#pentagon-memo

#pentagon-memo

The U.S. and its allies have expended a great deal of their arsenal in the past few years. It simply does not matter if there's a peace deal tomorrow, because those weapons must be stockpiled again and then some.

Prosecutors argue that Van Dyke's actions meet the definition of insider trading in substance, if not in traditional market form, because they relied on nonpublic military intelligence to generate profit.

"That $70 billion is all going into existing systems and technologies," said Hurst. "The industrial base support is entirely separate."

Trump's proposed military budget would mean a spectacular jump; it would be 42% above this year's budget and two-thirds bigger than Joe Biden's last Pentagon budget.

Gen. Dan Caine stated that autonomous weapons are going to be a 'key and essential part of everything we do' in future warfare, indicating a significant shift in military strategy.

Lord Robertson stated, 'We need to sort of round up those who are available, fit, and willing to be able to do it.' This emphasizes the urgency of engaging former service personnel in the strategic reserve.

Retired Army Special Forces officer Mike Nelson criticized Hegseth's rhetoric, stating, 'That's a necessary end to achieve goals through military force - you have to kill people to achieve them. That's not the end. It's a weird obsession with death for the sake of it.'

I have been working in Ukraine since 2019, first as an active Green Beret advising in an official capacity, then after leaving that service, directing special operations on the ground and more recently carrying hard-won lessons back to NATO before they are forgotten or overtaken by the next news cycle.

Four days into this situation in the skies over Tehran, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said, 'We're not at war right now.' This was, rather, a 'very specific, clear mission-an operation.' Operation does seem to be the preferred word in government talking points, even as it encompasses assassinating an ayatollah, torpedoing an Iranian naval ship, blowing up fuel depots and a desalination plant, and losing the lives of (so far) eight American service members along the way.

But logistical consistency, like coherence and gravitas, does not characterize the new NDS. It is a document that supposedly nests within the National Security Strategy, explaining at greater length the implications of overall policy for the armed forces. The 2026 version does not do that. Rather, it restates some of the basic priorities of the Trump administration but for the most part confines itself to flattery of the president, insults, and bombast.

I was giving these scenarios, these Golden Dome scenarios, and so on. And he's like, 'Just call me if you need another exception.' And I'm like, 'But what if the balloon's going up at that moment and it's like a decisive action we have to take? I'm not going to call you to do something. It's not rational.'