Tag: Department of Defense

Republican Lawmakers Push Defense Department to Blacklist Chinese EV Battery Company Tied to CCP

Daily Caller News Foundation
Moolenaar Rubio

Republican lawmakers are urging the Department of Defense (DOD) to bar a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer from receiving U.S. military contracts and deter the company’s U.S. clients from using its services.

Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan and Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to the Pentagon Wednesday requesting EV battery-maker CATL be added to its 1260H list that identifies company’s “involved in bolstering Beijing’s military ambitions” and prohibits them from being awarded defense contracts. The lawmakers accused CATL of being controlled by China due to “subsidies, tax incentives [and] favorable procurement deals” from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and of furthering the interests of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by supporting its battery infrastructure.

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China Poised to Cut Off US Military from Key Mineral as America’s Own Reserves Lay Buried Under Red Tape

Daily Caller News Foundation
Mineral mining

China is planning to restrict exports of a key mineral needed to make weapons while a U.S. company that could be reducing America’s reliance on foreign suppliers is languishing in red tape, energy experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Chinese government announced on August 15 that it will restrict exports of antimony, a critical mineral that dominates the production of weapons globally and is essential for producing equipment like munitions, night vision goggles and bullets that are essential to national security, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Perpetua Resources, an American mining company, has been navigating red tape for years to develop a mine in Valley County, Idaho,  that could decrease reliance on the Chinese supply of antimony, but the slow permitting process is getting in the way, energy experts told the DCNF.

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One Rule Has Saved Americans from Billions in Wasteful Government Spending

Daily Caller News Foundation
United States Capitol Building

A rule requiring the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to publish annual reports on wasteful spending has saved billions of taxpayer dollars since 2011, according to an Open the Books report released Wednesday.

Former Republican Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn amended the Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 to require the GAO to include an investigation into duplicate spending between government entities in its annual report, which has saved the government $667.5 billion since its first report in 2011, according to Open the Books. Congress, however, had made efforts to stifle the GAO’s mission, threatening to cut its funding right after its first report, and has been the slowest to adopt the GAO’s waste-cutting recommendations.

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DEI, Critical Race Theory Pervades Military Trainings: Report

Virginia Star Staff
Military DEI

Diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory topics now pervade U.S. Armed Forces educational trainings and programs, according to newly published research.

The recent report out of Arizona State University’s Center for American Institutions detailed the extensiveness of DEI training throughout the branches of the military and military academies, as well as highlighted an increasing budget for DEI training.

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Pentagon Doesn’t Know If It Funds Dangerous Biological Research in China, New Audit Reveals

Just the News
Medical research lab

Despite years of warnings that China operates an illicit biological weapons program, the U.S. military remains unable to determine whether it sends American tax dollars to Beijing for research that could make pathogens more dangerous or deadly, the Pentagon’s chief watchdog declared in a stunning new warning to policymakers.

“The DoD did not track funding at the level of detail necessary to determine whether the DoD provided funding to Chinese research laboratories or other foreign countries for research related to enhancement of pathogens of pandemic potential,” the Pentagon inspector general concluded in a report released this month.

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‘Incompetence’: Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Much Money It Sent to Chinese Entities for Risky Virus Research

Virginia Star Staff
Science Lab

The Department of Defense (DOD) does not know how much money it directly or indirectly sent to Chinese entities to conduct research on viruses with pandemic potential, according to a new report by the DOD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The OIG’s report found that DOD has supplied Chinese entities — whether directly or indirectly via subgrants — with taxpayer cash to research pathogens and the enhancement thereof, but the exact figure is unknown because of “limitations” in the DOD’s internal tracking system. Government funding for such research in China has come under scrutiny since the coronavirus pandemic, which multiple government entities believe started when an engineered virus leaked from a Chinese laboratory that was hosting U.S. government-backed gain-of-function research.

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Commentary: Searching for the Truth About the Raid at Mar-a-Lago

RealClearWire
Mar-A-Lago

Top officials at the Department of Justice are downplaying recently disclosed documents showing FBI agents were authorized to use deadly force during their 2022 raid of Donald Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.

Responding to Trump’s claim that “Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau was following “standard operating procedure” as it executed a search warrant on Aug. 8, 2022, regarding classified material that the former president was holding at Mar-a-Lago.

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Biden Threatens Veto of Veteran Funding over Abortion, LGBT Provisions

The Center Square
riginal Montford Point Marines stand for the National Anthem

U.S. House Republicans passed legislation Wednesday to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction, but a battle over abortion, sexuality and other issues may sink the bill.

The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 features $378.644 billion in spending. 

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Chinese Companies are Reportedly Camouflaging Themselves as U.S. Brands to Dodge Government Blacklist

Virginia Star Staff
Hesai Headquarters

A number of blacklisted Chinese companies have reportedly disguised themselves as American to operate inside the U.S. and evade penalties, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The U.S. government has taken several steps to crack down on Chinese firms that have been linked to the Chinese Communist Party and identified as potential threats to national security. But companies of concern, including Hesai Group, SZ DJI Technologies, BGI Group, Huawaei and ByteDance have operated or worked with American-based companies to sell products and services inside the U.S. without penalty, according to the WSJ.

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Bipartisan Opposition: Governors from 48 States, 5 Territories Reject Biden’s Plan to Take Over National Guard

Kaitlin Housler

The governors of 48 U.S. states and five territories have sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressing a “strong opposition” to the Department of Defense’s (DOD) proposed legislation to the Senate Armed Services Committee that would permanently federalize portions of the state Air National Guard troops into the U.S. Space Force.

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Commentary: Trump Must Reform the Pentagon’s Acquisition Process

Virginia Star Staff
The Pentagon

Forget the $500 hammer. The newest report from the Government Accountability Office puts the cost of America’s ailing Lightning II F-35 joint strike fighter at an estimated $2 trillion.

Have all those zeros bought the American taxpayer an invincible flying machine?

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Lawmakers Decry U.S. Military’s Drift to DEI Culture

The Center Square
Pentagon

The U.S. military’s ongoing embrace of the far-left culture war has drawn increased attention and ire from lawmakers.

Despite Pentagon officials waving off concerns, a steady stream of evidence has shown that the most progressive ideas on race, gender and sexuality have become the norm, in particular within the administrative parts of the U.S. military.

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Chinese Military Companies Have Spent over $24 Million Lobbying the U.S. Government in Recent Years

Virginia Star Staff
Chinese Military

Entities the Pentagon classifies as “Chinese military companies” have spent more than $24 million lobbying the U.S. government since 2020, a Daily Caller News Foundation review of lobbying disclosures found.

Some of the biggest spenders on lobbying included corporations directly tied to human rights abuses and Chinese military research, like telecom giant Huawei, facial recognition software developer Megvii and genomics company BGI Shenzhen. Chinese military corporations cast a wide net across the American government, lobbying the House, Senate and various parts of the executive branch, including the office of the president, often setting their sights on proposed policies that would impact their U.S. operations, according to a DCNF review of congressional disclosures and legislative records.

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Commentary: Republicans Roll over on ‘Climate Change’

Virginia Star Staff
Climate Change

Why are Republicans supine in the fight against the Marxist takeover of our entire way of life? They are petrified, for some reason, about engaging the debate on the “science” of “climate change.”

This abandonment of the playing field has allowed climate spending to overtake the landscape like Kudzu vines on steroids.

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Congressional Watchdog Questions Reliability of U.S. Financial Statements, Cites ‘Serious Financial Management Problems at the Department of Defense’

The Center Square
The Pentagon

A Congressional watchdog said Friday that it was again unable to determine if the federal government’s consolidated financial statements were reliable.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office, which is Congress’s research arm, said it was hampered by “serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense,” problems in accounting for transactions between federal agencies, weaknesses in the process for preparing the statements and inadequate support for the cost of loan programs from the Small Business Administration and Department of Education.

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Decline in White Recruits Fueling the Military’s Worst-Ever Recruiting Crisis, Data Shows

Virginia Star Staff
Military Recruits

Each U.S. military service saw a notable decline in white recruits over the past five years, according to data obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, likely factoring into the military’s crippling recruiting crisis.

The Army, Navy and Air Force missed their recruiting objectives by historically large margins in fiscal year 2023, which ended on Sept. 30, as the broader American public has grown wary of military service, according to Department of Defense (DOD) statistics, officials and experts who spoke to the DCNF. Since 2018, however, the number of recruits from minority groups has remained steady — or, in some cases, increased — while the number of white recruits has declined, according to data on the demographics of new recruits obtained by the DCNF.

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Virginia Congressman: Commission Is ‘Rewriting History,’ Deserves Investigation

The Center Square
Bob Good Speaking

In two letters to government officials, Virginia Congressman and Chair of House Freedom Caucus Bob Good, R-Lynchburg, demanded “accountability and transparency” from the Naming Commission.

The commission was established in 2021 to recommend renaming military assets showing honor to the Confederacy for the Department of Defense.

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Federal Diversity Trainings Cost Taxpayers in 2023 Millions of Dollars

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration spent millions on diversity trainings for federal agencies, including some for the armed forces, in 2023.

Taxpayers were on the hook for the more than $16.3 million the federal government spent on diversity trainings taking place in 2023, according to a government spending database. Past government diversity trainings have instructed federal workers that asking an Asian colleague for help with a math problem could be racist, that men can become pregnant and that “social pain” can be the same as physical pain.

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Federal Employees’ Political Donations Largely Went to Biden, Other Dems in 2023

Virginia Star Staff
Government Workers

Over 60% of political donations to prominent political committees made by employees of the federal government’s 15 cabinet-level departments flowed to President Joe Biden and other Democrats in 2023, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis of Federal Election Commission records.

The DCNF filtered donations in calendar year 2023 by individuals who listed their employer as one of 15 cabinet agencies, and who donated to the Biden campaign, the Biden Victory Fund, the Trump campaign, Save America PAC, and the respective congressional and senatorial fundraising committees for each party.

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Air Force Academy Privately Fretted the End of Race-Based Admissions Would Hamstring ‘Diversity’ Goals

Virginia Star Staff

The Air Force Academy’s top official worried the Supreme Court’s decision that race-based admissions were unconstitutional would set back the service’s “warfighting imperative” of building a racially diverse military, according to emails obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

On June 30, 2023, Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, the Air Force Academy’s superintendent, wrote a preview of the consequences that the Supreme Court’s decision striking down affirmative action could have for service academies’ abilities to judge candidates on the basis of race, according to emails the DCNF obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Although the justices did not overtly apply the decision to military schools, the records show how the Air Force Academy scrambled to minimize the impact of the June 29 decision on racial diversity goals.

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Alabama’s Tuberville Ends Nine-Month Hold on Most Military Promotions

The Center Square

Alabama Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Tuesday ended his nearly 10-month hold on most military promotions over the Department of Defense’s abortion policies.

Tuberville made his stand in response to Pentagon policy using taxpayers’ money to give service members time off and pay to travel to other states for abortions. The policy from the Biden administration was enacted after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

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Air Force Begs Troops Booted over COVID-19 Vax to Come Back

Virginia Star Staff

The U.S. Air Force sent out a letter telling an airman booted from the service over the now-rescinded COVID-19 vaccine mandate of an opportunity to rejoin the service, mirroring similar letters sent to former Army service members, according to a copy of one Air Force letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

A former Air Force service member who was separated for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine received the letter Sunday addressed with the recipient’s name, according to a source familiar with the matter. The letter tells former airmen they can request to have their service records amended to show that they received honorable discharges and seek reentry into the service amidst the service’s failure to meet recruiting goals.

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Commentary: The Department of Defense Needs to Defend Our Border

Virginia Star Staff

Thomas Friedman recently said something interesting: “The euphoric rampage of Oct. 7 that killed some 1,400 soldiers and civilians has not only hardened Israeli hearts toward the suffering of Gaza civilians. It has also inflicted a deep sense of humiliation and guilt on the Israeli Army and defense establishment, for having failed in their most basic mission of protecting the country’s borders.”

The humiliation and guilt do not seem universal. Our military and defense leadership do not seem to feel any responsibility for the border crisis. They certainly feel no shame for this egregious and ongoing insult to American sovereignty. For them, the military is reserved for events around the globe, even though most of these far-flung campaigns have only a tangential relationship to actual American security.

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GOP Senator Presses Defense Secretary on Missing Evidence Behind Abortion Claims

Virginia Star Staff

A GOP senator questioned the Department of Defense (DOD)’s missing justification for its controversial abortion travel policy after the Pentagon said it still needed to assess the impact of abortion restrictions on the military, in a letter exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Republicans have opposed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s measures to counteract state abortion restrictions implemented since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Supreme Court decision in June of 2022, including by paying travel expenses for women seeking abortions. The Pentagon argued abortion restrictions would harm military readiness and lethality, but Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi hammered Austin again for failing to provide data backing up that claim in a letter dated Oct. 27.

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Pentagon: US Recorded Nearly 200 Risky Encounters with Chinese Aircraft over Last 2 Years

Virginia Star Staff

The Department of Defense (DOD) issued a statement revealing that American aircraft have had roughly 180 hostile encounters with Chinese aircraft over the last two years.

Fox News reports that Pentagon officials published evidence of this trend during a press conference on Tuesday, with Assistant Defense Secretary for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner saying that “since the fall of 2021, we have seen more than 180 such incidents.”

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Pentagon Announces Another $200 Million in Aid for Ukraine

Virginia Star Staff

On Wednesday, the Department of Defense announced yet another massive aid package for Ukraine, this time amounting to $200 million.

As reported by the New York Post, this will be the 48th such package sent to Eastern Europe since the start of the war in Ukraine. It will include 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), AIM-9M missiles to assist with aerial defense, and counter-unmanned drones.

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Air Force Sued over Free Speech Rights of Airman Who Called Out Cancel Culture While in Uniform

Virginia Star Staff

A Space Force reservist filed a lawsuit against the Air Force, Space Force and the Department of Defense on Tuesday alleging he faced unlawful punishment for speaking out against cancel culture and progressive policies during a private event.

First Liberty Institute, law firm Winston & Strawn and the Ave Maria School of Law Veterans and Servicemembers Law Clinic filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jace Yarbrough, who in 2021 was invited to speak at a retirement ceremony for SMSgt Duane Fish allegedly in a personal capacity, according to a press release. After an unnamed Navy member present at the ceremony complained about the contents of the speech, the Air Force censured Yarbrough, now a Major in the Air Force Reserve and attorney.

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U.S. Probing More Than 100 Incidents of Chinese Nationals Entering Military Bases and Weapons Sites

Virginia Star Staff

More than 100 incidents where Chinese nationals have accessed or neared U.S. military bases and other sensitive locations have sparked suspicions of a wider espionage campaign driven by Beijing, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials.

The FBI, Department of Defense and other agencies have dubbed the situation, where Chinese nationals appear to feign accidentally approaching high-security U.S. military installations and other federal sites, “gate crashing,” and held a review in 2022 to figure out a way to tamp down on the incidents, the WSJ reported, citing the officials. The officials said the practice appears intended to stress-test security measures at the military sites as a form of low-effort reconnaissance or espionage.

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Biden Admin Quietly ‘Disposing’ of Trump Border Wall Materials to Be Auctioned Off

Virginia Star Staff

For months, the Biden administration has been “disposing” of portions of the Trump border wall to be auctioned off, a local official at the southern border and the Department of Defense (DOD) told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The auction house GovPlanet has been selling off the “thick wall tubes” and other wall materials since April, according to listings on its website, and has already sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of wall materials. The Pentagon confirmed that the Biden administration is “disposing” of portions of the border wall construction materials in a statement to the DCNF.

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Department of Defense Missed Half of Watchdog Deadlines So Far This Year

The Center Square
aerial view of The Pentagon

The Pentagon has missed half of its deadlines to respond to requests from a Congressional watchdog in the last six months. 

A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found that the U.S. Department of Defense submitted about half of its agency comments and sensitivity or security reviews after deadlines set by the watchdog.

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Pentagon Personnel Chief Behind Diversity and Abortion Policies Heading Out

Virginia Star Staff

Gilbert Cisneros, a Navy veteran and former Democratic California representative, announced Monday plans to retire as the Department of Defense (DOD) head for personnel policy, leaving a legacy of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies.

The Pentagon touted Cisneros’ record in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday, fueling the implementation of new policies developed under his watch to address sexual assault and suicide. Cisneros also presided over numerous social policies that became the subject of conservative ire, such as the DOD pandemic response, ensuringacceptance of the once-mandated COVID-19 vaccine and policies making it easier for female servicemembers to accesscontraceptives and abortion.

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Bipartisan Bill Bans JROTC Programs at Chinese Communist Party-Linked Schools

The Center Square

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a measure that would prohibit the Department of Defense from establishing or maintaining a Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at any private school operated by entities linked to the People’s Republic of China, Chinese Communist Party, or the People’s Liberation Army.

U.S. Reps. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., introduced the Deterring Egregious State Infiltration of Schools’ Training Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to a news release. 

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Federal Program Targets Virginia Landscapes to Combat Climate Change

The Center Square

A Department of Defense-supported program designed to combat climate change came to Virginia on Monday.

The Sentinel Landscape Partnership is tackling two new landscape projects in Virginia abutting its Maryland project, the Middle Chesapeake Landscape. The commonwealth landscapes comprise public and private lands in a swath of nearly three million acres that includes 10 military installations and stretches from Maryland to North Carolina, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts, the lead nonprofit that worked with federal and state officials on the designation.

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Biden Moves to Shift Power over Defense Contracts to Climate Activist ‘Cabal’ Bent on Curtailing Economic Growth

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden White House is pushing to give veto power over major Pentagon contracts to a group of climate activist groups that advocate for establishing “guardrails” on economic growth, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.

The White House proposed a rule in November that requires major contractors for the Department of Defense (DOD), NASA, and Government Services Agency (GSA) to submit climate-related goals to a consortium of activist organizations, called the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), for validation. If the SBTi rejects the contractor’s plan to reduce emissions, the company would no longer be eligible to compete.

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New Jersey U.S. Rep. Chris Smith Rips Biden Administration for Canceling Franciscans’ Longstanding Contract to Provide Military Hospital Pastoral Care

Susan Berry, PhD

A letter Friday from Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin condemned the Biden administration’s decision to end the contract for provision of pastoral care by a community of Franciscan clergy to service members and veterans at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

“I write today with grave concerns regarding the provision of Religious Services at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, specifically Catholic pastoral care, and request you immediately provide access for Catholic priests who seek to offer pastoral care to service members and Veterans who are in the hospital,” Smith wrote, noting the cease-and-desist letter issued by the medical center to the Franciscans at Holy Name College.

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Walter Reed Military Hospital Reviewing Contract for Chaplain Services After Ordering Off Catholic Priests

Virginia Star Staff

The Pentagon’s health agency said Tuesday it is reviewing a contract for chaplaincy services at Walter Reed Military Medical Center after facing backlash for sending a “cease and desist” letter to the Franciscan Friars at Holy Name College Friary in Silver Spring, Maryland, according to the Washington Times.

The Defense Health Agency (DHA) terminated a 20-year relationship with the Friars on March 31, just before Easter Sunday, instead awarding a contract to a private firm that Catholic authorities say cannot provide chaplain services according to their religious tradition, because chaplains must work for a bishop, not a private company.  Congressional Republicans sent a letter Tuesday to DHA calling the decision “unconscionable,” prompting a promise from Walter Reed to reevaluate the contract, the Washington Times reported.

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As Pentagon Struggles to Fill Military Requests, Funding Goes to Diversity, Critical Race Theory

The Center Square

The Pentagon is increasingly struggling to fill the weapons and equipment requests for the war in Ukraine. At the same time, taxpayer funds are going to pay for ongoing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in the military, most recently one controversial Pentagon official pushing anti-police and pro-critical race theory books at schools for the children of military families.

The New York Times recently highlighted the Pentagon’s manufacturing problem with a story headlined: “From Rockets to Ball Bearings: Pentagon Struggles to Feed War Machine.”

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Pentagon’s ‘Strategic Management Plan’ Devotes Roughly One Out of Every Six Pages to Diversity, Climate Change

Virginia Star Staff

Nearly one of every six pages of a document detailing the Pentagon’s management strategy are devoted to combating climate change and fulfilling Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.

The Strategic Management Plan for 2022 to 2026, released Tuesday, covers 124 pages and underscores the actions the Department of Defense (DOD) is taking to fulfill the Biden administration’s broader national defense strategy. It lays out high-level, long term goals and steps the department will take to accomplish those objectives and overcome anticipated challenges, as well as performance metrics for so-called Agency Priority Goals (APGs) that include climate and diversity targets.

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Pentagon Will Pay for Travel to Other States for Abortions

Virginia Star Staff

The Department of Defense (DOD) will pay for troops to travel to states that allow abortions and obtain so-called “reproductive health care” at non-military facilities, according to a new policy released Thursday evening.

The landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision gave states the authority to determine localized abortion policies. The Hyde amendment bars DOD from administering abortions at military medical facilities, the new policy carves out provisions for expanded leave times and set-aside funding for servicemembers stationed in states that restrict abortions to cross state boundaries to obtain the procedure.

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Number of Troops Dying from Fentanyl More than Doubles

Virginia Star Staff

The number of American troops dying from fentanyl more than doubled between 2017 and 2021, according to Department of Defense (DOD) data released Wednesday.

The data show that fentanyl was to blame for 54 overdose deaths in 2021, which account for 88% of drug deaths that year, according to DOD’s response to a bipartisan congressional inquiry. The number is a staggering increase from the 22 overdose deaths caused by fentanyl in 2017.

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Bill Seeks to Cap Pay for Diversity Employees at Department of Defense

The Center Square

Two Republican Congressmen have filed legislation that would limit the pay of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion employees at the Department of Defense to that of front-line soldiers. 

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, introduced legislation Wednesday that would cap the amount of compensation for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion employees at the Department of Defense to the rank of E-5, which is $31,000 a year. U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, introduced companion legislation in the House.

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Marines Continue Fight with Department of Defense over Vaccine Mandate

The Center Square

Several members of the U.S. Marines are still fighting the U.S. Department of Defense in a lawsuit they filed over its August 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The DOD asked the court to dismiss the case after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was forced to drop the mandate by Congress. President Joe Biden, who strongly opposed repealing the mandate, agreed to repealing it when he signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law in December.

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Pentagon Still Can’t Account for Roughly $220 Billion in Equipment, Gov’t Watchdog Says

Admin

The Department of Defense (DOD) has neglected to address its inability to keep track of at least $220 billion in equipment provided to government contractors, according to a Tuesday report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Auditors first reported the Pentagon’s failure to account for government-owned equipment or material offered up for use to contracting agencies, also called government furnished property, in 2001, according to the report. DOD has made little improvement since then, increasing the risk that the Pentagon could accidentally overlook errors in the books.

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Unvaccinated Military Members Still Facing Repercussions Despite Rescinded COVID-19 Mandate

Admin

Despite the Department of Defense rescinding the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, unvaccinated military members are still facing repercussions, including denied benefits, ineligibility for promotion, being non-deployable, and potentially diminished employment prospects for those already discharged.

On Dec. 23, President Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the $858 billion defense spending bill that included a measure repealing the mandate. On Dec. 29, the Defense Department followed suit, rescinding the mandate that has frayed military morale and resulted in the discharge of over 8,000 service members who refused the vaccine.

In rescinding the vaccine mandate, the DOD acknowledged the NDAA requires Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to rescind his Aug. 24, 2021 memo issuing the sweeping order.

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Marsha Blackburn Commentary: Firing Servicemembers over the COVID-19 Shot Threatens Our National Security

Admin

President Biden said it himself: the pandemic is over. So why is his Department of Defense (DoD) willing to look at the brave men and women who volunteered to serve our nation and say, “you’re fired” – all because they chose not to get the COVID-19 shot?

In the United States, the number of new servicemembers joining the military has reached a record low. Every single branch struggled to hit its recruitment goals this year, including the U.S. Army, which fell 10,000 soldiers short. At this rate, they will face a deficit of 21,000 soldiers next year. The National Guard also missed the mark by about 12,000 recruits, and expects to discharge up to 14,000 more by 2024 for refusing the COVID-19 shot.

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Commentary: With Recruitments at Record Lows, Our Sons and Daughters May Soon Be Feeling the Draft

Virginia Star Staff

This year the U.S. Army missed its annual recruiting goal by 25 percent, or 20,000 soldiers. That’s more than an entire division, which includes 10,000-20,000 troops. The National Guard missed its target by 9,000 recruits and applications are down more than 20 percent at Annapolis and West Point. This has the Pentagon looking for new ways to fill the ranks, but an old one might get the nod.

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New Department of Defense Equity Chief Has History of Anti-White Statements

Virginia Star Staff

A new diversity hire at the Biden Administration’s Department of Defense (DOD) has a long and documented history of racist statements against White people on her social media.

As reported by the New York Post, Kelisa Wing is an Army veteran and the new chief of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the DOD’s Education Activity. Her Twitter account in particular contains numerous anti-White statements, including her declaration in June of 2020 that she was “exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development] sessions.”

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Judge Chastises DoD, Marine Corps in Order Granting Class Action Status in Vaccine Mandate Case

The Center Square

U.S District Court Judge Steven Merryday issued a blistering rebuke of the Department of Defense and Marine Corps for refusing to grant religious accommodation requests to service members.

Merryday did so when issuing a 48-page ruling Thursday in which he granted class action status for all active and reserve U.S. Marine Corps service men and women in a lawsuit filed against the Secretary of Defense over the department’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

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