All Security
How 'fiscal cliff' is already hitting defense industryAlthough lawmakers have been moderating dire predictions, some small businesses are talking about layoffs if no deal on the fiscal cliff is reached. And some have already lost contracts.
What Chuck Hagel would, and wouldn't, bring to job of Defense secretaryChuck Hagel, a storied Republican maverick with a record of voting against his party, opposed the war in Iraq, supports engagement with Iran, and backed Barack Obama in his first presidential run.
X-37B: US launches super-secret, orbiting, robotic planeThe X-37B is designed to stay in space as long as nine months and to collect electronic signals of all kinds in a way that other countries can't stop. The Air Force is not commenting on its mission.
Pentagon warns that insider attacks could derail the war in AfghanistanIn its latest mandated update to Congress, the Pentagon reports that safe havens in Pakistan and corruption within the Afghan government are the greatest risks to 'sustainable security.'
Daring Special Ops rescue in Afghanistan: Why was kidnapped doc kept secret?On Sunday, Special Operations Forces rescued a doctor held by the Taliban. Few Americans even knew a doctor had been kidnapped in Afghanistan – and that was by design.
Too much religion at military academies? West Point cadet revives charge.Citing overt religiosity on campus, a West Point Academy cadet publicly quit this week just months before graduation. This is not the first time the military has come under fire for practices that nonreligious students see as aggressively evangelical.
Covert US-Iran war bubbles over with claims of drone captureMost of the actions in the US-Iran covert war remain mysterious and unclaimed – until one side sees an advantage in shining light on an incident. That’s what Iran has done with the drone capture.
Pentagon vs. Al Qaeda: Panetta hints at shifting US tacticsIn a little-noticed policy speech, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Al Qaeda has been adapting to the US offensive against its leadership, requiring the Pentagon to adopt new tactics.
'Cult of David Petraeus': Did media perpetuate a myth?Members of the Pentagon press are shaking their heads in the wake of the David Petraeus scandal. Some think Petraeus's savvy and personable style led them to be too soft on him.
Widening Petraeus scandal comes at already troublesome time for PentagonGen. John Allen, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, is under investigation by the Department of Defense, as part of the inquiry into David Petraeus's affair. The Pentagon already had big personnel moves planned, and budget questions loom.
FocusVeterans Day: When vets run afoul of the law, these courts careModeled after local drug or family courts, veterans courts are springing up, stressing rehabilitation and mentoring over jail time. Is it special treatment, or deserved consideration?
On Veterans Day, the greatest wound for many is loss of purposeCapt. Kyle Snook, a third-generation soldier, only wanted to be a platoon leader – a dream shattered by a roadside bomb in Kandahar. Now, he's trying to find meaning after the Army.
- Are you smarter than a US Marine? Take the recruitment quiz
The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is made up of 10 tests, including 225 questions, but only four of the tests are used to see if you qualify to join the US military. Each branch – the Marines, Navy, Air Force, etc – has a different qualifying score. The other tests – including science, electronics, mechanical knowledge – help the military determine what jobs you may be qualified to do.
Since only four areas -– Word Knowledge (WK), Paragraph Comprehension (PC), Arithmetic Reasoning (AR), and Math Knowledge (MK) – are used to compute your Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) score, our 24 sample questions cover just those areas. The actual military recruitment test has 105 questions in these four subjects.
Are you smart enough to be a US Marine or join the Air Force? Take our quiz.
Iran fires at US drone: the top 3 pressing questions Iranian military forces fired at a US Predator drone for the first time ever earlier this month, the Pentagon acknowledged this week. It’s a revelation that has raised a host of questions for the US military. Here are the top three.
Why Pentagon won't say how it would cut $55 billion starting Jan. 1The Pentagon may finally be planning for dreaded spending cuts set to take effect in the new year, though it is mum on any specifics. It wants Congress to come up with a different solution to US deficit spending.
- In Pentagon's 'pivot' toward Asia, has Europe been forgotten?
President Obama is pushing the Pentagon to look toward Asia, but some worry that US attention could overbalance away from Europe, which remains the home of many core allies.
In Sandy's aftermath, military brings rescue swimmers and 'bucket trucks'The US military has manpower, equipment, and skills that make it uniquely suited to disaster relief. In the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, it is filling in important gaps.
No prank: On Halloween, US military forces train for zombie apocalypseThe scenario is part of a counterterrorism summit held this week. A zombie invasion would have characteristics similar to other catastrophic events and would be 'a federal incident,' a summit organizer says.
Benghazi terrorist attack follows Obama on the campaign trailThe terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, continues to follow President Obama as he faces an extremely close reelection bid and the expected onslaught of Hurricane Sandy.
Benghazi attack: Urgent call for military help ‘was denied by chain of command’Fox News and others report that military help was available during the terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, but denied. CIA and Pentagon officials strongly deny the claim.
