Austin, a retired four-star Army general, served in the military for 40 years including as the first Black general to lead U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.
"While a change in force posture, this action is not a change in U.S. policy," the Pentagon said Friday. The Trump administration will reassign most of the personnel elsewhere in East Africa.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, who is responsible for U.S. forces in the Middle East, says the U.S. presence will drop from 5,200 to 3,000 troops in a move he says shows confidence in Iraqi army.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper and his Chinese counterpart lectured one another in a 90-minute call as the highest level U.S. delegation in four decades plans a provocative visit to Taiwan.
The Pentagon is promising what President Trump declared in June would happen: Troops are to be moved out of Germany, which the president accuses of stiffing NATO.
The Defense Department appears to be ignoring its own guidance by lifting travel restrictions for military personnel in 23 states with cases of COVID-19 on upward trajectory.
In the early 2000s, war games about pandemics popped up. But participants say the outbreak threat couldn't compete with more visible national security concerns such as wars and terrorist attacks.
Three of the U.S. Navy's 11 aircraft carriers are reported to have sailors infected with the coronavirus. The Pentagon says readiness has not been affected, but more outbreaks are expected.
The request from FEMA to the Pentagon's Defense Logistics Agency for cadaver pouches follows warnings at the White House of coronavirus death tolls surpassing 100,000.
Troops will be sent to the northern and southern U.S. borders as the spread of the coronavirus grows. Last week, the Trump administration ordered partial closures of those borders.
Trump administration officials announced an expansion of a European travel ban to include the U.K. and Ireland. It came as governments around the world instituted new measures to halt the disease.
There are some 45,000 Americans working at U.S. military installations in South Korea and Italy. Both nations have major coronavirus outbreaks and travel to and from them is being restricted.
Of the 109 who were injured, 76 have returned to duty. But 21 service members who were taken from Iraq to Germany for medical care have now been brought to the U.S.
The missile strikes in Iraq earlier this month did not kill any U.S. service members. But in the weeks following, the number of troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury has gone up repeatedly.
A case brought by El Paso County, Texas, is similar to another won by the Sierra Club in California. The U.S. Supreme Court said wall construction can continue while the Trump administration appeals.
The Pentagon says the Defense Secretary asked for Spencer's resignation after "losing trust and confidence in him." Spencer said President Trump deserved a Navy chief "who is aligned with his views."
Amazon cited "unmistakable bias" as it prepares to challenge its loss in federal court. This starts a new chapter in the contentious battle over the biggest U.S. cloud-computing contract, called JEDI.
"We're surprised about this conclusion. AWS is the clear leader in cloud computing," an Amazon Web Services spokesperson told NPR. The contract is for 10 years.
Holding the Line is the tell-all many wished Mattis' own Call Sign Chaos had been. But for all of Guy Snodgrass' in-the-room accounts, there are some unverifiable elements and inaccuracies.
Washington is unhappy with the decision to quit a 2016 intelligence-sharing agreement. The dispute has its origins in Japan's occupation of the Korean peninsula that ended after WWII.
The Pentagon says it tested a modified cruise missile that flew "more than 500 kilometers" — a distance prohibited under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty scrapped earlier this month.
Defense Department officials released their tally on Tuesday after mounting pressure to detail the costs for taxpayers, but they say personnel participation was part of the training budget.
