Tag: Department of Defense

Commentary: We Have to Be Strategic About Strategic Material Production

Minnesota Sun Staff

The most important duty of government is to provide for the security of its citizens. Providing that security is a complex enterprise. Its most obvious feature is military power: providing the surface naval, air, and space forces necessary to protect national interests. Of course, military power depends on economic power. In today’s security environment, that means maintaining the capability to provide for both the prosperity of American citizens as well the high tech weaponry necessary for modern warfare.

While the world’s attention is focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we need to keep in mind that the People’s Republic of China is America’s foremost adversary. While the United States dominated the “third industrial revolution” based on computation and communications, China seeks to lead the “fourth industrial revolution” based on metadata and artificial intelligence. China’s grand strategy is focused on achieving that goal. For example, Beijing has employed its Belt and Road Initiative in combination with digital technology in order to integrate billions of people into China’s economic sphere.

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Marines Describe ‘Sham’ Religious Vaccine Exemption Process

Minnesota Sun Staff

The COVID-19 vaccine exemption process in the Marine Corps gives no consideration to the faiths of individual soldiers and could hamper military readiness, according to Marines fighting the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate on religious grounds who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation anonymously out of fear of retribution.

As of Friday, 95% of active duty members of the Marine Corps were fully vaccinated, and another 2% were partially vaccinated, Department of Defense (DOD) spokesperson Maj. Charlie Dietz told the DCNF. A total of 334 Marines have been separated with a vaccine refusal discharge code. The Marine Corps has received 3,538 religious exemption requests, and only three were approved, out of 3,414 requests that were processed.

The Secretary of Defense issued a memorandum on Aug. 24, requiring that all service members be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a matter of readiness.

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First Liberty Institute Amends Lawsuit, Sues for Religious Protections for All Members of the Navy

Cooper Moran
group of Navy members sitting on bleachers

The First Liberty Institute (FLI) on Monday amended their lawsuit against the Department of Defense and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to sue for religious protections for all members of the U.S. Navy.

The suit, which originally only included U.S. Navy SEALs, claims the Navy has been unwilling to grant religious exemptions to the coronavirus mandate handed down by President Joe Biden.

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Navy SEALs Secure Legal Win Ahead of Supreme Court Vaccine Arguments

The Center Square

A group of Navy SEALs obtained a victory in their legal battle against COVID-19 vaccine mandates that could have broad implications for all branches of the military, but they still face a rocky path ahead.

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Reed O’Connor issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the service members, who argue their requests for religious exemption from the vaccine mandate was unfairly denied.

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Dog Tag Manufacturing Company Sues Department of Defense over Ban on Religiously-Themed Items

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A company that specializes in creating military dog tags has sued the Department of Defense over a ban on its products, the Daily Caller reports.

Shields of Strength, a company that has produced dog tags for over twenty years, was first issued a cease-and-desist order back in 2019. That order was filed by the left-wing Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which accused Shields of Strength of producing “sectarian proselytizing merchandise” whenever its merchandise included religious themes.

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Pentagon Issues New Guidance on ‘Extremist Behavior’ Within Military Ranks

Minnesota Sun Staff

On Monday, the Department of Defense, in an effort to further crack down on political dissent, is revising its previous definitions of “extremist behavior” in order to deter uniformed members from certain political affiliations, CNN reports.

The Countering Extremism Working Group, a panel that was created for the purpose of ostensibly investigating “extremism” within military ranks, issued a report outlining its findings, claiming that there are indeed some “extremists” in the military. The report alleges that there were roughly 100 instances of uniformed members who either had “extremist” beliefs or joined “extremist” groups in 2021, which the report claims is an increase from previous years.

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Five Governors Request Defense Department Withdraw Vaccine Mandate for National Guard

Minnesota Sun Staff

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is joining four other state governors in requesting the Department of Defense withdraw vaccine mandate directives to National Guard members in Title 32 duty status.

U.S. National Guard members’ deadline to be vaccinated was Dec. 2. Nearly 50,000 military members across all branches have declined to get vaccinated, Reynolds’ office’s news release said.

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Congress Passes $770 Billion Defense Bill, Prevents Discharge over Vaccine Refusal

The Center Square

Congress passed a $770 billion defense bill Wednesday, authorizing a wide range of military spending for the next year.

The Senate passed the bipartisan 2022 National Defense Authorization Act with an 89-10 vote, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden. The bill, which is passed annually in some form, includes a revamp of how the the military deals with sexual assaults as well as a 2.7% pay increase for military members and employees at the Department of Defense.

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Defense Department Announces New Investigation Division for UFOs

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Department of Defense announced the creation of a new division to investigate UFOs in a statement on Wednesday.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security to create the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), the statement said. The new division will serve as a successor to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force that worked under the U.S. Navy.

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Pentagon Didn’t Delay Sending Guardsmen to Capitol on January 6th, Report Conflicts with Pelosi Narrative

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Pentagon responded appropriately and in a timely fashion to urgent requests for National Guard assistance on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, according to a Defense Department inspector general report released Wednesday.

“We also determined that DoD officials did not delay or obstruct the DoD’s response,” reads the report.

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Department of Defense Says China and Climate Change Are ‘Equally Important’ Threats to America

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Department of Defense (DOD) said Wednesday that China and climate change were “equally important” threats to U.S. national security.

“We get paid to examine all the threats to our national security,” Defense Department press secretary John Kirby told reporters. “And I don’t know that it does anybody good to put some sort of relative analysis assessment on that. You’ve heard the secretary talk about the climate as a — a real and existential national security threat, and it is, not just to the United States, but to countries all over the world.”

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Dozens of Navy SEALS File Federal Lawsuit Against Department of Defense for Denying Religious Exemptions to Vaccine Mandate

Admin

Dozens of US Navy SEALS and other Naval Special Warfare (NSW) personnel on Tuesday filed a Federal lawsuit against the Biden Administration and the Department of Defense for their refusal to grant religious exemptions to Joe Biden’s unconstitutional COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The First Liberty Institute, a legal organization dedicated to defending religious liberty for all Americans, is representing 40 active-duty SEALs and three reservists.

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Commentary: Defense Department Pulls a Bait and Switch on Vaccines

Minnesota Sun Staff

On August 24, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a memo to senior Pentagon leadership announcing that he was implementing a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for all military service members. The day before, the FDA had issued full authorization to Pfizer for their Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine product (the nomenclature of which is meant to be a mashup of the words “COVID”, “mRNA”, and “community”) . At first glance it would seem that the mandatory vaccination policy, while scientifically unsound and strategically foolish, was at least a policy being implemented according to both the letter of the directive and in accordance with the law. But a further examination of the facts and the manner in which this order is being implemented makes clear that the military’s implementation of this order is illegal and highly unethical.

In the memo, Secretary Austin issued a directive and a promise, that “Mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 will only use COVID-19 vaccines that receive full licensure from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in accordance with FDA-approved labeling and guidance.” The problem with this is that the Comirnaty vaccine product that was approved by the FDA is not available anywhere in the Military Health System. It is not even in production, according to the military’s TRICARE healthcare providers. If a soldier goes to a military hospital or a private provider to receive an approved Pfizer COVID vaccine, he will be administered the unapproved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which is a vaccine that is not approved but has been administered under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). We are told that this is but a brand name difference, that the formulation is the same, and they can be used interchangeably. But as the FDA was approving the Comirnaty product, they were renewing the authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech product. If it’s just a matter of brand name, why issue an approval for one brand name and an EUA renewal for the other? This is because they are not actually the same. 

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Commentary: The Steady Decline of Our Once-Beloved Military

Minnesota Sun Staff

The highest echelon of the U.S. military is becoming dysfunctional. 

There are too many admirals and generals for the size of the current U.S. military. It now boasts three times the number of four-star admirals and generals than we had during World War II—when the country was in an existential war for survival and when, by 1945, our active military personnel was almost nine times larger than the current armed forces. 

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Over $100 Million Worth of Border Wall Equipment Wasted, Sitting Unused in Texas

Minnesota Sun Staff

Ever since the Biden Administration halted all construction of the border wall, over $100 million worth of construction equipment intended to be used in finishing the wall has been sitting unused along the border in Texas, as reported by the New York Post.

After Biden ordered a halt to all construction and illegally cancelled numerous construction contracts with various companies, the material has been slowly rusting along the border, often right next to portions of the wall that were already completed.

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America First Legal Requests Investigation into the Biden Administration’s Afghanistan Withdrawal, Demands Answers on ‘Vetting’ of Evacuees

Minnesota Sun Staff

America First Legal is demanding an investigation into the Biden administration regarding its withdrawal from Afghanistan and is requesting answers from a number of government agencies over the handling of evacuees, according to a letter and six Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The group has asked the Department of Defense (D0D) acting inspector general for an investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, specifically into the reported “‘Kill List’ Given to the Taliban,” information revealing what the president knew from intelligence reports, details about the “abandoned equipment and assets” and about leaving Bagram air base, as well as information about the “effective deployment of US air force assets.”

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Biden Officials at Kabul Airport Warned American Rescue Plane to Turn Back or Be Shot Down

Minnesota Sun Staff

A private airplane that was flying into Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) in Kabul, Afghanistan to rescue stranded American citizens and Afghan allies allegedly was told to turn back or they would be shot down.

In the past 24 hours, American officials in charge of giving clearance at the airport told fellow Americans they would be fired upon if they didn’t leave, Mary Beth Long, a former Department of Defense official, told American Greatness in an exclusive interview.

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American Families Stranded in Kabul Confirm Evacuation Process Remains Chaotic

Minnesota Sun Staff
aerial view of Kabul

Despite the Biden Administration’s claims that the process of evacuating American citizens from the collapsing nation of Afghanistan has gotten back on track, numerous families still trapped behind enemy lines have confirmed through their congressman that the situation on the ground is still in chaos, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

The office of Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) reports that several Americans stranded in Afghanistan are residents of his San Diego-based district, and that he has been actively working to expedite their evacuations from the country.

Issa spokesman Jonathan Wilcox said that the families “are scared, stranded, and trapped in the Kabul area. So far, they’ve been unable to reach the airport,” in reference to the Hamid Karzai International Airport, which has since fallen to Taliban control.

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Commentary: Moving Space Command

RealClearWire

This August, thousands of space professionals from across government, industry, and academia will descend on Colorado Springs for the space industry’s big annual conference: the 36th Space Symposium. Colorado Springs has played host to the symposium since its launch in 1985. The Symposium is held there (and its sponsoring organization, the Space Foundation, is headquartered there) because Colorado Springs is a center of gravity for space activity in government and industry. All of which makes the early 2021 decision of the previous administration to move the headquarters of U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama a bit puzzling.

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Air Force Academy Forces Students to Watch Pro-BLM Video

Minnesota Sun Staff

The newest class of cadets at the United States Air Force Academy, as part of their education, are being forced to watch a video that is supportive of the far-left domestic terrorist organization Black Lives Matter, Fox News reports.

The video in question portrays a fictional situation where a mixed-race student named Jose, who has a Nigerian mother and a Mexican father, is pressured into attending a Black Lives Matter rally on his campus by two of his friends. A third friend tries to convince him to not go, instead suggesting that “all lives matter” is a better slogan, since “black lives matter” would suggest to Jose that his mother’s life matters more than his father’s.

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U.S. Vetting Afghan Refugees with Biometrics but Uncertain of Some Identities, Memos Show

Minnesota Sun Staff

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is processing airlifted Afghan refugees in locations like Germany, Bahrain and Qatar before sending them to the Washington D.C.-area Dulles International airport, using biometrics when possible to identify those without official travel papers, according to internal memos obtained by Just the News.

The memos acknowledge all refugees are being screened for COVID-19 after they arrive in the United States, and some may be arriving without their identities ascertained.

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Biden Administration Pays $3 Million Every Day to Not Build the Border Wall

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Biden administration is spending around $3 million daily to not finish construction on the southern border wall, Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said Wednesday.

Around $2 billion in taxpayer dollars have been wasted on paying Department of Defense (DOD) contractors to not build the border wall since Jan. 20, increasing by at least $3 million daily, according to Lankford. Former President Donald Trump allocated $10 billion to the DOD for border wall construction and the Biden administration had spent about $2 billion on suspension and termination costs paid to contractors.

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Biden Administration Sends First Guantanamo Prisoner Back to Home Country

Minnesota Sun Staff
Guantanamo Bay Release

The Biden administration announced Monday the first transfer of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner back to his home country.

Abdul Latif Nasir was sent back to his home country of Morocco on Monday, the first detainee to be repatriated under the Biden administration, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced in a statement. Nasir, detained over ties to al-Qaeda, was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and had been imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility since 2002, the Associated Press reported.

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Commentary: Biden Administration Chooses Political Purges over National Defense

Minnesota Sun Staff

“The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment,” said West Point superintendent John Schofield in 1879, condemning leaders who issue unreasonable and abusive orders. America’s military today is at risk of a different sort of tyranny: the purging of unauthorized political views.

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Committee on Foreign Investment May Not Be Able to Handle Its Exploding Caseload

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Riley Walters   The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is often compared to a black box. Investors may be aware of what it does, but few know what really goes on inside. The nine members of the committee, drawn from various federal agencies, are in charge of…

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Pentagon Awards Nearly $1 Billion in Border Wall Spending Contracts

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Jason Hopkins   The Department of Defense awarded two military contracts worth almost $1 billion for wall construction on the U.S-Mexico border, the first funds granted since President Donald Trump declared a national emergency. The Pentagon announced Tuesday it awarded a $789 million contract to Texas-based company, SLSCO Ltd.…

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Commentary: Five House Republicans Who Need Conservative Primary Opponents

Minnesota Sun Staff

by CHQ Staff   Sometimes there are issues upon which conservative opinion and principle diverges and the conservative movement has no consensus – what constitutes “free trade” might fall into that category. However, we can find no divergence of principle on the issues raised by the Democrats’ recent passage of…

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Commentary: How the Space Force Can Restore Our Edge Against China, Russia

Minnesota Sun Staff

by John Venable   The U.S. just moved one step closer to creating a Space Force. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump directed the Department of Defense to draft legislation to establish the Space Force as a new branch of the military under the secretary of the Air Force. This move…

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Dr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: Trump’s Heroic Efforts to Fulfill His ‘Make America Great Again’ Promises

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Dr. Carol M. Swain   With President Donald Trump about to begin his third year in office, it’s fitting to discuss what he has accomplished since his election. Although the news is currently dominated by the federal government shutdown and the conflict between Trump and Democratic leaders over the…

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Court Decides in Favor of the Trump Administration in Curbing Transgenders’ Service in the Military

Minnesota Sun Staff
US Army

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Trump administration policy of restricting transgender people from serving in the military. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Friday that a lower court judge was wrong to block the Pentagon from implementing its plan…

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PROOF: Trio of Project Veritas Videos Expose Unaccountable Federal Government Employees Pushing a Soclialist Agenda From Within the Administrative State

Admin

By Natalia Castro   When federal bureaucrats are unaccountable to even their own managers, it can be hard to identify and correct abuse within the system. In his most recent undercover expose, James O’Keefe sought to uncover the stories of the federal government’s worst employees directly from the source. This week,…

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