Hegseth stated, 'A quagmire my generation served in a quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan. Years and years of nebulous missions and utopian national building that led us to nothing.'
US President Donald Trump acknowledged the role of Pakistan's defence forces chief, Asim Munir, in mediating a ceasefire between the US and Iran, highlighting Munir's influence in international diplomacy.
"Mr. Buria told Mr. Driscoll that President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events," the Times reported, citing three unnamed officials familiar with the exchange.
We should have had proper protections for our military bases in place. But the Prime Minister displayed such weak and spineless leadership that he couldn't follow through. I was very clear from the start - we should have allowed the Americans to use UK bases. This position has only been recognised later on, which is unusual for the UK Government.
The conduct of War is, therefore, the formation and conduct of the fighting. If this fighting was a single act, there would be no necessity for any further subdivision, but the fight is composed of a greater or less number of single acts, complete in themselves, which we call combats, as we have shown in the first chapter of the first book, and which form new units.
The Libyan army's chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, has been killed in a plane crash after leaving Turkey's capital Ankara. The prime minister of Libya's internationally recognised government confirmed on Tuesday evening that Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad had died and that four others were on the jet with him. This followed a tragic and painful incident while they were returning from an official trip from the Turkish city of Ankara.
The U.S. Coast Guard has allowed a new workplace harassment policy to take effect that downgrades the definition of swastikas and nooses from overt hate symbols to "potentially divisive" despite an uproar over the new language that forced the service's top officer to declare that both would remain prohibited. The new policy went into effect Monday, according to written correspondence that the Coast Guard provided to Congress this week, a copy of which was reviewed by The Washington Post.
President Tinubu has nominated former military chief Christopher Musa as the new defense minister Musa was sacked as chief of defense staff in October He will replace Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, who resigned as defense minister on Monday The leadership shakeup comes as Nigeria faces a fresh wave of mass kidnappings Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu has nominated the country's former top general, who he forced out in October, as the new minister of defense. Christopher Musa will need to be confirmed by the senate
But a pattern is becoming clear: Donald Trump is purging the higher ranks based on his prejudices and demands for loyalty; the military is being turned into a partisan instrument and a political prop; more dangerous still, the president is instilling the logic of impunity that has come to characterize his entire approach to governance. Figures deemed too close to Trump critics, such as general Mark Milley, have seen promotions delayed or canceled; those targeted by far-right influencers might face professional backlash.
Over the past decade, I've worked with U.S. and allied military forces across 45 countries to help develop a new kind of leader - not just more adaptive, but more imaginative. In the process, I've watched warfighters, technologists, and commanders at every level grapple with a new operational reality: one where centralized command must coexist with decentralized execution; where emerging technologies live beside legacy systems; and where speed and stability must be pursued simultaneously.
The latest: Holsey, in a statement shared on X, said he was retiring from the Navy in mid-December after decades of service. "The SOUTHCOM team has made lasting contributions to the defense of our nation and will continue to do so," he said. Holsey did not directly address the boat strikes in his message.
The president spoke in a wheezy, sleepy tone for more than an hour, on a stage clearly meant to resemble the movie Patton. His prepared remarks were full of dictatorlike complaints about "the enemy within," and justifications for using the military to police U.S. cities. But it was hard to track the major themes, as there were so many long, self-aggrandizing ad-libs.
There is a reason why the other armies of the world say we are the best on the globe. They are well trained, well-disciplined, and they swear an oath to the constitution. And I just really find it offensive that anyone is insulting them and claiming that it's their promotions and their advancements through the services are a result of policies or wokeness or DEI, because that's just not true.
The Defense Department and White House have secure ways to communicate across countries and timezones, Axios' Colin Demarest reports, and it's unorthodox to have leaders simultaneously depart their stations. The gathering that Trump is framing as a sort of military pep rally came after months of high-profile retirements and removals that wiped away decades of the country's national security experience and a historic rebrand to the "Department of War."
Hundreds of generals and admirals - senior commanders of the one-star rank or higher and their top advisers - have been summoned by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from all over the world to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, with little notice. The White House official was not authorized to discuss the president's plans before a public announcement about his attendance and spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to reporting by The Washington Post, the summons, delivered with little notice, applies to every one-star general and admiral in command positions, along with their senior enlisted counterparts. Attendance, officials were told, is mandatory; exceptions will be rare and require sign-off from top brass. The meeting is set for September 30, the final day of the government's fiscal year.
Anonymous sources told The Post that Hegseth's order, applies to all senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or above, or their Navy equivalent, serving in command positions and their top enlisted advisers. Even those stationed in conflict zones were expected to attend, The Post reported.
Ukraine has worsened fuel shortages across Russia in the past week as it has continued to hit Russia's refineries and energy infrastructure with long-range drones while Poland has called for more oil sanctions in the wake of Russia's first drone attack on NATO soil. In the meantime, Russia's creeping advance resulted in the capture of three villages over the past week, and perhaps for the first time, Ukraine's command reacted by dismissing the retreating officers.
"He was a strong-spirited warrior who did not imagine himself anywhere but the navy. Having become deputy commander in chief of the navy, he did not stop personally visiting the positions of our marines."
