THE DOD

thelivyjr
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Re: THE DOD

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FOX NEWS

"Pentagon official forced to read anti-White statements from its diversity chief in congressional hearing"


Opinion by Hannah Grossman

23 MARCH 2023

A senior Biden-appointed Pentagon official – Gil Cisneros – was forced to read and explain divisive statements against White people from one of his employees in a grilling hearing at the House Armed Services Committee Thursday.

Cisneros – Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness – was responsible for determining the outcome of a probe into former DEI chief Kelisa Wing over divisive tweets about White people, which called them "Karens."

"Mr. Cisneros, are you familiar with the tweet?"

"Can you please read the tweet aloud?" asked Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., about one of Wing's controversial posts.

Cisneros read the post verbatim at the hearing, which said, "So exhausted at the White folks in these PD sessions."

"This lady actually had the caudacity to say Black people can be racist, too."

"I had to stop the session and give the Karen the business."

"We are not the majority."

"We don't have power."


"This is wildly inappropriate and unacceptable."

"Do you agree with that, Mr. Cisneros?" Stefanik asked.

"I do agree that that is not acceptable."

"It's not condoned by… the Department of Defense," he said.

However, the Pentagon said it will issue no disciplinary action to its former diversity, equity and inclusion chief, Wing, over her statements about White people.

Matt Gaetz, R-Fla, said, "I would like to go back to the tweets of the racist person that works for you."

"What does ‘Caudacity’ mean?"

"I have no idea," Cisneros said.

"You took six months to investigate one tweet."

"You didn't even figure out what the words meant?" Gaetz asked.

Cisneros claimed he was not involved in investigating.

However, the Pentagon repeatedly cited him as responsible for determining the outcome of the probe.

The GOP congressman said, "Someone at the Pentagon is throwing your name out there as being responsible for this?"

"And now it looks foolish that you're suggesting you don't know what that means."

"You said in a Fox News Digital article that you were going to take 30 days to investigate, and it took you six months in a six-month investigation."

"You guys didn't learn what the word ‘Caudacity’ meant?" Gaetz said.

"I think, you know."

"I think every person that's going to watch this exchange knows, you know, it's she's trying to lash audaciousness with someone being Caucasian, isn't she?"

"I have no idea," Cisneros said.

"We do not support racist tweets."

"We do not support racism."

Gaetz said, "Well, did you fire this lady?"

"I did not hire her," Cisneros said.

Gaetz pressed, "Let's go to the next claim."

"'The audacity to say that Black people can be racist too.'"

"Mr. Cisneros, can Black people be racist, too?"

"I'm not going to answer that, congressman," Cisneros said.

On another occasion, Wing has previously said, "If another Karen tells me about her feelings… I might lose it..."

Cisneros said the Pentagon "determined the employee was speaking in a personal capacity..."

"As a result, the Director, DoDEA took no disciplinary action."

"Separately, as part of headquarters restructuring, the employee was reassigned to another position that does not include diversity, equity and inclusion-specific responsibilities."

It remained unclear what Wing's new responsibilities were.

Former CIA director, Mike Pompeo, released a statement to Fox News Digital, said, "The Pentagon’s decision makes obvious that the Biden administration agrees with Kelisa Wing and her statements on race."

"This lack of accountability for her racially charged remarks are another sign that President Biden wants to make the Pentagon more about wokeness, green energy and racism than national defense and readiness."

"The men and women who serve deserve better."

Wing has previously denied her posts were divisive, stating, "No, I did not make disparaging comments against White people."

"I would never categorize an entire group of people to disparage them," she said.

In June 2021, Biden signed an executive order which "reinvigorated… the approach… first established in the Obama-Biden Administration" and directed all federal agencies to "establish or elevate Chief Diversity Officers," among other priorities.

A few months later, Wing was selected for the high-ranking position that was involved in "every aspect" of the Pentagon's schools for military-connected children, including curriculum, professional development and hiring.

Stefanik believes there is a woke indoctrination agenda at DoDEA schools.

As a result, she introduced a Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights, which increases transparency and accountability in Pentagon schools.

As DEI chief, Wing was involved in curriculum at the Pentagon's 160 schools for military-connected children.

Wing has stated that her goal was to "tear down the system" in education.

When asked about whether it was time for a "racial reckoning" and "revolution," she responded in the affirmative.

Fox News Digital also found that on two occasions Wing promoted the anti-police book "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates while representing herself as an employee of the Pentagon's education wing.

Coates called 9/11 first responders "menaces" in the book.

He wrote, "They were not human to me."

"Black, white, or whatever, they were menaces of nature; they were the fire, the comet, the storm, which could — with no justification — shatter my body."

Wing also advocated for "Between the World and Me" to be used in classrooms in 2018.

The Pentagon was one of the targets of radical Islamic terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001; 59 people aboard American Airlines Flight 77 and 125 people in the Pentagon were killed.

Wing wrote children's books that said that White people must confess their privilege and were de facto hurting Black people by being benefactors of unearned advantages, which were also placed in the Pentagon's schools.

Cisneros was asked, "Have you read Kelisa Wing's books titled What is White Privilege?"

"What Does it Mean to Defund the Police?"

"What is the Black Lives Matter movement?"

"Have you read those books?"

"I have not read those books," he said.

He added that he was not aware her antiracist collection was in Department of Defense schools.

"I'm telling you they are."

"That's why I asked you the question."

"You should know."

"You're a DoD official."

"I'm informing you."

"You should know the answer," Stefanik said.

She went on to say that Wing advertised her books in a government meeting illegally.

"Are you aware that this is illegal for DoD employees to advertise and promote their personal books, that they will profit off of those sales?"

Cisneros said, "I'm not aware of that."

"But I can look into it, and I'll get back to you."

"You seem to not know a lot of what's happening in the department," Stefanik said.

"So my expectation is that we'll continue educating you on what's happening in the Biden administration, Department of Defense."

"But this is absolutely unacceptable."


"We expect that report and I will take it as a result that we delivered, making sure that she should have been fired completely, but she was at least moved somewhere else, not dealing with our kids educational system."

"White privilege hurts a lot of people."

"If you are White you might feel bad about hurting others or you might feel afraid to lose this privilege," the book "What is White Privilege?" said.

It also said, "Overcoming White privilege is a job that must start with the White community."

"[W]ill you really feel good at the end of the race when you look back and see others fighting obstacles that you didn't even have?" the book added.

The book was reportedly taken down for review along with other radical-left titles by a Florida district, according to a nonprofit that monitors books taken down from the shelves.

"Honored to be involved with work that causes good trouble," Wing said on Twitter about the report.

"What is White Privilege?" also encourages White kids to "unpack" their "backpack" of privilege and referenced an article by Peggy McIntosh that said that White women are "justly seen as oppressive" and "enjoy unearned skin privilege."

McIntosh's article also lamented that White students are not taught in schools to see themselves as "an oppressor," a "participant in a damaged culture" and "unfairly advantaged."

"This is a popular phrase that means to think about all the advantages you have every day because you are White," the children's book said about privilege.

The book provides children with an assignment to create an "identity map" and ask "What parts of my identity have provided me with privilege?"

The book also states that White people must "spend" their privilege by becoming social justice activists: "Address how your identity can help you achieve racial justice."

"There is hope!"

"By learning more about White privilege we can work to spend it," the book said.

"Privilege is like extra money in your pocket that you didn't earn."

Wing has also co-written a children's book about defunding the police, in which she explains to a young audience the differences between abolishing, defunding, disbanding and reforming police with anti-racist policies.

Some of Wing's children books she co-created contain misleading information or glaring omissions.

For example, "What is Black Lives Matter?" said "almost all" the protests after George Floyd's murder were "peaceful."

However, according to Axios, the pro-BLM riots that erupted in 2020 amounted to more than $1 billion in damages, "the most expensive in insurance history."

When Wing was promoted to chief in December 2021, the DoD said she "has been involved with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts for students and schools over many years, authoring several books on the topic."

The director of DoDEA, Thomas Brady, said, "Kelisa Wing is exactly the right person to lead our efforts in building on the foundational work done to support meaningful change in our organization."

"This new position will take a holistic approach to identifying and improving how we integrate the practice of diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of DoDEA, from curriculum and assessment to hiring and professional development," he continued.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/ ... 26e6&ei=27
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Re: THE DOD

Post by thelivyjr »

NEWSWEEK

"Launch of Brand New U.S. Warship Goes Awry"


Story by Ellie Cook

18 APRIL 2023

A new U.S. Navy warship appeared to collide with a tugboat during a "dramatic" launch of the vessel.

The U.S. Navy said on Friday that it would "christen and launch" the latest Freedom-variant LCS, or Littoral Combat Ship, which would be known as the U.S.S. Cleveland (LCS 31).

The ship launched at 10 a.m. local time on Saturday at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin.

It was the last scheduled side launch of a ship at the Wisconsin shipyard before a ship lift system is put in place, according to the Navy.

In footage purportedly showing the event, the new LCS appears to collide with the tugboat that aided the launch.

Amid cheers, the boats slowly take off, only for the U.S.S. Cleveland to immediately tilt to the side and send a wave crashing over the tugboat.

It's unclear if the warship slammed into the tugboat, or if it was sent backward because of the force of the wave.

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Navy via email and phone for confirmation.

Mark Grove, a senior lecturer at the University of Lincoln's Maritime Studies Center at the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, told Newsweek that although he could not visually confirm that the new vessel struck the tugboat, "it does look very close, and is probably a bit too close for comfort."

The tugboat is there to "pull" the ship into the water, working with gravity to side-launch the new vessel in what is "the most dramatic" and an "old-fashioned" form of launching, he said.

It is typically used when there is not sufficient water to launch the vessel stern-first down a slipway, Grove said, and vessels will usually need to be designed with this specific launching technique in mind.

The ship, which is the fourth to be named after the Ohio city of Cleveland, is the 16th – and final – Freedom-class LCS.

The launch "will be another step closer to joining our fleet, sailing the open seas, continuing to defend our nation, and representing the strong connection our Navy has with the city of Cleveland," Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy, said in a press release ahead of Saturday's event.

LCS-class vessels are described by the U.S. Navy as "fast, optimally-manned, mission-tailored surface combatants," able to navigate near-shore waters as well as the open ocean.

There are two variants of LCS class ships, known as Freedom and Independence, with the key difference being the monohull and multihull designs, Grove said.

They are designed to be relatively small, fast and inexpensive vessels, with a small number of crews operating the highly maneuverable ship.

Experts are split on the continued usefulness of the vessels, which have been plagued by "reliability issues," meaning they have not been "a huge success story," Grove said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/la ... 563a&ei=28
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Re: THE DOD

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BBC NEWS

"US Army grounds its aircrafts after fatal crashes"


28 APRIL 2023

The US Army has grounded all aircrafts except those on "critical missions" after two recent fatal mid-air crashes.

The "aviation stand down" order announced on Friday comes a day after two Apache helicopters collided in Alaska, killing three US Army pilots.


Army Chief of Staff James McConville said the aviators will remain grounded until they complete extra training.

A crash on 20 March involving two Black Hawk helicopters in Kentucky left nine soldiers dead.

"We are deeply saddened by those we have lost," General McConville said in a statement.

"It is their loss that makes it all the more important we review our safety procedures and training protocols, and ensure we are training and operating at the highest levels of safety and proficiency."

He added Army pilots "will focus on safety and training protocols to ensure our pilots and crews have the knowledge, training and awareness to safely complete their assigned mission".

Cause of deadly US Army helicopter crash unclear

The stand down is effective immediately.

It does not effect any other part of the US military besides the Army.

Active-duty troops will be required to complete their training within 24 hours in the first week of May while National Guard and Reserve units have until the end of the month.

As each unit reports having done the training they will be able to return to normal operations.

The recent incidents, which occurred in different parts of the country, are under investigation but officials say "there is no indication of any pattern".

The crash on Thursday occurred near Fort Wainwright, Alaska, as the troops were returning from a training mission, the Army said.

In addition to the three that died, one was critically injured.

Three troops were part of the 11th Airborne Division, which is nicknamed the "Arctic Angels", according to the Associated Press.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us ... 4d123&ei=8
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Re: THE DOD

Post by thelivyjr »

FOX NEWS

"Biden lets American military info slip during live interview, sparking backlash"


Story by Matteo Cina

9 JULY 2023

President Biden sat down for a recent interview in which he said the United States is low on 155 mm artillery ammunition rounds, sparking outrage and questions of competency from conservatives on social media.

During the interview, which aired Sunday morning, Biden defended his administration for sending cluster munitions to Ukraine as a "transition period" until more munitions are produced.

"This is a war relating to munitions."

"And they’re running out of that ammunition, and we’re low on it," Biden told CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

"And so, what I finally did, I took the recommendation of the Defense Department to – not permanently – but to allow for this transition period while we get more 155 weapons, these shells, for the Ukrainians."

Reactions on social media ranged from confused to outrage as conservative pundits and experts alike wondered why Biden was announcing the U.S. shortage during a nationally televised interview that would be seen by adversaries.

"Love when the president of America goes on CNN to tell everyone we’re low on ammo," remarked political operative Logan Dobson.

"Joe Biden broadcasting to the world that the US is low on 155mm shells," conservative communicator Steve Guest tweeted.

"Moron."

"Does Biden not care that our adversaries in China are listening?"

"In CNN interview, President Biden is not particularly clear but seems to be saying US is sending cluster munitions to Ukraine because we are running out of 155mm artillery ammunition to send them," wrote Byron York of the Washington Examiner.

"Seems obvious this is affecting US readiness to defend itself."

A White House official appeared to walk back Biden's comment that the United States is running out of ammunition when asked to comment on criticism in response to Biden's interview on CNN.

"The military has specific requirements for the numbers of weapons systems and ammunition we maintain in our reserves in case of contingencies or military conflict," a White House official said in an email to Fox News Digital.

"Everything we send to Ukraine is in excess of that."

"So, the U.S. is not running out of ammunition ourselves."

"Joe Biden wasn't supposed to say the quiet part out loud: ‘We've run out of ammunition.’"

"But now that the cat's out of the bag, one must ask whether continued support of Ukraine's military is even feasible as the conflict rages on," political commentator Ian Miles Cheong remarked.

"The point of the proxy war was to weaken Russia," tech entrepreneur David Sacks tweeted.

"But the U.S. ran out of ammo first."

"So who’s weakening whom?"

Biden's opponent in the Democrat presidential race, Robert Kennedy Jr., slammed Biden on Twitter on Saturday after he gave his administration the green light to send cluster munitions to Ukraine.

"Last year, WH Press Secretary Jen Psaki called the use of cluster bombs a 'war crime.'"

"Now President Biden plans to send them to Ukraine."

"Stop the ceaseless escalation!"

"It is time for peace," Kennedy wrote in a tweet.


"Biden was opposed to cluster bombs in 1982 as well, when he opposed their sale to Israel," Kennedy, who entered the White House race in April, added in a separate tweet.

"What happened to his conscience?"

The White House official also defended the administration green-lighting cluster munitions for Ukraine, saying they wanted to make sure Ukraine is not "left defenseless."

"We are authorizing cluster munitions to ensure that Ukraine is not left defenseless while we wait for our own domestic production of ammunition to ramp up substantially, which we are in the process of doing as are our allies and partners," the official added.

"These cluster munitions are a bridge as we significantly increase production of ammunition over the coming months – and will have much higher production levels soon."

Fox News' Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/bi ... 7ef0&ei=12
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Re: THE DOD

Post by thelivyjr »

Business Insider

"US Navy stealth destroyer Zumwalt's deck guns are basically useless, but it's on its way to get new hypersonic missile launchers"


Story by rpickrell@businessinsider.com (Ryan Pickrell) •

5 AUGUST 2023

* Destroyer USS Zumwalt has long had problems with its main deck guns, which don't have any ammunition.

* The technologically advanced stealth destroyer is getting something new though.

* The Zumwalt is changing homeports to receive upgrades including a new hypersonic missile system.


The stealth US Navy destroyer USS Zumwalt has been plagued by a wide range of problems throughout its development, including guns that are all but useless, but the ship on its way to do something about it.

After a brief hiccup — an abrupt return to port for unexpected maintenance— the ship departed San Diego, California Wednesday for Pascagoula, Mississippi, home of Ingalls Shipbuilding, part of the major Navy shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries.

The Zumwalt will "receive technology upgrades including the integration of the Conventional Prompt Strike weapons system," the Navy said in a statement, adding that the coming "upgrades will ensure Zumwalt remains one of the most technologically advanced and lethal ships in the US Navy."


During the upgrade period, according to a USNI News report, shipbuilders will remove the impotent twin 155mm Advanced Gun Systems and replace them with missile tubes that altogether are expected to carry a dozen hypersonic missiles, weapons that are still in development and expected to be fielded in the next few years.

The Zumwalt-class destroyers were designed with a land-attack and naval-fire support mission in mind and were armed with a pair of 155 mm deck guns.

The problem is that these naval artillery guns do not have any ammunition and haven't for years, and the reason for that is that the ammo is ridiculously expensive.


A reduction in the overall size of the Zumwalt class from a planned 32 ships to just three caused the cost of the ammunition for the guns, the Long Range Land Attack Projectile, to jump to about $800,000 a round.

The guns also never acquired the desired range.

So, the Navy was forced to rethink the weapons and missions for these destroyers.

Ammunition procurement stopped in 2016, the year the Zumwalt was commissioned, and by 2018, senior Navy officials were publicly considering scrapping the main guns, which is now exactly what the service is doing apparently.

The sea service is now looking at using the Zumwalt-class destroyers, which include the USS Michael Monsoor and the USS Lyndon B. Johnson, for blue-water surface-warfare and naval-strike missions, and that's where the hypersonic missiles come into play.

The Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) system is a boost-glide hypersonic weapon system that consists of a two-stage solid-fueled rocket booster to get the missile to a faster than Mach 5 speed and the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (CHG-B), which was jointly developed by the Army and the Navy for their respective hypersonic weapons programs.

Though the term "hypersonic weapon" emphasizes speed, specifically speeds at least five times the speed of sound, many other types of missiles, including regular ballistic missiles, can actually achieve the same if not greater speeds.

True hypersonic weapons pose a new and potentially unstoppable threat due to their ability to maneuver unpredictably at these speeds.

The Navy intends to deploy this capability aboard Zumwalt-class destroyers by 2025 and then on the Virginia-class attack submarines by the end of this of this decade.

The CPS, including both the missiles and the launchers, is still in development though, so there is always a very real possibility of delays.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us ... 89f0&ei=47
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Re: THE DOD

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The Associated Press

"US fighter jets strike Iran-linked sites in Syria in retaliation for attacks on US troops"


Story by LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press

27 OCTOBER 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. fighter jets launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pentagon said, in retaliation for a slew of drone and missile attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in the region that began early last week.

The U.S. strikes reflect the Biden administration's determination to maintain a delicate balance.

The U.S. wants to hit Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the U.S. as strongly as possible to deter future aggression, possibly fueled by Israel's war against Hamas, while also working to avoid inflaming the region and provoking a wider conflict.

According to a senior U.S. military official, the precision strikes were carried out near Boukamal by two F-16 fighter jets, and they struck weapons and ammunition storage areas that were connected to the IRGC.

The official said there had been Iranian-aligned militia and IRGC personnel on the base and no civilians, but the U.S. does not have any information yet on casualties or an assessment of damage.

The official would not say how many munitions were launched by the F-16s.

A senior defense official said the sites were chosen because the IRGC stores the types of munitions there that were used in the strikes against U.S. bases and troops.

The two officials briefed reporters after the strikes on condition of anonymity to provide details on the mission that had not yet been made public.

According to the Pentagon, there have now been at least 19 attacks on U.S. bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17, including three new ones Thursday.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said 21 U.S. personnel were injured in two of those assaults that used drones to target al-Asad Airbase in Iraq and al-Tanf Garrison in Syria.

In a statement, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the “precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17.”

He said President Joe Biden directed the narrowly tailored strikes “to make clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.”

And he added that the operation was separate and distinct from Israel's war against Hamas.

The senior defense official told reporters that the F-16 airstrikes will have a significant impact on the ability of Iranian proxy groups to continue to attack U.S. forces.

Asked what groups were targeted, the official said there are several that can have different names, but the U.S. holds Tehran responsible for funding, arming, equipping and directing the proxies.

The official said the airstrikes were not designed to expand the conflict in the region, but to compel Iran to direct the militia groups to cease the attacks on American bases and personnel.

The Biden administration has not accused Iran of having a direct role in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and has said it appears so far that Tehran was not aware of it beforehand.

But the U.S. has noted that Iran has long supported Hamas and has raised concerns that Iran and its proxies could turn the conflict into a wider war.

Austin said the U.S. does not seek a broader conflict, but if Iranian proxy groups continue, the U.S. won’t hesitate to take additional action to protect its forces.

According to the Pentagon, all the U.S. personnel hurt in the militant attacks received minor injuries and all returned to duty.

In addition, a contractor suffered a cardiac arrest and died while seeking shelter from a possible drone attack.

The retaliatory strikes came as no surprise.

Officials at the Pentagon and the White House have made it clear for the past week that the U.S. would respond, with Ryder saying again Thursday that it would be “at the time and place of our choosing.”

“I think we’ve been crystal clear that we maintain the inherent right of defending our troops and we will take all necessary measures to protect our forces and our interests overseas,” he told reporters during a Pentagon briefing earlier in the day.

Biden said Wednesday that he had warned Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, that if Tehran continues to “move against” U.S. forces in the Middle East, “we will respond.”

The latest spate of strikes by the Iranian-linked groups came in the wake of a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital, triggering protests in a number of Muslim nations.

The Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for the devastating Hamas rampage in southern Israel nearly three weeks ago, but Israel has denied responsibility for the al-Ahli hospital blast and the U.S. has said its intelligence assessment found that Tel Aviv was not to blame.

The U.S., including the Pentagon, has repeatedly said any strike response by America would be directly tied to the attacks on the troops, and not connected to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Such retaliation and strikes against Iranian targets in Syria after similar attacks on U.S. bases are routine.

In March, for example, the U.S. struck sites in Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard after an Iranian-linked attack killed a U.S. contractor and wounded seven other Americans in northeast Syria.

American F-15 fighter jets flying out of al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar struck several locations around Deir el-Zour.

U.S. officials have routinely stressed that the American response is designed to be proportional, and is aimed at deterring strikes against U.S. personnel who are focused on the fight against the Islamic State group.

U.S. officials have not publicly tied the recent string of attacks in Syria and Iraq to the violence in Gaza, but Iranian officials have openly criticized the U.S. for providing weapons to Israel that have been used to strike Gaza, resulting in civilian death.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, has beefed up air defenses in the region to protect U.S. forces.

The U.S. has said it is sending several batteries of Patriot missile systems, a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and additional fighter jets.

The THAAD is being sent from Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Patriot batteries are from Fort Liberty in North Carolina and Fort Sill in Oklahoma.

An Avenger air defense system from Fort Liberty is also being sent.

Officials have said as much as two battalions of Patriots are being deployed.

A battalion can include at least three Patriot batteries, which each have six to eight launchers.

Ryder said Thursday that about 900 troops have deployed or are in the process of going to the Middle East region, including those associated with the air defense systems.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us ... f709&ei=22
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Re: THE DOD

Post by thelivyjr »

Task & Purpose

"US military aircraft goes down in Mediterranean after training mishap"


Story by Nicholas Slayton 

12 NOVEMBER 2023

An American military aircraft “went down” in the eastern Mediterranean Friday night, U.S. European Command announced Saturday afternoon.

The unspecified aircraft was conducting a training flight the evening of Nov. 10 and “suffered a mishap and went down,” EUCOM reported.


It is not clear what service branch the personnel involved are a part of, nor where the aircraft was assigned to.

EUCOM also did not provide any additional information regarding how many people were aboard the aircraft, how many injuries or fatalities occurred and if the incident happened over land or sea.

“Out of respect for the families affected, we will not release further information on the personnel involved at this time,” European Command said in its statement.

The incident is under investigation, per the military.

In addition to its bases in Europe, the U.S. military has the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group in the eastern Mediterranean.

The strike group was deployed there following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas.

A second carrier strike group, headed by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, was initially in the eastern Mediterranean Sea but passed through the Suez Canal to the Middle East.

“However, we can definitively say that the aircraft sortie was purely related to training and there are no indications of hostile activity,” EUCOM added.

Last year the U.S. Navy had an F/A-18 Super Hornet blown overboard into the eastern Mediterranean Sea as a result of severe weather.

The jet, assigned to the USS Harry S. Truman, was eventually recovered a month later.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us ... 86d8&ei=20
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Re: THE DOD

Post by thelivyjr »

The Western Journal

"Bombshell: Biden Pentagon Exposed for Buying Russian Fuel Oil, Evading Wartime Sanctions - Report"


Story by Bryan Chai

19 NOVEMBER 2023

A blistering exposé from The Washington Post is casting new aspersions on the oversight -- or lack thereof -- stemming from President Joe Biden's administration.

"Forbidden Russian oil flows into the Pentagon supply chain," the ominous, exclusive report warned readers right off the bat.


The salacious headline and report are rooted in two key issues:

* Russian oil imports were collectively banned by the U.S. and the European Union in March 2022 as a response to the country's war with Ukraine, per The Post.

* A Greek refinery that serves the U.S. military claimed it adapted to these new sanctions -- but apparently did not.

The Motor Oil Hellas refinery on the Aegean Sea in Greece is at the center of this Washington Post investigation, and the company stands accused of continuing to pump Russian petroleum in spite of those 2022 sanctions.

Interestingly, Motor Oil Hellas wasn't using some particularly Rube Goldberg plot to pump the allegedly illegal oil.

According to The Post, the refinery allegedly rerouted the illegal product "hundreds of miles out of the way through an oil storage facility in Turkey," a detour which the outlet claimed "obscured Russia’s imprint as ownership of the products changed hands multiple times before they reached Greece."

The common practice of mixing oil from various countries of origin at refineries (before they're sent out again) also has reportedly allowed the proliferation of Russian oil.

The paper trail that The Post said it dug up directly links Biden's Pentagon to this compromised product, as "federal contracting data" revealed that the government entity signed nearly $1 billion worth of new contracts with Motor Oil Hellas since the wartime sanctions were enacted last March.

The Post also noted that since February 2022, a million barrels of jet fuel from Motor Oil Hellas have gone to various entities in Italy, France, Spain and Britain -- with those first two countries being founding members of the EU.

All of these entities effectively stand accused of purchasing sanctioned oil via a middleman.

Worse yet, The Post report suggested that all of this sanctioned oil was coming at a hefty premium as part of the sanctions involved a price cap on Russian oil -- a price cap that apparently countries are not following through on, allowing Russia to sell its oil for far more money than it's supposed to.

A Pentagon Defense Logistics Agency representative told the outlet that they had "no knowledge" of banned Russian fuel being found at a contracted supplier.

Motor Oil Hellas has vociferously denied these allegations.

The refinery offered a statement to The Post, noting that the company "does not buy, process or trade Russian oil or products."

"All its imports are certified of non sanctioned origin."

An evidently wide-spanning and complicated scandal, it's unclear what comes next, though the Washington Post did note that enforcement of related penalties have "been scant."

“The U.S. military has not done its due diligence on the origin of this oil,” Isaac Levi, an analyst for a European nonprofit that tracks the flow of Russian oil, told The Post.

“It is not hard to see where it is coming from.”

For Biden, this is a familiar headache.

Up until America acquiesced with the E.U. on sanctions, Biden's administration actually vociferously opposed them.

Biden's waffling on the sanctioned petroleum forced the hands of Republicans to push for the "Independence from Russian Energy Act" in March 2022.

For Biden, it's just the latest in a stretch of headaches for the octogenarian incumbent in the midst of what will likely be a grueling re-election campaign -- a re-election bid that sees former President Donald Trump nipping at his heels.

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thelivyjr
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Re: THE DOD

Post by thelivyjr »

The Washington Post

"A split emerges as Biden struggles to deter attacks on U.S. troops"


Story by Alex Horton, Dan Lamothe, Abigail Hauslohner

20 NOVEMBER 2023

A surge in attacks on deployed U.S. forces has roiled some within the Defense Department, where officials, frustrated by what they consider an incoherent strategy for countering the Iranian proxies believed responsible, acknowledge the limited retaliatory airstrikes approved by President Biden have failed to stop the violence.

“There’s no clear definition of what we are trying to deter,” said one defense official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid.

“Are we trying to deter future Iranian attacks like this?"

"Well, that’s clearly not working.”

Seething anger in the Middle East over U.S. support for the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, where thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in the past six weeks, has heightened concern among Biden and his deputies that any overreaction to the attacks on U.S. personnel could incite a wider conflict.

In conjunction with the airstrikes, administration officials have urged Tehran repeatedly over the past month to rein in the militia groups it supports, cautioning that the United States has “the right” to respond “at a time and place of our choosing.”

But those warnings have gone unheeded.

Since Oct. 17, U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have faced near-daily assaults from rocket fire and one-way drones, recording at least 61 incidents and about as many injuries in that span.

Pentagon data obtained by The Washington Post shows that the attacks have targeted 10 bases used by American personnel who are spread across both countries.

In response, Biden has authorized three rounds of airstrikes, all in eastern Syria.

The most recent, on Nov. 12, targeted sites the Pentagon identified as used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and “Iran-affiliated groups.”

A U.S. official said that as many as seven militants were killed, a “rough estimate” as the United States continues to assess the results.

The strikes have destroyed purported warehouses holding weapons and ammunition, a command post and a training facility, officials have said.

Yet each operation has failed to slow the drumbeat of hostile activity, which in all cases resumed almost immediately.

The 61 attacks on U.S. troops have come at a startling frequency as well: There were about 80 similar incidents between January 2021 and March of this year, the Pentagon has said.


A senior defense official said the Pentagon has provided additional options to the president beyond the actions that have been taken to date.

This person affirmed, too, that within the Defense Department there is growing doubt about the present approach.

In a statement, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said that Biden has demonstrated that “he will never hesitate to take action to protect U.S. forces” and that the president is “fully prepared to take further measures as needed at any given moment to protect our people.”

Iran has long provided support to militias seeking to dislodge the American presence in Iraq and Syria, where approximately 3,500 troops are deployed to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State terrorist group.

Tehran also backs Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose leaders have threatened to open a new front against Israel, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The Pentagon said that Houthis destroyed a $30 million U.S. Reaper drone over the Red Sea in recent days, and U.S. warships have in the past few weeks intercepted weapons fired from Yemen in the direction of Israel.

Christine Abizaid, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told House lawmakers on Wednesday that, despite the unabated attacks on American personnel, Iran and its proxies are “trying to walk a very fine line in the region.”

There appears to be a concerted effort, she said, to avoid “overt actions that risk opening them up to a more direct conflict with Israel or the United States while still exacting costs by enabling anti-U.S. and anti-Israel attacks.”

In their public statements, Defense Department officials have sought to downplay the attacks in Iraq and Syria, describing them as often inaccurate and causing little damage to U.S. infrastructure.

The troops who have been hurt all have returned to duty, they’ve said, classifying the reported brain injuries and other collateral as “minor.”

The United States has also added more air defense systems into the region, which have shot down several of the drones, according to the Pentagon data.

But as the attack count has continued to climb, so too has the concern that it is only a matter of time before one claims a U.S. service member’s life.

“I don’t sense any deterrence,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview.

“They keep shooting, waiting for us to respond."

"We don’t, so they keep shooting."

"And eventually one of those drones, or one of those missiles or rockets, is going to kill an American."

"And then we’ll be off to the races.”


“I’m not suggesting we start a full-fledged war with Tehran,” he added.

“But I do think our posture has to be a little more aggressive than just strictly defensive, because one of these days, we’re going to miss one of those drones.”

The senior U.S. defense official acknowledged that the Pentagon sees few good alternatives to the measures taken thus far, which, in addition to the limited retaliatory airstrikes and buildup of air defense weapons, include the deployment of two aircraft carriers near Israel and Iran.

Carrying out strikes in Iraq, for instance, has the potential to exacerbate anti-American sentiment there, where U.S. troops are deployed at the invitation of the government in Baghdad.

Direct strikes on Iran would amount to a massive escalation.


The Pentagon continues to refine response options, a U.S. official said.

At a news conference Tuesday, Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh rejected the suggestion that these sustained attacks on American forces revealed shortcomings in the administration’s deterrence strategy.

That the war in Gaza has not spread, she said, is evidence the approach is working.

The three retaliatory operations taken to date, Singh said, are intended “to signal and to message very strongly to Iran, and their affiliated groups, to stop.”

When a reporter challenged the assertion, noting that the militia fighters “keep striking” U.S. troops, Singh said the military response has been “very deliberate” and that Iran “is certainly seeing that message.”

Joseph Votel, a retired Army general who as the head of U.S. Central Command oversaw all military operations in the Middle East from 2016 to 2019, said it may be too early to tell if the administration’s strategy can or will stifle the attacks on U.S. troops.

“When you do things to try to change people’s behavior, it takes time for that to set in,” said Votel, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, a think tank.

“Now we have to think about the volume and the responsiveness, and how that has an effect over time.”

Whether it’s happening fast enough, he said, is “subject to interpretation.”

Missy Ryan contributed to this report.

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thelivyjr
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Re: THE DOD

Post by thelivyjr »

The Messenger

"Defense Officials Are Frustrated With ‘Incoherent Strategy’ For Deterring Attacks on US Forces In Iraq and Syria"


Story by Perry Chiaramonte

20 NOVEMBER 2023

Defense Officials Are Frustrated With ‘Incoherent Strategy’ For Deterring Attacks on US Forces In Iraq and Syria

Since last month, American troops in Iraq and Syria have been assaulted almost daily with rocket fire and drone attacks.

Surging attacks against U.S. Forces in both Iraq and Syria have raised the ire of officials within the Defense Department, who believe that the inherent problem lies in an "incoherent" strategy to counter Iranian proxies, according to a new report on Sunday.

“There’s no clear definition of what we are trying to deter,” said one defense official, who spoke with the Washington Post on the condition of anonymity.

“Are we trying to deter future Iranian attacks like this?"

"Well, that’s clearly not working.”

A growing anger across the Middle East of the U.S. support of Israel's military campaign in Gaza has raised a cause for concern among President Biden and his cabinet with the belief that an overreactive response to attacks on U.S. personnel could ignite a wider conflict across the region.

Since last month, American troops in Iraq and Syria have been assaulted almost daily with rocket fire and drone attacks.

Pentagon data obtained by the Washington Post shows that the spate of attacks was focused on 10 bases used by the U.S. military in both countries.

Along with recent air strikes, Officials with the Biden Administration have repeatedly told leaders in Tehran over the past month that the U.S. has "the right" to respond "at a time in place of our choosing."

The White House authorized three airstrikes across eastern Syria, with the most recent being conducted on Nov. 12 after Pentagon officials were able to identify sites being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other groups affiliated with Iran.

The U.S. has also added more air defense systems to the region as concern grows that the increase in attacks will eventually lead to the death of an American service member stationed in the region.

“I don’t sense any deterrence,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), with the Senate Armed Services Committee, said to the Washington Post.

“They keep shooting, waiting for us to respond."

"We don’t, so they keep shooting."

"And eventually one of those drones, or one of those missiles or rockets, is going to kill an American."

"And then we’ll be off to the races.”

“I’m not suggesting we start a full-fledged war with Tehran."

"But I do think our posture has to be a little more aggressive than just strictly defensive, because one of these days, we’re going to miss one of those drones,” he added.

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