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Senate Confirms Elbridge Colby To Top Pentagon Post

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In a 54-45 vote, the U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Elbridge Colby to be the next under secretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon. Several Democrat senators joined Republicans in supporting Colby, including Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Elisa Slotkin of Michigan, and Mark Kelly of Arizona. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was the lone Republican to vote against the nominee’s confirmation.

Colby’s nomination was advanced to the full Senate following a vote by the Senate Armed Services Committee last week. The committee did not release a final vote tally, only saying in a press release that Colby’s nomination was reported “favorably” in a roll call vote.

As under secretary of defense for policy, Colby will play a significant role in facilitating President Donald Trump’s policy priorities throughout the Defense Department. According to the Congressional Research Service, the position’s office “leads the development of the National Defense Strategy (NDS), routinely represents the Department of Defense (DOD) to interagency and international partners, and has a key role in preserving civilian control of the military.”

Colby previously served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development in the first Trump administration. (Read more from “Senate Confirms Elbridge Colby To Top Pentagon Post” HERE)

The Pentagon Purges Are About to Begin

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The Pentagon is preparing to trim the fat. Liberals have been perennial whiners about the Defense Department’s budget—watch them complain about the thousands of layoffs that are being planned right now. The Pentagon purge is about to begin, with at least 5,000 layoffs (via WaPo):

The Pentagon said Friday it will fire about 5,400 civilian employees beginning next week in an “initial” purge to its workforce, as President Donald Trump’s hastily issued orders to shake up the Defense Department faced new scrutiny and officials scrambled to understand how such actions could affect national security.

The announcement followed a day of uncertainty, as administration officials paused a plan to begin firings now while evaluating requests to retain thousands of other employees deemed essential. A senior Pentagon official, Darin Selnick, said in a statement late Friday that the Trump administration intends to cull its workforce by between 5 and 8 percent. With more than 900,000 civilian employees in the Defense Department, tens of thousands of people could be forced out eventually.

Echoing a pronouncement made earlier by Trump’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, Selnick said in his statement that “it is simply not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission-critical.”

[…]

The cuts will come after Trump administration officials, coordinating with billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, have slashed thousands of employees elsewhere in the government as part of the president’s broad effort to dismantle the federal bureaucracy.

The Defense Department’s civilian worker purge is beginning with probationary employees, those who have one to three years of experience or who recently were promoted, according to officials familiar with the matter, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. That pool of people numbers between 50,000 and 55,000, officials said.

After deliberations over the last day, the Pentagon has settled on firing about 10 percent of the probational employees, a defense official familiar with the effort said. A hiring freeze is expected to take hold next week, and administration officials plan to spend two to three months analyzing who else could be ousted, the official said.

(Read more from “The Pentagon Purges Are About to Begin” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Pentagon’s Liberal Agenda Is Already Taking A Massive Beating

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Left-wing initiatives and programs that were once a crown jewel of the Biden Pentagon are rapidly being thrown overboard as the Trump administration moves to aggressively revamp America’s defense capabilities.

In the span of a few weeks, former President Joe Biden’s push for Pentagon-subsidized sex-change surgeries was effectively rendered dead while deeply embedded diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have begun to be systematically rooted out. The new administration also reversed military discharges for service members who objected to the COVID-19 vaccine.

President Donald Trump’s commitment to breathing new life into the Pentagon comes as the armed forces grapple with recruiting challenges and low morale.

“The United States military has a clear mission: to protect the American people and our homeland as the world’s most lethal and effective fighting force,” the White House said in a Jan. 27 statement announcing an executive order on “restoring” the military. “Success in this existential mission requires a singular focus on developing the requisite warrior ethos, and the pursuit of military excellence cannot be diluted to accommodate political agendas or other ideologies harmful to unit cohesion.”

On Feb. 7, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth halted all sex change operations for service members, directing senior Pentagon officials to enforce compliance with Trump’s executive order forbidding personnel with a “‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex.” (Read more from “Pentagon’s Liberal Agenda Is Already Taking A Massive Beating” HERE)

Pentagon Boots NBC, NPR, NYT, and Politico from Offices

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The Department of Defense ordered a handful of news media outlets to vacate their offices inside the Pentagon so that they may be replaced by some conservative press organizations.

In a memo issued on Friday, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense John Ullyot said the Pentagon wanted to “broaden access to the limited space of the Correspondents Corridor to outlets that have not previously enjoyed the privilege and journalistic value of working from physical office space in the Pentagon.”

It was not clear what if any role Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth played in the decision.

The department’s “new Annual Media Rotation Program” will begin on Feb. 14, and will require The New York Times, NBC News, National Public Radio, and Politico to vacate “their physical office space effective” on that date. (Read more from “Pentagon Boots NBC, NPR, NYT, and Politico from Offices” HERE)

General Milley Portrait Removed From Pentagon Hours After Trump Sworn In

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A recently unveiled portrait of retired General Mark Milley was taken down at the Pentagon just two hours after President Donald Trump was sworn into office for the second time, according to reporters.

Milley, who was preemptively pardoned by former President Joe Biden just hours before his presidential term came to an end on Monday, apparently had his recently unveiled portrait removed at the Pentagon.

The portrait of the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and retired general had been unveiled at the Pentagon just ten days earlier, during the Biden administration.

A U.S. official said “the White House” ordered the removal of the portrait but declined to provide any further details, according to a report by the New York Times.

As Breitbart News reported, Milley left behind a military that is less trusted than when he first became the chairman and facing a historic recruitment crisis. (Read more from “General Milley Portrait Removed From Pentagon Hours After Trump Sworn In” HERE)

Nobody In The Biden Admin Wants To Explain How 1,100 More US Troops Appeared In Syria — Or If The President Knew

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The increased force presence has “been going on for a while,” with Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder estimating that the troops have been there “at a minimum, months.” But he stressed the extra troops are supporting the counter-ISIS mission and were unrelated to the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime two weeks ago.

The new figures are particularly notable as the Pentagon in recent days and weeks has been asked repeatedly about its troop presence in Syria, with the stark increase never disclosed.

A “core 900” U.S. service members are in the country as part of an official nine to 12 month deployment, with another 1,100 troops there on a temporary basis for 30 to 90 days “to address shifting mission requirements,” Ryder told reporters. He added that Army conventional and special operations troops make up most of the extra forces.

Pressed on why the Pentagon did not reveal the updated numbers until now, Ryder said he had only learned of the new figure earlier Thursday and cited “sensitivity from a diplomatic and operational security standpoint.” . . .

It’s also unclear as to whether President Biden was aware of the extra forces, as Ryder said he would not speak for the White House. (Read more from “Nobody In The Biden Admin Wants To Explain How 1,100 More US Troops Appeared In Syria — Or If The President Knew” HERE)

Pentagon: Mysterious Drones Spotted Near Key U.S. Military Sites in England

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Mysterious drones were spotted last week near three military bases in England that are used by American forces, Pentagon officials said Sunday, the latest in a string of troubling incidents involving unidentified craft flying around sensitive U.S. military sites.

U.S. Air Forces Europe said the drones were seen last week near the bases RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell. U.S. Air Force personnel operate out of each location and the American detachments there are a key piece of U.S. combat capabilities in Europe.

The revelations come just days after the Defense Department revealed in a major report that strange drones were seen flying over U.S. nuclear infrastructure, weapons and launch sites at least 18 times between May 2023 and June 1 of this year. Earlier this year, an unexplained drone swarm also flew over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

Pentagon officials offered little detail on the nature of the drones seen in England last week. The U.S. military monitored the objects after they were spotted, officials said, though they offered no explanation of who may have been behind the incursions or what their intentions were.

“To protect operational security, we do not discuss our specific force protection measures but retain the right to protect the installation,” the Air Force said in its statement. “We continue to monitor our airspace and are working with host-nation authorities and mission partners to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities and assets.” (Read more from “Pentagon: Mysterious Drones Spotted Near Key U.S. Military Sites in England” HERE)

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Pentagon ‘Scrambling,’ Wiping Evidence of DEI as Trump Readies to Fire Woke Generals

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The Pentagon is in “absolute disarray” with “generals scrambling” due to the incoming Trump administration’s plans to fire woke senior military leaders who prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over combat readiness, according to sources.

One source compared it to a hornet’s nest being kicked over and that “DEI pages are starting to disappear off the main websites.”

“They’re being archived as we speak. They are full-bore focused on cleaning up anything DEI-related,” the source said.

Another source said people are trying to find out if they are on the list to be cut. “They are in panic mode,” the source said.

The scramble to hide evidence comes as President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has begun gathering names of senior officers who pushed DEI.

One source familiar with the plan told Breitbart News that an executive order has been drafted to create a panel to recommend those senior officers for elimination and that the EO is “definitely” going to Trump’s desk. (Read more from “Pentagon ‘Scrambling,’ Wiping Evidence of DEI as Trump Readies to Fire Woke Generals” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

TREASON: Pentagon Officials Discussed Scenarios to Countermand Controversial Orders From Incoming Commander-In-Chief

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By Daily Caller. Pentagon officials have been discussing how to counter potential orders from President-elect Donald Trump, CNN reported, citing defense sources.

The officials are “gaming out” various scenarios, including the possibility Trump will deploy military troops to assist in mass deportations and a potential reclassification of federal employees to make them easier to fire, CNN reported Friday.

“We are all preparing and planning for the worst-case scenario, but the reality is that we don’t know how this is going to play out yet,” a defense official said, according to CNN.

Republican CNN contributor Scott Jennings criticized the reports Friday, suggesting the disgruntled officials should speak to Trump directly.

“What’s Donald Trump supposed to think?” Jennings asked “Anderson Cooper 360⁰” host Anderson Cooper. “He’s gotta read in the newspaper tonight that the unelected bureaucracy of the federal government is having meetings, at some level, about how to thwart or counterman the Commander in Chief.”

(Read more from “Treason: Pentagon Officials Discussed Scenarios to Countermand Controversial Orders From Incoming Commander-In-Chief” HERE)

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How a Trump Presidency Could Lead To a Purge at the Pentagon

By Reuters. During his campaign for re-election, Donald Trump vowed to purge the military of so-called “woke” generals. Now that he is president-elect, the question in the halls of the Pentagon is whether he would go much further. . .

Current and former U.S. officials say Trump will prioritize loyalty in his second term and root out military officers and career civil servants he perceives to be disloyal. . .

Trump was asked by Fox News in June whether he would fire generals described as “woke.” . . .

“I would fire them. You can’t have (a) woke military,” Trump said. (Read more from “How a Trump Presidency Could Lead To a Purge at the Pentagon” HERE)

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U.S. Service Members Complain of Lack of Absentee Ballots

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Active-duty U.S. service members are complaining that the Pentagon has not given them enough absentee ballots to vote in time for Election Day, prompting three Republican congressmen to demand answers from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Reps. Brian Mast, (R-FL), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), and Mike Waltz (R-FL) sent a letter to Austin on Wednesday, saying they have “grave concern over deficiencies in the Defense Department’s protocols” when service members claimed absentee ballots had not been made available to them because their base’s stockpile was “depleted and had not been replenished.”

The service members, who were not named in the letter, also complained there has been “inadequate education” on how they are meant to vote while deployed on active duty, and with just four days until Election Day.

“Our nation’s brave men and women in uniform brought to our attention that there has been inadequate education at the administrative level on how to register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and fill in a federal write-in absentee ballot if their state-issued ballot does not arrive in time,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Other service members also stated that when a request for a federal write-in absentee ballot was made, they were told the base’s stockpile of such ballots was depleted and had not been replenished.” (Read more from “U.S. Service Members Complain of Lack of Absentee Ballots” HERE)

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