Why millions of the Pentagon’s dormant Internet addresses suddenly sprang to life

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During the final minutes of the Trump presidency, an obscure company in South Florida announced to the world’s computer networks that it would begin managing a massive swath of the Internet owned by the U.S. military.

In the months since, the company has claimed control of nearly 175 million IP addresses. Such huge chunks of traditional Internet real estate, amounting to almost six percent of usable addresses in the original addressing scheme of the Web, would be worth billions of dollars on the open market.

With no public explanation of what had taken place, the dramatic shift in IP address space allotment sparked impassioned speculation among network administrators and the Internet industry. That interest only increased when the Pentagon, after weeks of inquiries from The Washington Post, finally offered an explanation. Continue reading.

The White House is making big changes at the Pentagon — but Biden can reverse them

The Trump administration is using its last weeks in office to carry out a slew of changes at the Pentagon. The new president can cancel all of them on Day One.

Troop drawdowns. Advisory board firings. Navy budget overhauls.

The Trump administration is using its last weeks in office to carry out a slew of changes at the Pentagon. But they all have one thing in common: The new president can cancel them on Day One.

Under acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, whom President Donald Trump appointed to the job after firing his predecessor, Mark Esper, in November, the Pentagon has announced plans to draw down troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, and has elevated the senior civilian overseeing special operations. Then the White House abruptly fired longtime members of the Defense Policy and Defense Business Boards, replacing them with Trump loyalists. Continue reading.

Pentagon used taxpayer money meant for masks and swabs to make jet engine parts and body armor

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Shortly after Congress passed the Cares Act, the Pentagon began directing pandemic-related money to defense contractors.

A $1 billion fund Congress gave the Pentagon in March to build up the country’s supplies of medical equipment has instead been mostly funneled to defense contractors and used to make things such as jet engine parts, body armor and dress uniforms.

The change illustrates how one taxpayer-backed effort to battle the novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans, was instead diverted toward patching up long-standing perceived gaps in military supplies.

The Cares Act, which Congress passed earlier this year, gave the Pentagon money to “prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.” But a few weeks later, the Defense Department began reshaping how it would award the money in a way that represented a major departure from Congress’s intent. Continue reading.

Pentagon rejects Trump threat to hit Iranian cultural sites

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon on Monday distanced itself from President Donald Trump’s assertions that he would bomb Iranian cultural sites despite international prohibitions on such attacks.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the U.S. will “follow the laws of armed conflict.” When asked if that ruled out targeting cultural sites, Esper said pointedly, “That’s the laws of armed conflict.”

The split between the president and his Pentagon chief came amid heightened tensions with Tehran following a U.S. drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force. Trump had twice warned that he would hit Iranian cultural sites if Tehran retaliates against the U.S. Continue reading.

Pentagon knew peace-talks fund would ‘likely’ benefit Taliban

Document suggests some money would give ‘material support to terrorists’

Pentagon leaders formally asked Congress in writing earlier this year for a $30 million fund to support peace talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban, even though, the Defense Department officials wrote, it was “likely” some of the money would materially support terrorists.

The legislative proposal, obtained by CQ Roll Call, suggests that the fiscal 2020 money to cover logistics involved in the negotiations may directly or indirectly provide financial support to violent groups in Afghanistan that have been fighting Americans and their own countrymen, including in targeted attacks on civilians, for nearly 18 years.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Cdr. Rebecca Rebarich, confirmed the authenticity of the document and acknowledged for the first time that taxpayer money may soon be spent to support insurgents’ participation in peace talks.

View the complete May 17 article by John M. Donnelly on The Roll Call website here.

The Pentagon just doesn’t see Trump’s border wall as an emergency

Central American migrants – mostly Hondurans – taking part in a caravan heading towards the US, queue to enter a shelter set up at the Sports City in Mexico City on January 30, 2019. Credit: Pedro Pardo, AFP, Getty Images

The only emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border is a humanitarian one.

Having agreed to send thousands more troops to the border to help with surveillance, the Pentagon on Tuesday told Congress that building a wall at the U.S. border with Mexico is, in fact, not a national emergency.

President Donald Trump, however, has threatened to declare an emergency at the border if Congress does not allocate $5.7 billion for his border wall. He even took to his favorite platform on Wednesday morning to insist that a wall (or barrier) is necessity:

Continue reading “The Pentagon just doesn’t see Trump’s border wall as an emergency”

A Pentagon chart misleadingly suggests the U.S. is falling behind in a nuclear arms race

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website February 12, 2018:

Credit: Michael Reynolds/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

“As you can see demonstrated in this chart … nuclear delivery system development over the last eight years shows numerous advances by Russia, China and North Korea versus the near absence of such activity by the United States, with competitors and adversaries developing 34 new systems as compared to only one for the U.S. — the F-35 aircraft.”
— Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, in remarks to the House Armed Services Committee, Feb. 6, 2018

A former colleague suggested that a chart published in the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) might be worthy of a fact check, saying it reminded him of exaggerations concerning Soviet military power during the Reagan administration. Ordinarily, a chart buried in a government report might not merit a fact check, but clearly it’s important to the administration. As shown in the quote above, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis even cited it in testimony before Congress. Continue reading “A Pentagon chart misleadingly suggests the U.S. is falling behind in a nuclear arms race”

Pentagon blocks release of key data on Afghan war: watchdog

The following article by Idrees Ali was posted on the Reuters website January 29, 2019:

John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, center, tours facilities in Afghanistan Credit: Stars & Stripes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon has restricted the release of critical information on the progress being made in the war in Afghanistan, a move that will limit transparency, the U.S. government’s top watchdog on Afghanistan said on Monday.

For years, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, has published a quarterly report that includes unclassified data on the amount of territory controlled or influenced by the Taliban and the government.

In a report published late on Monday, SIGAR said, however, it was told not to release that information. The military also classified, for the first time since 2009, the actual and authorized total troop numbers and attrition rate for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, or ANDSF. Continue reading “Pentagon blocks release of key data on Afghan war: watchdog”