Latest U.S. Department of Defense News

US moves soldiers to Alaska island amid Russian military activity increase in the area

Sep. 17, 2024 20:20 PM EDT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. military has moved about 130 soldiers along with mobile rocket launchers to a desolate island in the Aleutian chain of western Alaska amid a recent increase in Russian military planes and vessels approaching American territory. Eight Russian...

US military completes withdrawal from junta-ruled Niger

Sep. 16, 2024 15:13 PM EDT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Niger is complete, an American official said Monday. A small number of military personnel assigned to guard the U.S. Embassy remain, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters. Earlier this year,...

Hundreds march in Brazil to support religious freedom as cases of intolerance rise

Sep. 15, 2024 19:14 PM EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — Practitioners of different religious traditions marched down Rio de Janeiro's iconic Copacabana Beach on Sunday to support religious freedom in Brazil, where cases of intolerance have doubled over the past six years. Hundreds of men, women and...

Jill Biden and Lloyd Austin visit an Alabama base to tout expanded military benefits

Sep. 13, 2024 18:29 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Jill Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled Friday to Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama to highlight programs that the Pentagon and White House are rolling out to improve service members' quality of life as well as early childhood education in the military....

Nearly $6 billion in funding for Ukraine will expire if Congress doesn't act by the end of the month

Sep. 12, 2024 20:42 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly $6 billion in U.S. funding for aid to Ukraine will expire at the end of the month unless Congress acts to extend the Pentagon's authority to send weapons from its stockpile to Kyiv, according to U.S. officials. U.S. officials said the Biden administration...

US aircraft carrier in the Middle East is heading home

Sep. 11, 2024 19:41 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon's rare move to keep two Navy aircraft carriers in the Middle East over the past several weeks has now finished, as the USS Theodore Roosevelt is heading home, according to U.S. officials. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered the Roosevelt...

Jon Stewart presses for a breakthrough to get the first 9/11 troops full care

Sep. 10, 2024 15:27 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first U.S. troops to deploy after the Sept. 11 attacks are suffering from radiation exposure that the government has yet to officially recognize 23 years later. They are a final group of 9/11 service members that comedian Jon Stewart, a champion for first responders, can't...

Alabama Sen. Tuberville blocks quick promotion of top aide to Defense Secretary Austin

Sep. 10, 2024 12:04 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville is blocking the quick promotion of the top military aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over concerns that he and other senior staff did not immediately notify President Joe Biden when Austin was hospitalized with complications from cancer...

Pentagon chief says a six-month temporary budget bill will have devastating effects on the military

Sep. 08, 2024 20:52 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Passage of a six-month temporary spending bill would have widespread and devastating effects on the Defense Department, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a letter to key members of Congress on Sunday. Austin said that passing a continuing resolution that caps...

Pentagon leaders head to Germany for talks on Ukraine military aid

Sep. 05, 2024 10:38 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top U.S. military leaders will be in Germany to discuss Ukraine's wartime needs as Russia has conducted one of its deadliest airstrikes in the conflict and Ukraine presses its offensive in Russia's Kursk region. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. C.Q. Brown,...