US defence secretary Lloyd Austin first orchestrated and then watched in real time from his hospital room as the US retaliatory attack on Yemen-based Houthi militants unfolded on Thursday night. Mr Austin’s hospital room leadership was the latest in a series of actions the defence chief has carried out from Walter Reed National Military Medical […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shortfalls in required monitoring by American officials mean the U.S. cannot track more than $1 billion in weapons and military equipment provided to Ukraine to fight invading Russian forces, according to a Pentagon audit released Thursday. The findings mean that 59% of $1.7 billion in defense gear that the U.S. has provided […]
More than $1 billion worth of shoulder-fired missiles, kamikaze drones and night-vision devices that the United States has sent to Ukraine have not been properly tracked by U.S. officials, a new Pentagon report concludes, raising concerns they could be stolen or smuggled at a time Congress is debating whether to send more military aid to […]
Stunned Defense Department officials struggled on Tuesday to digest the news that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and kept it a secret for weeks. Officials described emotional whiplash as details about Austin’s condition and failure to notify even his closest advisers trickled out over the past few days. On Tuesday, […]
By Jack Queen (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin may have violated the law by failing to report his recent hospitalization to his boss, but likely only faces a reprimand from U.S. President Joe Biden, despite some calls for his resignation, two legal experts said on Monday. WHAT DID AUSTIN DO? Austin, 70, […]
By Jeff Mason, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden does not plan to fire Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after his failure to disclose his hospitalization last week, officials said on Monday, as the Pentagon revealed a second hospital stay that was kept from the White House. Biden’s […]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon said on Monday it was not currently planning to withdraw its roughly 2,500 troops from Iraq, despite Baghdad’s announcement last week it would begin the process of removing the U.S.-led military coalition from the country. “Right now, I’m not aware of any plans (to plan for withdrawal). We continue to […]
US president Joe Biden does not plan to fire defence secretary Lloyd Austin over his failure to disclose a hospitalisation for days, the White House said on Monday, as prominent Republicans called for the Pentagon chief to be removed. Mr Austin, who sits just below Mr Biden at the top of the chain of command […]
The Pentagon has released new details about defence secretary Lloyd Austin’s secretive stay in hospital. It states Mr Austin underwent a medical procedure on December 22, went home a day later, and was admitted to intensive care on January 1 when he began experiencing severe pain. The latest information came as members of both parties […]
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was hospitalized on the evening of January 1, 2023. Austin was admitted due to “complications following a recent elective medical procedure.” Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder held a press conference on Thursday and did not mention Austin’s hospitalization. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was hospitalized […]
A drone attack by an Iran-affiliated terrorist group on a military base in Iraq early Monday morning left three U.S. service members wounded, the Pentagon said, and prompted retaliatory strikes. The attack on the Erbil Air Base was conducted by Kataib Hezbollah militants, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. One of the three […]
(Reuters) – A drone launched from Iran struck a chemical tanker in the Indian ocean early on Saturday, the U.S. Department of Defense said. “The motor vessel CHEM PLUTO, a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned, and Netherlands-operated chemical tanker was struck at approximately 10 a.m. local time (6 a.m. GMT) today in the Indian Ocean, 200 nautical miles […]