Ideas
The Pentagon is using polygraphs to hunt leakers, but the tests are more theater than fact
My 27-year career with the CIA makes me wary of the certainty their use can appear to convey.
Policy
US absent as western powers meet on wartime protections for civilians
A multinational group meets this week at NATO headquarters in Belgium to discuss protections for civilians during combat. Even though the U.S. co-founded this effort, no American delegation will be in the room.
Science & Tech
Maven is becoming the Pentagon’s everything app
MSS has replaced “six, eight, ten” systems that the military used to analyze data, AI chief says.
Exclusive
Policy
Pentagon cyber strategy expected as soon as next week, sources say
Officials have previewed a blueprint emphasizing offensive operations, AI, and closer industry ties as the military reorganizes its cyber forces.
Policy
‘Change agent’ Army secretary resigns
Hegseth’s purging of transformation-focused generals led to Dan Driscoll’s resignation, source says.
Science & Tech
The US military gets its own ChatGPT today
After months of security testing, Pentagon adds an OpenAI product to the list of AI tools approved for unclassified work.
Policy
Senior officers advised Hegseth to keep civilian-protection program. He axed it anyway
The U.S. military has killed hundreds of noncombatants since gutting its Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response mission. The blowback may lead to a partial restoration.
Ideas
The wrong way to review US force posture in Europe
Loyalty tests don’t build loyalty. They erode it.
Business
There’s no shortcut to replenish US munitions stockpiles
Firms are pitching low-cost munitions and the Pentagon is making weapons deals. It won’t immediately fix the Iran-stockpile problem.
Business
Pentagon hands Palantir up to $244M in no-bid work
A memo orders agencies to find uses for the company's software, but is mute on the required justifications for sole-source work.
Policy
How Congress is reshaping the administration's FY27 budget
Three of the four House and Senate committees have marked up the spending proposal. Here's what they want.
Threats
US has too few interceptors to deter war with China, experts say
A new report from Heritage is the latest to sound alarms over the expenditure of munitions in Trump's Iran war.
Policy
Unions ask for injunction restoring collective bargaining at Defense
The latest filing says Pentagon strayed from the Trump administration’s own guidance for implementing an executive order banning collective bargaining at most agencies.
Policy
Hegseth’s conflicting statements, evasions drain lawmakers’ patience, support
As public opinion on Trump’s Iran war collapses, senators express growing frustration at shifting White House rationales, missing strategy.
Policy
Unions sue to restore Pentagon workers' collective-bargaining rights
SecDef Hegseth's no-warning termination of worker agreements broke the law and caused "confusion and disruption," the suit alleges.
Policy
'Shifting gears away from being just a policy shop': Q&A with the Pentagon CIO
Kirsten Davies said her office is adding focus on cybersecurity and the warfighter.
Policy
Trump wants to scrap a key framework for federal-employee discipline
Officials said the decades-old criteria used to punish misconduct are too restrictive and “mechanistic.” Practitioners disagree.
Defense Systems
Under new management: the Pentagon’s autonomous systems get new oversight
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the creation of the DRPM-UxS, or direct reporting portfolio manager for unmanned offensive and defensive systems, via memo.
Ideas
What is the Chinese military thinking about the Iran war?
Let’s imagine what a senior PLA analyst might write in a memo.
Policy