Pentagon

Pentagon Fails Seventh Straight Audit

November 19, 2024 Jake Johnson, Common Dreams. Educate! Audit, Finance and the Economy, Military Budget, Pentagon

The Pentagon announced late last week that it failed its seventh consecutive audit as the sprawling, profiteering-ridden department wasn't able to fully account for its trillions of dollars in assets. As with its past failures to achieve a clean audit, the U.S. Defense Department attempted to cast the 2024 results in a positive light, with the Pentagon's chief financial officer declaring in a statement that "momentum is on our side." The Pentagon is the largest U.S. federal agency and is responsible for roughly half of the government's annual discretionary spending, with its yearly budget approaching $1 trillion despite long-standing concerns about the department's inability to account for vast sums of money approved by lawmakers and presidents from both major parties.

US Military Makes First Confirmed OpenAI Purchase For Fighting Forces

October 30, 2024 Sam Biddle, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Artificial Intelligence, OpenAI, Pentagon, US military, Wars and Militarism

Less than a year after OpenAI quietly signaled it wanted to do business with the Pentagon , a procurement document obtained by The Intercept shows U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, believes access to OpenAI’s technology is “essential” for its mission. The September 30 document lays out AFRICOM’s rationale for buying cloud computing services directly from Microsoft as part of its $9 billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract, rather than seeking another provider on the open market. “The USAFRICOM operates in a dynamic and evolving environment where IT plays a critical role in achieving mission objectives,” the document reads, including “its vital mission in support of our African Mission Partners [and] USAFRICOM joint exercises.”

Pentagon Confirms US Troops To Operate THAAD Missile Defense In Israel

October 14, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Iran, Israel, Pentagon, THAAD, US military, Wars and Militarism

The US military will send a missile defense battery and troops to operate it in Israel, the Pentagon said on 13 October, amid warnings from Iran that Washington should keep all US military forces out of Israel. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin authorized the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery at the direction of President Joe Biden, the Pentagon said in a statement. The US is seeking to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following a large-scale Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israeli airbases on 1 October. Tehran launched the ballistic missile barrage in retaliation for multiple aggressions carried out by Tel Aviv, including the assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in July and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on 27 September.

Deal Or No Deal?

October 3, 2024 Andrew P. Napolitano, Consortium News. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, George W. Bush, Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights, Pentagon, Torture

The case of the Gitmo plea agreement keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. A few weeks ago, we learned that a plea agreement had been entered into by way of a signed contract among the retired general in the Pentagon who is supervising all Gitmo prosecutions, the Gitmo defendants and defense counsel, and the military prosecutors. The agreement, as we understand it from sources who have seen it, provides that in return for a guilty plea, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and others will serve life terms at Gitmo, rather than be exposed at trial to the death penalty. The guilty plea is to include a public and detailed recitation of guilt.

Lebanon’s UK Envoy Warns Of ‘Doomsday’ Scenario For West Asia

September 21, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. Resist! Genocide, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Pentagon, Wars and Militarism, West Asia

An Israeli ground invasion of southern Lebanon would be a “doomsday” scenario leading to an all-out regional conflict and the radicalization of Muslims in Europe, a senior Lebanese diplomat warned in an interview with The Times on 20 September. Rami Mortada, Lebanon’s ambassador to the UK, warned that the UK-trained Lebanese army would not “stand idly” by and watch if Israel launches a ground invasion or “heavy aerial attack” on Lebanon. Israel has said it seeks to create a buffer zone in south Lebanon by pushing Hezbollah’s forces some 30 kilometers away from the Israel border to behind the Litani River. Since 8 October, Hezbollah has been striking Israeli military sites near the border with missiles and drones, forcing Israelis in the northern settlements to evacuate their homes. Hezbollah says it will continue targeting Israel until its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is halted.

Pentagon Renovates Israeli Air Base

September 14, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Iran, Israel, Pentagon, US Foreign Bases

The US Department of Defense is building aircraft facilities in Israel to accommodate new US-made KC-46A Pegasus refueling tanker planes that could assist in an attack on Iran, The Intercept reported on 14 September. Army Corps of Engineers documents show new buildings will be constructed and existing buildings will be upgraded, including hangars, warehouses, and storage facilities, at a military base in the south of Israel. The project includes “establishing and adapting aviation and maintenance infrastructure for the KC-46,” including the construction of five new concrete and steel structures, the documents show.

World-Ending Maneuvers?

August 8, 2024 Hekmat Aboukhater and William D. Hartung, Scheer Post. Educate! Nuclear War, Nuclear Weapons, Pentagon, Wars and Militarism

The Pentagon is in the midst of a massive $2 trillion multiyear plan to build a new generation of nuclear-armed missiles, bombers, and submarines. A large chunk of that funding will go to major nuclear weapons contractors like Bechtel, General Dynamics, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. And they will do everything in their power to keep that money flowing. This January, a review of the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program under the Nunn-McCurdy Act — a congressional provision designed to rein in cost overruns of Pentagon weapons programs — found that the missile, the crown jewel of the nuclear overhaul plan involving 450 missile-holding silos spread across five states, is already 81% over its original budget.

Pentagon Again Uses Budget Lies To Deliver More Weapons To Ukraine

July 28, 2024 Moon Of Alabama. Educate! Congress, Pentagon, Russia, Ukraine

In accounting an entity can generally use one of several methods to account for stock material. Using (ever increasing) replacement costs or (ever decreasing) book value are two arguably valid methods. What is a no-no though is to change horses during race. One either uses one or the other. One never-ever changes the applied accounting method during the accounting period. Any commercial company doing what the Pentagon is doing here would be asking for serious trouble. One wonder if and when Congress will wake up to this.

NATO Summit: Collectively Losing Their Minds

July 13, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Antony Blinken, NATO, Nuclear War, Pentagon, Russia, Ukraine, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

On March 7, 2022, two weeks after Moscow entered the civil war in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News from Moldova that the U.S. would give NATO-member Poland a “green light” to send Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. Within days the Pentagon shot down the idea. Then U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also supported the Polish planes scheme, but the Pentagon rejected it because it “could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO,” according to then Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

Report Makes The Case For Eliminating Land-Based Nuclear Missiles

June 10, 2024 William D. Hartung, The Nation. Educate! ICBMs, Nuclear Ban Treaty, Nuclear Weapons, Pentagon

Nuclear weapons are back in style in official Washington. The Pentagon is in the midst of a $2 trillion, three-decade-long effort to build a new generation of nuclear-armed bombers, missiles, and submarines, and the weapons lobby and its allies in Congress are pressing to spend even more. Thankfully, a new report from the government watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) offers a refreshing counterpoint to this rush towards a new nuclear arms race, explaining in persuasive detail why the centerpiece of the Pentagon’s new buildup, the Sentinel ICBM, is dangerous, unaffordable, and unnecessary. The late Daniel Ellsberg and Norman Solomon made this point forcefully in an October 2021 piece in The Nation, noting that eliminating ICBMs was the easiest and fastest way to reduce “the overall danger of nuclear war.”

Constant Killing

May 28, 2024 Nick Turse TomDispatch.com. Educate! Civilian Deaths, History, Pentagon, Reparations, US Imperialism

There are constants in this world — occurrences you can count on. Sunrises and sunsets. The tides. That, day by day, people will be born and others will die. Some of them will die in peace, but others, of course, in violence and agony. For hundreds of years, the U.S. military has been killing people. It’s been a constant of our history. Another constant has been American military personnel killing civilians, whether Native Americans, Filipinos, Nicaraguans, Haitians, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians, Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians, Yemenis, and on and on. And there’s something else that’s gone along with those killings: a lack of accountability for them.

Pentagon Says No Aid Unloaded At US Pier Has Reached Gaza

May 22, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Gaza, Humanitarian Aid, Israel, Palestine, Pentagon

The Pentagon said on 21 May that none of the humanitarian aid has been unloaded off of Washington’s floating pier on the coast of Gaza, as the US says it is working with the UN and Israel to identify safe routes into the besieged enclave. Pentagon spokesman, Major General Patrick Ryder, said on Tuesday that the US, Israel, and the UN are working to determine “alternative routes” for the delivery of over 500 tons of aid that has been transported to the Gaza pier since last week. The announcement comes after desperate Palestinians, stricken by famine as a result of Israel’s war, tried intercepting a number of trucks carrying aid from the pier over the weekend, according to Ryder.

US Army Officer Resigns Over ‘Unqualified’ Support For Israel

May 15, 2024 Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com. Resist! Gaza, Genocide, Israel, Palestine, Pentagon, Resignation

An Army officer working at the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has resigned in protest of the US’s “unqualified” support for the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. Maj. Harrison Mann posted his resignation letter on LinkedIn and said it was initially distributed within the DIA on April 16. In the letter, he said the DIA does not only “inform policy” but “facilitates, and at times, directly executes policy,” referring to US support for Israel. “The policy that has never been far from my mind for the past six months is the nearly unqualified support for the government of Israel, which has enabled and empowered the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians,” Mann said in the letter.

Last Year, You Spent Over A Month’s Rent On Pentagon Contractors

April 11, 2024 Lindsay Koshgarian, Scheer Post. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Military Industrial Complex, Pentagon, Taxes

Ever wonder where your taxes go? Each year, the Institute for Policy Studies releases a tax receipt so you can find out. One item always stands out: the Pentagon — and the contractors who profit off it. In 2023, the average taxpayer spent $2,974 on the Pentagon. Of that, just $705 went to salaries for the troops, who often have to rely on programs like food stamps. A much larger sum — $1,748 — went to corporate Pentagon contractors. That’s more than the average American’s monthly rent, $1,372. From Lockheed Martin to SpaceX, these corporations don’t need your support. And they aren’t operating with your well-being in mind.

‘Move The Money’: Detroit Votes For Slashing Bloated Pentagon Budget

February 29, 2024 C. J. Atkins, People's World. Resist! Detroit, Finance and the Economy, Michigan, military spending, Pentagon

Detroit, Michigan - Following in the footsteps of neighboring Hamtramck, Detroit has become the biggest U.S. city so far to pass a “Move the Money” resolution. The measure, approved unanimously by City Council on Tuesday, calls on the U.S. Congress and the president to shift public money away from the military to fund social services. The Michigan Peace Council, a major backer of the campaign to win the resolution, praised the council vote, which came on the same day that nearly 101,000 Michiganders voted “Uncommitted” in the Democratic primary to oppose President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s brutal war against Gaza.

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