called Beijing a Ukraine war enabler   US Coast Guard patrol spots Chinese naval ships off Alaska island

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Nimble new defense contractors

An M109A7 Paladin fires during a training exercise at Camp Grayling, Mich. Photo: Ariana Shuemake/DVIDS A group of novel defense contractors — fueled by software and outside expertise, and hungry for big-money contracts — is finding traction, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes. Why it matters: The Pentagon's inability to make unorthodox bets has rendered it under-supplied and vulnerable to more nimble adversaries. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said last week that the Pentagon "cannot tolerate the same old mindsets" as it competes with China and Russia. Pentagon chief tech officer Heidi Shyu separately called the pace of "nontraditional, venture-backed companies" entering the defense industry unprecedented: "They're nipping at the heels, I tell you. I have traditional defense contractors say: 'Hey, this isn't fair.'" Reality check: Progress is easily undone — especially by a new administration, and a lumbering bureaucracy happy to revert to tradition.

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Fact Check

DOD removed pages about Native American Iwo Jima veteran Ira Hayes — then restored one, with changes

In 1945, Hayes was one of six men famously photographed raising an American flag on Iwo Jima.

Claim:

The U.S. Department of Defense in early 2025 removed a webpage about Ira Hayes, a Marine and Pima Nation member best known for being one of the six men who raised a U.S. flag on Iwo Jima during WWII.

Rating:

True

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dod-native-american-ira-hayes-removed/?

ps:How sad what this criminals actions are doing to men that have fought for this country!!!

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DOD removed pages that referenced the Holocaust, then restored at least one

In the process of purging its websites of DEI references, the Pentagon removed articles about the Holocaust.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dod-pages-dei-holocaust/?

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Signal chat

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s position in the Trump administration appears to be safe despite new revelations that he created a second Signal group chat on his personal phone and allegedly shared sensitive details about US military airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen. “The President stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday. Last month, it was revealed that Hegseth and other top officials had discussed the same attack in a group chat on the commercially available app, a conversation that inadvertently included a journalist. Hegseth's second chat group contained at least 12 people, including his wife, brother and lawyer.

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Hegseth Purges Defense Advisory Board After MAGA Came For It

On Tucker Carlson’s show, a MAGA loyalist ripped the Defense Policy Board. In short order, Pete Hegseth purged all its members.

https://theintercept.com/2025/04/25/hegseth-defense-policy-board-pentagon-tucker-carlson/?

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Hegseth’s plan to cut senior military jobs could hit more than 120 high-ranking officers Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plans to slash the number of senior military leaders across the services would cut more than 120 high-ranking officer jobs in the active duty and National Guard, including as many as nine top general slots. The cuts are part of a government-wide campaign to slash spending and personnel across federal agencies being pushed by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Read more.

Why this matters: Based on the percentages outlined by Hegseth and his senior staff, 20% of the 44 authorized top active duty general and admiral jobs would be eliminated, along with 10% of the more than 800 one-, two- and three-star positions, according to numbers compiled by The Associated Press.   According to Hegseth and others, the intent of the military job reductions isn’t to reduce the overall size of the force but to thin out the higher ranks and offset those cuts with additional troops at lower levels. Some Democratic members of Congress have criticized Hegseth’s plans as an attempt to politicize the military and oust leaders who don’t agree with the Trump administration.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Senate confirms Troy Meink, former air crewman and space expert, as the new Air Force secretary   Trump’s new pardon attorney says he will scrutinize pardons that Biden issued at the end of his term   Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan is indicted on accusations she helped a man evade immigration agents   Federal judge OKs use of Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans who are labeled gang members   Trump trade war faces legal challenge as businesses, states argue his tariffs exceeded his power   20 Democratic attorneys general sue Trump administration over conditions placed on federal funds   Judge strips NYC of full authority over Rikers Island, citing ‘unprecedented’ violence   Family of US-born child deported to Honduras drops lawsuit against Trump administration   A pregnant Cuban emigre worries about her baby’s citizenship as Supreme Court weighs a Trump order   Popular Turkish American online political commentator detained, questioned at Chicago airport   Judge overturns Michigan’s 24-hour waiting period before an abortion   Mexican security chief confirms cartel family members entered US in a deal with Trump administration   India disputes Trump’s claim that trade incentives led to the India-Pakistan ceasefire   What’s in Trump’s big bill? Trillions in tax cuts, changes to Medicaid and more   Inflation cooled again even as some tariffs took effect. But economists don’t expect that to last   Newark problems and recent crashes put focus on air traffic controller shortage and aging equipment   Arizona governor signs ‘Emily’s Law’ to alert when Native Americans go missing   California approves State Farm’s request for 17% premium increase for homeowners   WATCH: Buttigieg in Iowa, has criticism for Trump and Democrats

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DoD contracts

The Department of Defense has awarded contracts of up to $200 million each to OpenAI, Alphabet’s Google, Anthropic and Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, the agency said on Monday. Doug Matty, the DoD’s chief digital and AI officer, said the deals will help the agency develop AI workflows that will address critical national security challenges. Musk’s xAI also announced on Monday that it was making a suite of its products called “Grok for Government” available to federal, local, state and national security customers. Just one week ago, xAI’s chatbot Grok pushed antisemitic tropes in its responses to some users’ queries. When asked by a user “who is controlling the government,” the bot replied with an answer containing even more anti-Jewish tropes

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Hegseth reposts video on social media featuring pastors saying women shouldn’t be allowed to vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who oversees the nation’s military reposted a video about a Christian nationalist church that included various pastors saying women should no longer be allowed to vote.

https://apnews.com/article/women-hegseth-defense-secretary-religion-d962f472910fb47a0c66cd37b01f550d?

ps:Really?????

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Hegseth fires general whose agency’s intel assessment of damage from Iran strikes angered Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired a general whose agency’s initial intelligence assessment of U.S. damage to Iranian nuclear sites angered President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the decision and a White House official.

https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-dia-iran-intelligence-trump-kruse-5cb1fb89b8f12c3b517f139f6d840b48?

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Hegseth sparks confusion with sudden summons of top generals

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will address senior U.S. military leaders at a meeting next week, according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. He offered no additional details.

https://www.axios.com/2025/09/25/pentagon-hegseth-generals-virginia-meeting?

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Missile-toting autonomous aircraft

Shield AI's The X-BAT aircraft. Photo: Bryan Dozier for Axios Defense startup Shield AI pulled back the curtain yesterday on X-BAT, an autonomous aircraft it has for weeks teased as the future of air power, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes. Why it matters: The Defense Department is seeking smart machinery to augment troops across ground, sea and air. It's Shield's largest airframe to date, as well as its entry into the lucrative robotic wingman space. X-BAT is designed to take off and land vertically, requiring no runway. "Fully operational flight" is expected in 2028. Keep reading.

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US launches strikes on 4 alleged drug-running boats in the eastern Pacific, killing 14

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that the U.S. military has carried out strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean on four boats accused of carrying drugs, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor in the deadliest single day since the Trump administration began its divisive campaign against drug trafficking in the waters off South America.

https://apnews.com/article/drug-cartels-hegseth-pacific-8f9f65dd67c0bc55b6dd70b109df0216?

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Breaking down claim renaming Defense Department would cost more than housing every homeless veteran

The Department of Veterans Affairs' budget for homelessness programs was $3.2 billion in fiscal year 2025.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/11/20/defense-department-renaming-cost-homeless-veterans/?

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Real Reason for Pentagon Pete Commander’s Shock Retirement Revealed

Reports initially stated Hegseth had nothing to do with the officer’s abrupt exit.

A top Pentagon officer whose abrupt retirement came as a shock to his colleagues was reportedly forced out after repeated clashes with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Admiral Alvin Holsey, the head of U.S. Southern Command, had been in charge of U.S. forces in Latin America, which included Donald Trump’s crackdown on “narco-terrorists” in the area.

Questions were asked after Hegseth announced on social media in October that the four-star officer would be retiring at the end of the year after 37 years in the Navy. Holsey, 60, only started the job, which usually has a three-year term, in November last year—meaning he was leaving two years early.At the time, rumors flew that his departure was due to clashes with Hegseth over the Caribbean mission.

The Washington Post reported at the time that Hegseth, 45, had grown “disenchanted” with Holsey and wanted him to step aside—a claim denied by the Defense Department.

A new report in The Wall Street Journal confirms that Hegseth actually asked the former helicopter pilot to step down after months of feuding between the pair.

Citing two Pentagon officials aware of the discussions, the Journal report says the bad blood began after Trump’s inauguration in January and heated up after Holsey questioned the legality of the fatal strikes on alleged “narco-terrorist” boats in the Caribbean.

Holsey was just one of a number of senior military leaders who have left since the former Fox News host got his job at the Pentagon, anointing himself the “Secretary of War.”

But demanding that a commander quit during a major military operation is highly unusual, the Journal reports.

“Having [Holsey] leave at this particular moment, at the height of what the Pentagon considers to be the central action in our hemisphere, is just shocking,” Todd Robinson, who was assistant secretary for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs until January, told the publication.

“Serving as your commander and deputy for the past 34 months has been a tremendous honor,” Holsey wrote on X in October.

Holsey has been silent since the announcement of his retirement, declining all interview requests.

In October, a Pentagon source told the Daily Beast, “Admiral Holsey didn’t resign in protest and anyone writing that has no clue what they’re talking about.”

Hegseth has been mired in controversy after reportedly ordering that everybody should be killed in a strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in September, prompting follow-up strikes against two survivors that amount to a war crime.

One of his former colleagues at Fox News has said it gives him “no pleasure to say” that the defense secretary must be prosecuted for war crimes.

“I wish the White House would reveal to us the laws on which the president is relying. He says he has an opinion from the Justice Department, but neither the Justice Department nor the White House will offer it for public scrutiny,” Andrew Napolitano, who now works for the MAGA-friendly Newsmax, said on Tuesday.

“And it gives me no pleasure to say what I’m about to say, because I worked with Peter Hegseth for seven or eight years at Fox News, but this is an act of a war crime. Ordering survivors, who the law requires be rescued, instead to be murdered. There’s absolutely no legal basis for it,” Napolitano said.

A retired judge, Napolitano, 75, was kicked out of Fox News in 2021 following claims of sexual misconduct.

Hegseth has been dealing with the fallout from a report in The Washington Post that he was behind September’s “kill everybody” order.

Navy Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, said to have issued the actual order to fire again to wipe out the two survivors, but did so only under Hegseth’s authority.

On Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Hegseth said he watched the initial strike on the boat but claimed he did not “personally see survivors” clinging to the burning wreckage. He said he did not “stick around” for the second strike and, because he was busy, had already “moved on to my next meeting.”

“I did not personally see survivors,” Hegseth said. “That thing was on fire... This is called the fog of war.”

Twelve hours after reaching out, a Pentagon official told the Daily Beast, “Admiral Hosley was not fired, he was asked to retire on good terms. Since that time, the team has worked in harmony. We are grateful for his service to our nation, and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/real-reason-for-pentagon-pete-commander-retirement-revealed/?

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Hegseth's multifront war

Photo illustration: Allie Carl/Axios. Photo: Getty Images Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth didn't issue a "kill them all" order for U.S. attacks on a suspected drug boat near Venezuela, a U.S. Navy admiral told lawmakers today, Alex Fitzpatrick writes. ⚓️ Navy Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley "was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said after a classified briefing, AP reports. Lawmakers on both sides are speaking out after seeing video today of a September "double-tap" strike in the Caribbean that has ensnared Hegseth in controversy. ? In the incident, U.S. forces killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters. Many Democrats and other critics say the act was illegal. ? The Trump administration has rallied around Hegseth, who said at a Cabinet meeting this week: "We've only just begun striking narco-boats and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean." Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the House Intel Committee's top Democrat, told reporters: "What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service." Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, said on MS NOW's "Morning Joe" that if captured and convicted, the suspected drug runners "would be put in jail. They wouldn't be subject to capital punishment. These people are being killed, not held and put in prison." (Video) The Defense Department is considering publicly releasing footage of the strike, Axios' Stef W. Kight reports. Some key lawmakers are defending Hegseth. Sen. Cotton posted on X: "Nearly 400 Arkansans were killed by drug overdoses last year alone. President Trump's strikes against narco-terrorists who are flooding our nation with drugs are both legal and necessary." ? Separately, a long-anticipated Pentagon inspector general report out today found that Hegseth violated Defense Department rules and potentially jeopardized U.S. pilots when sharing details ahead of strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen via Signal earlier this year. "If this information had fallen into the hands of U.S. adversaries, Houthi forces might have been able to counter U.S. forces or reposition personnel and assets to avoid planned U.S. strikes," the report found. ?️ "Even though these events did not ultimately occur, the Secretary's actions created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots." Hegseth wrote on X: "No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed. Houthis bombed into submission. Thank you for your attention to this IG report." Get the latest ... Read the IG's Signal report ... IG report on DOD messaging.

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US military launches strikes in Syria targeting Islamic State fighters after American deaths

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration launched military strikes Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Islamic State group fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter almost a week ago.

https://apnews.com/article/syria-islamic-state-hegseth-trump-61dcee09576ce806de3a04aaec152495?

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👀 Hegseth fires Army chief

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to leave his post, a Defense official confirmed to Axios' Dave Lawler and Colin Demarest.

• Why it matters: George is the Army's most senior general, the top uniformed officer, and was fired in wartime. He's the latest of more than a dozen generals and admirals to be removed by Hegseth over the past year.

Gen. Christopher LaNeve, formerly Hegseth's top military aide, will be acting Army chief of staff.

• The ouster, first reported by CBS, resulted from Hegseth's long-running grievances with the Army and battles over personnel, the N.Y. Times reports.

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Outgunned at home

Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios

A Pentagon competition to build out a killer drone fleet ended with a small British company crushing American contractors on their own turf, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes. Why it matters: The Defense Department's Drone Dominance push is designed to arm American troops with expendable drones on a massive scale in a few short years. It's also a tacit admission of how ill-prepared the U.S. is to match some combat conditions seen overseas: Roughly 75% of casualties in the Russia–Ukraine war are caused by drones. 🔎 Zoom in: Skycutter — the British company with frontline Ukraine experience — entered the Shrike 10-F, a 10-inch drone that can be operated via fiber optic cable to counter electronic jamming and spoofing. The drone is the result of collaboration with SkyFall, a Ukrainian outfit. "They make one every 23 seconds, 123,000 units per month," Vincent Gardner, Skycutter's operations director, told Axios. "We redesigned it with them to exclude any Chinese parts or components." Gardner was blunt: "A lot of people came with, I would argue, quite overengineered solutions. … These drones, they're like mechanical wasps." 🏆 The result: It was a blowout. Skycutter scored an overall 99.3 at an attack drone fly-off at Fort Benning in Georgia. In second was Neros, a Southern California startup, at 87.5. Skycutter, which has a manufacturing footprint in Atlanta, is now under contract for more than 2,500 drones. It plans to boost U.S. manufacturing in the near term. Photo: Presidential Office of Ukraine 🔮 Future of war: Here's another story that caught Colin's attention … A viral video is making the rounds of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bragging about taking a Russian position with only robots and drones. No human soldiers. Inside the story: Ukraine, outmanned and outgunned by Russia, has spun up a sci-fi-style defense industry. Zelensky said Ukrainian ground robots carried out more than 22,000 missions in just three months. Frontline footage from the robots helps fuel fundraising for cheap drones and interceptors. More on the "Gauntlet" ...