Stories
The Military Pay Equation: Congress Races to Fix Recruitment and Retention Through Wallet
Secretary of Defense - Directed $2.6 billion 'Warrior Dividend' distribution
ISIS Strikes Back After Assad's Fall
U.S. Secretary of Defense - Ordered Operation Hawkeye Strike in retaliation for Palmyra attack
Operation Southern Spear: Trump's Undeclared War in the Caribbean
Secretary of Defense - Under congressional investigation for alleged 'kill all' order on September 2 strike
Trump Freezes $28 Billion in East Coast Wind Farms
U.S. Secretary of Defense - Recipient of four-state governors' demand for classified briefing
Trump's First Strike in Nigeria
Secretary of War (formerly Secretary of Defense) - Directed Department of War to prepare action in Nigeria
Supreme Court Blocks Trump's National Guard Deployment to Illinois
Secretary of Defense - Authorized federalization of Illinois and Texas National Guard units
Trump's Golden Fleet: The Battleship Returns
Secretary of Defense - Co-announced Golden Fleet initiative
Operation Hawkeye Strike: US Launches Multi-Week Campaign Against ISIS
US Defense Secretary - Leading Operation Hawkeye Strike
Hawkeye Strike: A Palmyra ambush drags the U.S. back into big-ticket warfighting in Syria
U.S. Defense Secretary - Public face of the retaliation message; frames strikes as vengeance, not escalation.
Trump’s Venezuela “Blockade” Turns Sanctions Into a Navy Problem
U.S. Secretary of Defense - Linked to command-and-control tightening as SOUTHCOM leadership turned over amid reported dissatisfaction with responsiveness during the Venezuela-linked escalation.
Record $901 Billion US Defense Bill Tests Trump-Era Military Priorities and Ukraine Commitment
U.S. Secretary of Defense - Facing heightened congressional oversight tied to NDAA conditions; said the Pentagon would not publicly release a top-secret unedited strike video while continuing briefings to lawmakers.
SOUTHCOM makes lethal boat strikes a public show: three vessels hit, eight killed in the Eastern Pacific
U.S. Secretary of War (Defense Secretary equivalent in current administration communications) - Briefed all members of Congress and reaffirmed the Pentagon will not publicly release the full, unedited Sept. 2 strike video; now facing NDAA-driven compliance pressure to provide footage and authorizing orders to armed-services committees
Trump Keeps Troops in the Capital—for Now: Appeals Court Freezes Order to End D.C. Guard Deployment
Secretary of Defense - Named defendant through the Defense Department in the D.C. lawsuit
Trump Turns the Southern Border Into Military Ground
Secretary of Defense - Implementing and defending military-led border enforcement
House’s $900 Billion Defense Bill Ties Troop Raise, Ukraine Aid and a Boat-Strike Backlash
U.S. Secretary of Defense - Facing allegations of issuing an illegal ‘kill everybody’ order in a boat strike.
Nigeria’s Northern Security Crisis Pulls In France and a Hardline U.S.
U.S. Secretary of Defense (‘Department of War’) - Overseeing U.S. military contingency planning for possible action in Nigeria
Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy Revives Monroe Doctrine and Pivots U.S. Power to the Americas
U.S. Secretary of Defense (often styled Secretary of War by the administration) - Chief executor and defender of militarized hemispheric and anti‑cartel operations