Defense

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is among those pushing back on past comments made by President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the next defense secretary, who was critical of women being allowed to serve in combat units. “I’m straight up just saying, we should not have women in combat […]

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin speaks at the end of a Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting on September 6, 2024 at the US air base in Ramstein, southwestern Germany. (Photo by DANIEL ROLAND/AFP via Getty Images) (WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent a weekend letter to Congressional appropriators urging them to pass government […]

Caroline Purser/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s chief of staff is stepping down, the Pentagon announced Wednesday, five months after Austin and his top aide faced blowback for not telling the White House that he was in the hospital for treatment of prostate cancer. Officials told reporters that Kelly Magsamen’s resignation had […]

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has returned home following his “non-surgical medical procedure” on Friday, and his since resumed his duties, said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s top spokesman. Austin underwent the two-and-a-half hour procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, during which his authorities were temporarily transferred to […]

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will undergo what the Pentagon is describing as “a scheduled, elective and minimally invasive follow-up non-surgical procedure related to his previously reported bladder issue” on Friday night that will lead him to temporarily transfer his authorities to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. Austin will undergo […]

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin left the hospital on Tuesday afternoon after being admitted to the intensive care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center earlier in the week, the Pentagon said. Austin was put under general anesthesia on Monday for a non-surgical procedure to treat an “emergent bladder issue,” […]

pablohart/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has canceled a trip to Brussels this week following his hospitalization due to “an emergent bladder issue,” a U.S. defense official said Monday. The Pentagon had announced last week that Austin would be traveling to Brussels to attend a monthly meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact […]

Marilyn Nieves/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Internal polls are the middle children of the world of elections analysis: often ignored, desperate for attention and chronically misunderstood. But, also like middle children, internal polls are keen observers of their surroundings. Most polling that makes it out into the open is commissioned by media organizations, colleges and […]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meets with the U.K. Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shapps at the Pentagon on Jan. 31, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images) (WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, facing reporter questions for the first time since his secret hospitalization, said his cancer diagnosis was a “gut punch” […]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meets with the U.K. Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shapps at the Pentagon on Jan. 31, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images) (WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will appear at the Pentagon podium for a press conference on Thursday. The news conference, at 10:30 a.m., will […]