Stories related to: Department of Defense

The Pentagon is holding out on an Environmental Protection Agency order to clean up pollutants from three military bases where chemicals have become an "imminent and substantial" threat to the public health and environment, the Washington Post reports. The Defense Department also won’t sign contracts to clean up 12 other military sites listed among the most polluted areas in the US. Instead, it has sought federal backing to deny the EPA’s power to issue such orders. More »

FBI agents dragged their feet in reporting torture inflicted on prisoners by Defense contractors and CIA employees, an an internal FBI report shows, but agents themselves generally did not participate in torture. FBI brass, however, was scolded for not providing more guidance or “pressing harder” to curb other agencies’ actions, the Washington Post reports. More »

Need more proof that the Pentagon coached ostensibly impartial military analysts about what to say on TV? In Salon, Glenn Greenwald reveals emails from one top defense staffer who suggested developing a core group of insiders who are “most reliably friendly” and that “we can count on to carry our water.” A Rumseld aide agreed, adding, "We're already doing a lot of this." The allegations first surfaced in a New York Times investigative piece. More »

Early mistakes in Iraq—and the extent of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's involvement in them—are the subject of a Time excerpt from a book by the former commander of US forces in Iraq, Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. Sanchez details an effort by Rumsfeld to get him to agree, on paper, that Rumsfeld had been out of the loop on the premature drawdown of strategic command forces that led to disarray—a claim Sanchez vehemently denies. More »

Several so-called "independent" military analysts who often support Defense Department positions on TV news programs have been linked closely to defense contractors and the Pentagon in an extensive New York Times investigation. "We need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you,’” is the way one former general characterized Pentagon manipulation of his TV commentaries. More »

Google gave in to the Defense Department, but can it fight a couple in Pittsburgh? Aaron and Christine Boring are seeking more than $25,000 for invasion of privacy by Google's “Street View” feature, the Smoking Gun reports. The couple says that a “major component of their purchase decision was a desire for privacy,” and Internet images of their home diminish its value. More »

The US accidentally shipped components used in nuclear missiles to Taiwan in 2006, CNN reports. Instead of helicopter batteries, the Defense Department sent fuses designed to allow 1960s ballistic missiles to detonate; no actual nuclear material was involved. Taiwan quickly alerted the US to the error, but it wasn’t until this week that the US realized that the shipment contained missile parts. More »

The Navy has fired a vice admiral for giving the Department of Defense "false and misleading information" during an investigation, reports the Navy Times. John Stufflebeem, the director of the Navy staff, lied to an inquiry into an alleged inappropriate relationship while serving as a military adviser to former President Bush in 1990, reports the Navy Times. More »

Afghanistan may receive its own troop surge this April, the AP reports. To fend off a resurgent Taliban, the Pentagon will consider deploying another 3,000 Marines for 7 months. Military commanders say they actually need another 7,500 troops to fend off the expected offensive, and defense chief Robert Gates is growing convinced that NATO members will not contribute. More »

During his six years as defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld told staffers to “keep elevating the threat” and develop “bumper sticker statements” to sell administration war policies. Internal memos obtained by the Washington Post depict a media- and politics-obsessed Rumsfeld who instructed staffers to link Iraq and Iran, contemplated re-naming the war on terror, and ordered detailed rebuttals to critical newspaper columns. More »

New enemies are hovering over America's unmanned drone aircraft—branches of the US armed forces battling each other for control of the high-tech flyers. The Air Force is lobbying Congress for exclusive control over purchasing and developing the spy planes, a move opposed by the Army, Navy and Marines.  More »

MySpace as a national security threat? Yes, says the Department of Defense, which is blocking service members' access to the site—as well as YouTube and 11 other popular destinations troops use to communicate with family and friends—on department computers as of today. The department calls the online traffic a drain on bandwidth and an "operational security challenge." More »