Defense

Is It Time for AFRICOM to Get Its Own Troops?

A key Republican senator thinks so, and is pushing to send one of the U.S. Army’s new advising brigades there.

Tech

Army Eyes Faster Weapons Development with a New Collaboration Hub

Super-strong materials, cyber defenses are on the agenda as the Army Research Lab launches new partnerships.

Defense

What Is America Going to Do About Syria Now?

After the latest suspected chemical attack, the United States has four options.

Defense

Should Military Men Draft Our Nation's Security Strategy?

The National Security Strategy does a good job at listing problems and suggesting fixes. But there’s more to strategy than that.

Defense

Analysis: Military Mission In Puerto Rico After Hurricane Was Better Than Critics Say But Suffered Flaws

Compared to its foreign disaster missions, the U.S. military mobilized slowly after Maria. But in numbers, capacity and logistics coordination, its work in Puerto Rico was on par with other aid efforts.

Defense

Trump Reverses, Says He’ll Keep U.S. Troops in Syria

The president officially walked back last week’s off-the-cuff remark that the U.S. would leave Syria ‘very soon,’ leaving even more questions about the mission.

Defense

Analysis: Trump's New Solution to Every Problem

Like his predecessors, the president is discovering the allure of using the armed forces to solve problems, and like them, he’s also quickly discovering its limitations.

Defense

Denied Wall Funding, Trump Sends National Guard to Southern Border

Details are still being hashed out, but previous presidents’ decisions to do the same offer clues about what’s to come.

Defense

Trump's Push to Militarize the U.S.-Mexico Border Could Repeat a Costly Obama Failure

Operations under Obama and George W. Bush ended up taking money from other Defense projects and causing diplomatic problems.

Defense

Pentagon’s Delayed Report On Services Contracts Draws Union Ire

The Defense Department says the required documents that detail spending are “at the printer.”

Management

Mattis to Military: You Have Your Money. Spend It Wisely

The defense secretary warns “results and accountability matter in every expenditure.”

Defense

Where’s the New Transgender Troops Ban Headed? Look at the Travel Ban Fight

Like Trump’s effort to bar visitors from several Mideast countries, a long legal battle awaits the newest limits on who can serve in uniform.

Defense

Russia’s Irresistible Question to Twitter: Which U.S. Consulate Should It Shut?

The Kremlin is retaliating, after the White House shut its Seattle consulate over Moscow's alleged poisoning of a British spy.

Defense

McMaster Is Out, an Even Bigger North Korea Hawk Is In

Trump is replacing his national-security adviser with John Bolton, a persistent advocate of military intervention.

Tech

Pentagon’s New Arms-Research Chief Eyes Space-Based Ray Guns

Neutral-particle beams, a concept first tried in the 1980s, may get a fresh look under Michael Griffin.

Defense

Senators Signal Resistance to Proposed Low-Yield Nukes

Several Democratic lawmakers on a key committee are pushing back on the given rationale for a new warhead and cruise missile.

Tech

The U.S. Military Is Making Lasers Create Voices out of Thin Air

Within three years, the Pentagon's non-lethal weapons lab hopes to have a direct energy weapon that can produce an effect like a haunted walkie-talkie or the biblical burning bush.

Management

Air Force Secretary: Boeing Is Giving Its Tanker Short Shrift

Pointing to the KC-46 program’s latest problems, Heather Wilson says the company is focusing too much on its civil aircraft.

Defense

The Return of the Iraq War Argument

The North Korea debate shows the enduring attraction of "preventive war."

Management

Analysis: Five Myths About Pentagon Weapons Programs

As the service secretaries converge on Capitol Hill to talk acquisition reform, it’s important to sort fact from fiction.