Pentagon briefing on ‘Operation Epic Fury’

BREAKING: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine held a Pentagon press briefing addressing domestic and foreign national security threats as fighting in Iran continues.

Fox News' Trey Yingst reports the latest on the escalation in the Middle East as Hezbollah enters the war. Bill Hemmer also breaks down the damage done to Iran during the U.S.-led operation and Fox News contributor Joey Jones also gives his take on 'America's Newsroom.

Victor Davis Hanson: Pentagon’s Partisan Letter Against Trump, Hegseth DEBUNKED

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown was fired from his post last month, along with several other high-ranking military officials. Many on the Left rushed to say that President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were “politicizing” the Pentagon. However, “This is not a politicization of the Pentagon. It's the depoliticalization”, argues Victor Davis Hanson in today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ They said, ‘This is reckless, it hurts morale, and it will depress recruitment.’ Let’s analyze that for just a second. Recruitment reached near-record levels after the election of Donald Trump. It's on the way up. I was depressed prior to that. Why would it be depressed? If you go through the Pentagon data, it's very hard to decipher. “ More importantly, Leon Panetta signed this letter. He was one, also, of the 51 intelligence authorities that said, right on the eve of the election and a few days before the 2020 debate, that Hunter [Biden's] laptop, which was in the hands of the FBI and authenticated, had all the hallmarks of a Russian information, which meant disinformation, campaign. “ Bottom line: We don't need any more letters from so-called experts. They're always partisan. And they're to no effect.”

Pentagon Orders Removal Of Transgender Troops Within 60 Days

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks as he meets with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on February 24, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks as he meets with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on February 24, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Staff James Meyers
2:33 PM – Thursday, February 27, 2025

The Pentagon has ordered all transgender military service members to be removed from the military, unless they are granted a waiver showing they’re fit for “warfighting capabilities.”

According to a new memo filed on Wednesday evening, it was revealed that all service members who have “a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria” are no longer eligible for military service.

The memo noted that: “the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have a current diagnosis or history off or exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.”

The memo also cited President Donald Trump’s January 27th executive order, which states that allowing transgender people to serve in the armed forces threatens its readiness and undermines unit cohesion.

“Service by these individuals is not in the best interests of the Military Services and is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security,” Wednesday’s policy memo states.

Additionally, the memo orders the Pentagon to identify transgender individuals in the military within 30 days, and remove them within another 30 days, giving them an honorable discharge.

“Service members being processed for separation in accordance with this policy will be afforded all statutorily required rights and benefits,” the memo notes.

As for waivers, they will be considered on a case-by-case basis, citing the need for “compelling government interest”  in retaining individuals who “directly support war fighting capabilities” and meet standards associated with their sex.

The memo also says service members must show 36 months of stability in their gender, and that they have never attempted to physically transition.

In Trump’s first term, he issued a similar ban on transgender military personnel. Former Defense Secretary James Mattis tried to delay the implementation of the policy during Trump’s first term.

Nevertheless, Biden overturned the ban after he took office in January 2021, as the military pivoted to publicly celebrating openly transgender service members during his administration.

“Any policy that prevents transgender people from serving as transgender people — whether through an outright ban or through requirements to serve in one’s birth sex — is a ban, plain and simple,” Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote.

In January 2023, Major Rachel Jones was celebrated by the military for coming out as a transgender woman.

“Her journey from battling depression & suicidal thoughts to embracing authenticity inspires us all,” the Department of Defense posted on social media.

Other new requirements stated in the memo include that male and female service personnel will not share sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities that are designated for the opposite sex.

Furthermore, it stated that no Pentagon funding will go towards any sex reassignment surgeries or genital reconstruction surgeries.

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The RINO Plot to DERAIL a Key Trump Pentagon Nominee | The Mandate | 2/18/25

BlazeTV host Jill Savage and Blaze News editor in chief Matthew Peterson discuss Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s meeting with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plans to investigate the botched Afghanistan withdrawal during Joe Biden’s presidency; Michelle King, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, and her reported resignation over the DOGE’s request to access information; the MAHA commission announced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; and the shocking impact of Donald Trump’s border policies in under a month. Blaze News senior political editor Christopher Bedford breaks down the GOP infighting over Pentagon nominee Elbridge Colby and Vice President JD Vance’s decision to step into the crossfire. Blaze Media digital media strategist Logan Hall explains the MAGA youth movement, how the Right can harness the movement for the future, and Trump reposting his Napoleon meme. Finally, Jill and Matthew poll the audience on what they think DOGE and Elon Musk will find at Fort Knox.

Pete Hegseth Begins First Day At Pentagon, Emphasizes Mission To Protect U.S. Sovereign Territory

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks with the media during his first official arrival at the Pentagon as Secretary in Washington, DC, January 27, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
12:35 PM – Monday, January 27, 2025

On his first day at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth expressed a message regarding the mission of the Department of Defense (DOD).

According to Hegseth, who was greeted by a group of reporters, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., said it was “an honor to serve on behalf of the president and serve on behalf of the country,” also noting, “The warfighters are ready to go.”

Hegseth then immediately shifted his focus to the border, recognizing that President Donald Trump was “hitting the ground running” with signed executive orders that designated cartels as international terrorist organizations while declaring an emergency at the southern border.

The DOD “snapped to” sending additional troops last week to install additional wall materials along the southern border, uplifting Trump and border czar Tom Homan’s efforts to ensure mass deportations.

“That is something the Defense Department absolutely will continue to do,” according to Hegseth.

“He’s [Trump] made it very clear. There is an emergency at the border,” Hegseth continued. “The protection of the sovereign territory of the United States is the job of the Defense Department.”

Last week, the Defense Department announced 1,500 active-duty service members and “additional air and intelligence assets” were being sent to the southern border “to augment troops already conducting enforcement operations in that region.”

After being asked whether more troops would be deployed to the border, Hegseth also added: “Whatever is needed at the border will be provided. Whether that is through state active duty, Title 32 or Title 10, because we are reorienting.” 

“This is a shift. This is not the way things have been done in the past,” Hegseth said. “The Defense Department will support the defense of the territorial integrity of the United States at our southern border to include reservists, National Guard and active duty in compliance with the Constitution, the laws of our land, and the directives of the commander in chief.” 

Hegseth, who served in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan, said he expected the White House to issue other executive orders later on Monday. These would include orders to halt diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts inside the Pentagon, to reinstate troops who were “pushed out” due to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and to implement the construction of an “Iron Dome for America,” Hegseth noted.

“Every moment I am here I am thinking about the guys and gals in Guam, in Germany, in Fort Benning, in Fort Bragg, on missile defense sites and aircraft carriers,” Hegseth stated. “Our job is lethality and readiness and warfighting.” 

“We hold people accountable. I know the chairman agrees with that… The lawful orders of the President of the United States will be executed in this Defense Department swiftly and without excuse. We will be no better friend to our allies and no stronger adversary to those who want to test us and try us.” 

Additionally, in relation to aid for Afghans who previously collaborated with the U.S. government, the new secretary was questioned on that topic as well. In order to determine whether the payments are in line with his administration’s foreign policy, Trump issued an executive order last week that halted all U.S. international development aid for ninety days.

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THEORY: Did the Pentagon LIE About the New Jersey Drones?

New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew recently claimed that the mysterious drones hovering over New Jersey are being launched from an Iranian “mothership” off the U.S. coast. Is there any truth to this or the Pentagon’s denial that the U.S. military is involved? Glenn speaks with New Jersey Assemblyman Brian Bergen, who recently attended a “mind boggling” meeting with the Department of Homeland Security. DHS, he says, claimed to have no information at all on the drones, except that they’re untrackable. Something doesn’t add up here, Glenn says. So, he runs his own theory by Assemblyman Bergen: what if the military is lying to us?

Report: Trump Team Focuses on Pentagon Officers to Fire

Members of President-elect Donald Trump's transition team are drawing up a list of military officers to be fired, potentially to include the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two sources said, in what would be an unprecedented shakeup at the Pentagon.

The planning for the firings is at an early stage after Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris and could change as Trump's administration takes shape, said the sources, who are familiar with the Trump transition and requested anonymity to speak candidly about the plans.

One of the sources questioned the feasibility of a mass firing at the Pentagon. It was also unknown if Trump would endorse the plan, although he has railed extensively against defense leaders who have criticized him. Trump also spoke during the campaign of firing "woke" generals and those responsible for the troubled 2021 pullout from Afghanistan.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to request for comment.

A second source said the incoming administration would likely focus on U.S. military officers seen as connected to Mark Milley, Trump's former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley was quoted in the book "War" by Bob Woodward, which was published last month, calling Trump "fascist to the core" and Trump's allies have targeted him for perceived disloyalty to the former president.

"Every single person that was elevated and appointed by Milley will be gone," the second source said. "There's a very detailed list of everybody that was affiliated with Milley. And they will all be gone."

The Joint Chiefs of Staff include the highest-ranking officers in the U.S. military and comprise the heads of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard and Space Force. The disclosure of plans to fire senior leaders of the U.S. armed forces comes a day after Trump picked as his defense secretary Pete Hegseth, a veteran and Fox News commentator who has signaled a willingness to clean house at the Pentagon.

"The next president of the United States needs to radically overhaul Pentagon senior leadership to make us ready to defend our nation and defeat our enemies. Lots of people need to be fired," Hegseth said in his 2024 book "The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free."

The first source familiar with the transition planning said Milley's successor, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, would be among the many officers to leave.

"The chiefs of the Joint Chiefs and all the vice chiefs will be fired immediately," the source said, before noting that this was still only early planning.

Some current and former U.S. officials have played down the possibility of such a major shakeup, saying it would be unnecessary and disruptive at a time of global turmoil with wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The first source said that it would be difficult bureaucratically to fire and replace a large swath of senior U.S. military officials, suggesting the planning could be bluster and posturing by Trump allies. But the second source suggested the Trump camp believed the Joint Chiefs of Staff needed to shrink because of perceived bureaucratic over-reach. Such cuts could be endured in an organization the scale of the U.S. military, the source said.

"These people are not irreplaceable. They are very replaceable. And then the other thing too is there is no shortage of people that will step up," the source said. "In World War II, we were very rapidly appointing people in their 30s or people competent to be generals. And you know what? We won the war."

Why Is the Pentagon already WARGAMING Trump’s presidency?!

CNN has reported that Pentagon officials are already wargaming their plans for Trump’s second presidency. If Trump issues “controversial” orders, the Department of Defense may have a plan in place to thwart him. This would include the possibilities that Trump would deploy U.S. troops domestically or “fire large swaths of apolitical staffers.” Glenn points out how misleading CNN’s reporting on this is and asks, why is the Pentagon “having secret meanings wargaming what they’ll do against Donald Trump … All of those people should be fired.”

Pentagon Plans to Feed Troops Fake Meat Grown in Frankenstein Lab

Pentagon Plans to Feed Troops, Fake Meat Grown in Frankenstein Lab

This is sure to boost recruitment.

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/pentagon-plans-to-feed-troops-fake-meat-grown-in-frankenstein-lab/; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

[Order a copy of Robert Spencer’s forthcoming book, "Muhammad: A Critical Biography," by clicking here.]

[Make sure to attend An Evening With Frontpage Editor Jamie Glazov in Los Angeles at the Luxe Hotel on Tuesday, June 18, 2024: Register HERE.]

America’s enemies are more emboldened than they have been since World War II. With Old Joe Biden and his henchmen at the helm, the nation is blundering toward an international crisis, or more than one, and couldn’t be less prepared for that eventuality. As the U.S. military has gone increasingly weak, recruitment has dropped to catastrophic levels and shows no signs of recovering.

But there is no cause to be alarmed: the Pentagon has a new plan that is sure to boost recruitment: it’s planning to feed troops fake meat cooked up in a lab — you know, to save the planet. Watch America’s best and brightest flock to join the ranks now!

The Washington Free Beacon broke the news of the plot to feed those who will give their lives to protect US Frankenstein meat on Thursday. It reported that “a Pentagon-funded company is seeking proposals to feed America’s soldiers lab-grown meat in a bid to reduce the CO2 footprint at Defense Department outposts.” Lab-grown meat. What could be more appetizing?

The Biden regime couldn’t have concocted a more effective plan if its goal was to prevent young men and women from joining the military. The Frankenstein meat scheme comes after the regime’s military has been busy purging the ranks of patriots, pushing Critical Race Theory and hosting drag shows. The Pentagon brass wonders why recruitment is down. Talk about not reading the room: isn’t there anyone still left in the military leadership who realizes that it’s young patriots who join the ranks and that all this woke propaganda acts as patriot repellant?

And now the military is compounding all that by giving recruits the prospect of finishing off a day filled with lessons about how America is an evil, racist, imperialist, colonialist, capitalist running dog with a hearty meal of toxic chemicals arranged into something that is supposed to resemble a steak. What could be more appealing? It’s a wonder that the various branches of the Woke Forces aren’t being overwhelmed with recruits.

Despite the fact that this fake meat is almost certain only to make a bad situation worse, Pentagon brass are all-in on the project and are busy forking over your money and mine to pay for Dr. Frankenstein’s culinary adventures: “BioMADE, a public-private company that has received more than $500 million in funding from the Defense Department, announced earlier this month that it is seeking proposals to develop ‘innovations in food production that reduce the CO2 footprint of food production at … DoD operational environments,’ according to an online announcement.”

What they’re doing is working with “novel cell culture methods suitable for the production of cultivated meat/protein,” that is, “lab-grown meat, a product that is still in its experimental phases. Is this type of meat is grown in a lab from animal cells with the aid of other chemicals.” Hungry yet?

BioMADE, “which earlier this year received a $450 million infusion of taxpayer cash—maintains that lab-grown food products will reduce the Pentagon’s carbon footprint, a priority for the American military as it pursues a Biden administration-mandate to address climate change and other cultural issues that critics describe as ‘woke.’” That’s terrific: throw hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars at a nonexistent problem, and feed the military disgusting lab-manufactured swill instead of real food.

Once again, the Biden regime’s insane policies invite the question: if the regime really was made up of traitors who wanted to subvert and destroy the United States, what would they be doing differently from what they’re doing already? Is there no one left among the Pentagon brass with the insight to see and the courage to enunciate the fact that the military is asking young people to be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country and that maybe an effective recruitment plan would be to appeal to their patriotism and the greatness of the country?

The answer appears to be no. And so the Pentagon is looking at further depletion of the ranks, even as Russia, China, and Iran grow more emboldened by the day, and those hapless troops who are still part of this fiasco aren’t even going to be given actual food. The real tragedy of all this, however, will not play out until the nation faces an actual military confrontation. That day, unfortunately, is coming.

_________________________________________________________________

SEE ALSO:

https://newstalk870.am/is-us-department-of-defense-cooking-up-fake-meat-for-troops/

https://davidson.house.gov/2024/6/rep-davidson-introduces-the-real-meat-act-of-2024

https://www.ncba.org/ncba-news/news-releases/news/details/38239/cattle-producers-condemn-feeding-our-military-lab-grown-meat

https://www.tsln.com/news/up-to-500m-earmarked-by-dod-for-cell-cultured-meat-research-development/

https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/06/11/exclusive-could-us-troops-be-used-by-pentagon-as-guinea-pigs-for-consumption-of-lab-grown-meat/

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/pentagon-wants-to-feed-troops-experimental-lab-grown-meat-to-reduce-co2-footprint/

https://wisconsinagconnection.com/news/cattle-ranchers-upset-over-lab-grown-meat-for-military

https://kissfm1053.com/ixp/136/p/is-us-department-of-defense-cooking-up-fake-meat-for-troops/

 

Did Iranian Agent Serving as Pentagon Chief of Staff Cause Death of 3 Soldiers?

How were terrorists able to perfectly time their drone attack without inside information?

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/did-iran-agent-serving-as-pentagon-chief-of-staff-cause-death-of-3-soldiers; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:


In September 2023, Pentagon Chief of Staff Ariane Tabatabai, an Iranian immigrant, was accused of having worked as an agent of the Tehran regime. Dissident media outlets produced emails that allegedly showed that Tabatabai had joined an initiative by the Iranian Foreign Ministry to coordinate operations and that she had even run her congressional testimony on Iran’s nuclear program past the head of an Iranian Foreign Ministry think tank.

The David Horowitz Freedom Center and Front Page Magazine had been among those to take the lead in warning about the potential danger posed by her and enemy agents in the Pentagon.

Tabatabai had served under Robert Malley, Biden’s Iran Envoy, who had been suspended from the Obama campaign for his backchannel contacts with Hamas, and has been under investigation for mishandling classified documents. But the emails appeared to show that she had personally worked for Iran and its influence operations aimed at the U.S. government.

Despite that she continued to be promoted until she is now the Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC).

In January 2024, Iranian-backed terrorists launched their most successful single attack against an American base to date. The target was the living quarters where U.S  military personnel were stationed on an obscure support base in the Jordanian desert known as Tower 22.

While the drone attack would normally have been intercepted, the Iranian-backed terrorists had precisely timed the arrival of their drone to match that of an American drone returning home.

In the confusion, the Islamic terrorist drone was not intercepted and 3 American military personnel were killed and over 30 more were wounded. And it could have been worse.

The Iranians had known where the living quarters on the base were, what our procedures for drone arrivals and departures were, and when one of our drones would be coming back.

How were the Islamic terrorists able to precisely coordinate the arrival of their drone and ours?

Tower 22, located close to Syria and Iraq, was one of the bases that we helped Jordan build up during the Syrian Civil War. Under Obama, it was a key element for supporting the Syrian Sunni rebels while under Trump, it focused on fighting ISIS forces in Syria. Syrian Sunnis fleeing the country passed by, some were allowed to enter Jordan, while most, including some Sunni Jihadis, had to remain in what became known as the Rukban refugee camp.

The proximity of the Rukban camp to Tower 22 and the nearby Al-Tanf base would provide plenty of options for “refugees” to monitor and track the movements of American drones.

But Ariane Tabatabai’s presence in Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict raises another troubling possibility. Tower 22 was used as a jumping off point by special operators and the U.S. presence in that area falls under the shadow of the SO/LIC office.

Special operators had been stationed at Al-Tanf and the SO/LIC office would have potentially had access to a great deal of information about what was going on at Al-Tanf and Tower 22.

That indeed is why Tabatabai likely ended up in the office, not despite her ties to the Iranian regime, but because of them. During the campaign against ISIS, the United States came to rely on some of the same Iranian-backed Shiite Jihadist groups to do the heavy lifting on the ground.

Tabatabai could have been seen as a potentially useful backchannel for an office that was likely unofficially coordinating with Iran anyway. That would explain her initial role as a senior advisor.

But by elevating a former Iranian agent to a chief of staff of an office overseeing special operations, the Biden administration, the Pentagon and the SO/LIC may have been gambling that they could control that backchannel and that would have been a catastrophic mistake.

Late last year, 30 Senate members had urged the Pentagon to suspend her security clearance.

“Iran continues to threaten U.S. military personnel in the Middle East and remains intent on assassinating American citizens here in the United States. Given these facts, we find it simply unconscionable that a senior Department official would continue to hold a sensitive position despite her alleged participation in an Iranian government information operation,” they warned.

“Dr. Tabatabai was thoroughly and properly vetted as a condition of her employment with the Department of Defense,” a Pentagon spokesman claimed. “We are honored to have her serve.”

And the cost of that DOD decision may have been quite high, not just in security, but blood.

We don’t know how exactly Iran’s terror groups were able to closely coordinate the arrival of their drone with ours, but it’s hard to believe that it could have happened without either sloppiness, close observation or inside information. Operational security had clearly been compromised and in such a situation it’s the fundamental duty of the Department of Defense to examine its procedures, tighten its security and look into Iranian agents inside its offices.

There should be no place for current or former agents of an enemy government which is actively attacking and killing Americans inside the Pentagon. And yet Tabatabai is still there.

And she’s not alone.

Nor is she even the only Pentagon Chief of Staff with Islamic terror ties. Front Page Magazine’s ‘Disloyal Military’ investigations into enemy agents and wokeness within the military not only cast light on Ariane Tabatabai, but also on Yousra Fazili, the Chief of Staff for the Pentagon Comptroller, as well as other hostile figures in the government and the defense industry.

Yousra Fazili, the daughter of Kashmiri Muslim immigrants who studied Islamic religious law or sharia at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, a hub of Jihadist thinking, had testified in Congress in support of her cousin who had been arrested for his support for Islamic terrorists in India.

Fazili had worked for the Qatari ambassador, an ally of Iran, and which serves as a state sponsor of Hamas, and she had represented the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations known as a Muslim Brotherhood operation, co-founded by figures tied to the Muslim Brotherhood and Osama bin Laden, and she has cheered on pro-Hamas protesters.

Despite multiple congressional letters and warnings from Senate and House members, the Department of Defense has done nothing to clean its house and the clock is ticking.

We do not know if inside information led to the deaths of 3 Americans in the Iranian attack at Tower 22, but it is only a matter of time until foreign enemy agents inside the government end up passing information to Iran, Qatar or other Islamic terror states that gets our people killed.

The David Horowitz Freedom Center will continue investigating the enemy within and working to hold them and their enablers in the government accountable before it’s too late.

40,000 Weapons Sent to Ukraine Have Gone Missing: Pentagon IG

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
According to a report by the Pentagon inspector general, more than 40,000 weapons worth more than $1 billion were shipped to Ukraine but never made it to the battlefield.

Many of the weapons were sent to a U.S. military logistics hub in Poland, while others were shipped directly to Ukraine. The equipment includes shoulder-fired missiles, kamikaze drones, and night-vision goggles.

Alexandra "Sasha" Baker, the acting undersecretary of defense for policy, said last November, when a draft of the report was leaked, that required accounting procedures “are not practical in a dynamic and hostile wartime environment."

The IG report found that "American defense officials and diplomats in Washington and Europe had failed to quickly or fully account for many of the nearly 40,000 weapons that by law should have been closely monitored because of their battlefield impact, sensitive technology, and relatively small size," according to the New York Times.

I guess they were too busy, or something.

“These are identified as the items — that because of their sensitivity, their vulnerability to diversion or misuse or the consequences of that — it’s particularly important to have this additional tracking and accountability in place,” said Robert Storch, the Pentagon’s inspector general. Storch is the primary watchdog for American aid sent to Ukraine’s war effort.

The report was sent to Congress on Wednesday and a copy of it was provided to The New York Times. The Pentagon’s inspector general released a redacted version of it on Thursday. It did not investigate whether any weapons had been diverted for illicit use, which “was beyond the scope of our evaluation to determine,” it noted.

So, whose job is it to determine if terrorists got their hands on a couple of dozen shoulder-fired missiles? The flying public wants to know.

Perhaps before we send another $60 billion to Ukraine, we might want to put into place more effective means to track the weapons — just as Congress has demanded.

The findings released on Thursday will almost certainly fuel skepticism in Congress over providing more military aid to Ukraine; already, House Republicans are blocking a national security spending plan that would provide an additional $61 billion for the war effort as frontline troops begin to run out of weapons. Combined with Ukraine’s long history of corruption and arms smuggling, the demand for closer accounting is certain to rise.

That we're two years into the war and the Biden administration is just now getting serious about tracking American military assistance is ridiculous. It's a timely question considering weapons that were already "delinquent."

As much as 60 percent of the arms and equipment that were provided as of June were “delinquent,” either because they were delayed in being inventoried in a database designed to track them, or because they were never added after they left American or allied military stockpiles.

Laziness? Incompetence? Stupidity? Perhaps a combination of all three? One billion dollars worth of U.S. weapons, not to mention the technology that created them, has literally gone missing and the bureaucratic game of CYA is preventing the IG from finding out if the weapons were diverted or just lost.

Biden and the Pentagon have been stonewalling Congress about possible corruption by the second-most corrupt government in Europe since the beginning of the war. They could and should do a much better job of tracking these weapons to keep them out of the hands of bad actors who could turn those weapons on the United States.

Pentagon Declares U.S. Warship, Commercial Vessels Under Attack In Red Sea

The guided-missile destroyer USS Carney in Souda Bay, Greece. The American warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023 in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said, potentially marking a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war. “We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon said. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Bill Dodge/U.S. Navy via AP)

The guided-missile destroyer USS Carney in Souda Bay, Greece. The American warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023 in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said, potentially marking a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Bill Dodge/U.S. Navy via AP)

OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
10:25 AM – Sunday, December 3, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/pentagon-declares-u-s-warship-commercial-vessels-under-attack-in-red-sea/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The Pentagon announced that a United States warship and several commercial vessels are under attack in the Red Sea.

On Sunday, the Pentagon declared that an American warship and several commercial ships have come under attack in the Red Sea.

Yemen’s Houthi Rebels, which is a Shia Islamist political and military organization, announced attacks on two ships that they claimed were linked to Israel, but did not recognize targeting a U.S. Navy vessel.

The strike might have been a significant escalation in a sequence of maritime assaults in the Middle East connected to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available, later,” the Pentagon announced. 

The Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran, have been launching drones and cruise missiles in recent weeks at the USS Carney, a guided-missile destroyer of the Arleigh Burke-class. 

As a result, the Houthi rebels have taken credit for the strike on Sunday. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is anticipated to provide an update shortly.

Additionally, the British military earlier mentioned that there had been an anticipated drone attack and several explosions in the Red Sea, but did not elaborate further. 

The Pentagon failed to disclose where it believed the fire originated. However, as the Jewish state fights Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and firing missiles and drones at Israel.

A U.S. authority, speaking about intelligence-related topics while maintaining anonymity, announced that the attack started at approximately 10:00 a.m. in Sanaa, Yemen, and went on for about five hours.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree also announced the attacks, explaining that the first vessel was struck by a missile and that the second was hit by a drone while in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that is connected to the Red Sea near the Gulf of Aden.

Additionally, Saree did not acknowledge any American warship being included in the attack. He stated that the attacks will continue “as long as Israel continues its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

Even as a temporary ceasefire brought the Israel-Hamas war to a halt and Hamas exchanged hostages for Palestinian prisoners, global shipping has become an increasingly prominent target of the conflict.

However, the likelihood of the seaborne attacks returning had increased with the breakdown of the truce, the restart of the Israeli airstrike, and its ground offensive.

U.S. forces in the Middle East have been struck approximately 75 times since the middle of last month. However, the Pentagon does not count attacks on American warships at sea in this amount.

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