Adm. Mark Ferguson outlined the potential future for the Navy if sequestration proceeds without challenges in January, Homeland Security News Wire reports.
Taking a jab at Mitt Romney's view on the size of the Navy at the presidential debate on foreign policy, President Barack Obama quipped about the military having "fewer horses and bayonets." In reality, the Army currently has more than 419,000 bayonets in its inventory while the Marine Corps has more than 195,000 on hand and plans to purchase and additonal 175,000 this year. Bayonets remain standard issue for Marines, but they are not always carried in combat missions, ABC News reports.
According to U.S. Army officials, contracts for ground vehicles could escape the worst of automatic budget cuts because most programs are technically in the developmental phase. Most of the Army's procurement programs are not long-term contracts, limiting the impact the cuts will have, Reuters reports.
Mo. Sen. Claire McCaskill has sent a letter to Army Secretary John McHugh, calling on the Army to investigate potential misconduct by Jorge Scientific Corp., a police-training contractor in Afghanistan, after reports of brawls, fraud and drug abuse surfaced, The Hill reports.
White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters that President Barack Obama's pledge that sequestration "will not happen," remained consistent with his position, saying sequestration "was never meant to be implemented," The Hill reports.
A U.S. military war tribunal is weighing a question that might seem better suited for a history class than a courtroom: How long has the United States been at war?</p><p>The question is more than academic for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, whose lawyers are appearing before the tribunal this week at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba, to seek the dismissal of war crimes charges that were approved by a Pentagon-appointed legal official, The Associated Press reports.
Taliban insurgents killed 10 Afghan troops in an ambush in western Herat province, police and government officials said Tuesday. A spokesman for the provincial governor, Muhiudin Noori, said the Afghan troops — which included both soldiers and police — were searching late Monday for a group of insurgents who had earlier set up a roadblock, stopping and seizing passing vehicles, when they were ambushed, The Associated Press reports.
The Guantanamo prisoner charged in the bombing of the USS Cole is boycotting his pretrial hearing in the case to protest the way he is brought from his cell to court.Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri has told an official at the U.S. base in Cuba that he objects to the use of belly chains. The judge has previously said the 47-year-old prisoner does not have to attend his pretrial hearings but the prosecution is challenging that ruling, The Associated Press reports.
The Pentagon says it will not reclassify the Fort Hood shootings as a terrorist attack due to its concerns about biasing the case against the gunman, The Washington Times reports.
