DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Here are tonight's top stories.

Ex-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell reportedly fell for 'far-fetched' QAnon conspiracy theory that claimed then-CIA director was in German custody

An observant Livermore resident gave police a tip that busted up a car burglary ring with 30 suspects.

Economists say inflation will force millions of Americans to pay higher prices during the holiday season this year. Associated Press writer Paul Wiseman joins CBSN's Lana Zak to discuss more.

The footage shows a waterspout churning off Ocean Grove, New Jersey. (Credit: Tim Milway via Storyful)

The Department of Defense will respond "appropriately" to a decision this week by the Oklahoma National Guard to rescind the Pentagon's requirement for service members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.Driving the news: "We are aware of the memo issued by the Oklahoma Adjutant General regarding COVID vaccination for Guardsmen and the governor’s letter requesting exemption. We will respond to the governor appropriately," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told Axios in a statement.Stay on top of the lat

Less than 24 hours after an unexpected change of command, the Oklahoma National Guard rejected the Pentagon's vaccine mandate.

The Pentagon now estimates China will have 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030 — more than double its estimates from last year.

A former civilian employee of the Department of Defense arrived in the United States Friday from Germany to face a charge for assaulting a U.S. military member in the Republic of Korea last year. According to court documents, Gerald Leon Ray III, 25, of Lathrop, California, intentionally struck an individual in the side of the head, causing the victim serious bodily injury. The alleged assault occurred on July 26, 2020, in the Republic of Korea, where Ray was employed by the Defense Commissary Agency, a component of the Department of Defense. On June 17, a grand jury in the Eastern District of California indicted Ray on one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury. On Oct. 14, Judge Peterson ordered that Ray be removed from Germany to the United States pursuant to MEJA.

The Defense Department was among 20 federal agencies that unveiled climate change adaptation plans this week.

Determined to keep track of their guns, some U.S. military units have turned to a technology that could let enemies detect troops on the battlefield, The Associated Press has found. The rollout on Army and Air Force bases continues even though the Department of Defense itself describes putting the technology in firearms as a “significant” security risk. The Marines have rejected radio frequency identification technology in weapons for that very reason, and the Navy said this week that it was halting its own dalliance.

The task force for evacuees at Fort Bliss is implementing additional security measures following the allegation.

Zamarai Ahmadi, a longtime aid worker for a U.S.-based group, was hauling water cans that military analysts mistook for explosives, according to officials and video obtained by The Washington Post and others.

The "Justice forJ6" rally on Saturday, organized by an ex-campaign staffer for former President Donald Trump, is expected to draw about 700 people, DHS said.

The following is a transcript of an interview with former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell that aired on Sunday, September 12, 2021, on "Face the Nation."

The Navy says the sailor killed in the suicide bomber attack during the evacuation mission in Afghanistan late last month has been posthumously promoted.

The baby girl died Wednesday, marking the first known death of an evacuee from Afghanistan in the US, a Department of Defense spokesman said.

A Tennessee woman who owns an animal rescue center in Kabul was not allowed passage home by the Department of Defense because she carried a disabled puppy in her arms — one of 130 animals she was ordered to leave behind in the final days of airlifts.

President Biden said the airport attack in Afghanistan will not deter America from its evacuation mission. Ret. Adm. James Winnefeld talks to "CBS This Morning" about what must be done to keep U.S. troops safe as the drawdown continues, and what he's expecting as the August 31 deadline approaches.

The United States military struck back at the Islamic State in Afghanistan on Saturday, acting on President Joe Biden's vow to hit the extremists in retaliation for a suicide bombing claimed by IS that killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 American service members at Kabul airport Thursday.

Military service members must immediately begin to get the COVID-19 vaccine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says in a memo Wednesday, ordering service leaders to “impose ambitious timelines for implementation.”.

“The situation was super chaotic in Kabul. Our fundamental mission was to get people that we decided were vulnerable to somewhere that was safe,” the State Department official said. The Department of Homeland Security, State Department and Department of Defense now are working together to gather information on the circumstances of the individual evacuees, which will help determine who falls into categories allowed to travel on: citizens, green-card holders, those who qualify for Special Immigrant Visas because of their work with the U.S. military or other agencies, or those particularly at risk.

The Department of Defense has enlisted commercial airlines to help transport people who are fleeing Afghanistan.

During a press briefing on Friday, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby answered questions on the recent advancement of Taliban forces in Afghanistan ahead of the planned withdrawal of all U.S. military forces by Aug. 31.

COVID-19 cases are overwhelming the South. Arkansas set a record for hospitalizations, while officials in one Florida county are urging residents to "consider other options" before calling 911.

Michigan soldier from Korean War identified

"To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a memo to employees Monday.

"To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a memo to employees. Already, about 62% of active-duty service members are fully vaccinated.

The US defence department is scrapping a cloud computing contract, which sparked a row between Amazon and Microsoft.

The allegations involve helicopters that Airlift owned and maintained for use in transporting Department of Defense (DoD) cargo and personnel in support of DoD missions in Afghanistan and Africa. The act permits private parties to sue for false claims on behalf of the United States and to share in any recovery. Mr. Harvey will receive $2,162,160 of the False Claims Act settlement. Attorneys Nathan D. Stump and Laura J. Barke of the Southern District of Illinois and Randy Harwell of the Middle District of Florida. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

The JEDI, or Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, deal is worth up to $10 billion and has become one of the most tangled contracts for the DoD.

Tyson Foods issued one of the largest recalls in the last five years, pulling 8,492,832 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken products that went to schools, restaurants, grocers, hospitals, nursing homes and Department of Defense facilities.

Tyson Foods issued one of the largest recalls in the last five years, pulling 8,492,832 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken products that went to schools, restaurants, grocers, hospitals, nursing homes and Department of Defense facilities.

The projects subject to recall have the establishment number EST. P-7089 on the product back or inside the USDA mark of inspection. The items were shipped nationwide to retailers, hospitals, nursing facilities, restaurants, schools and Department of Defense locations.

The highly-anticipated UFO report is 'rather inconclusive'

A long-awaited U.S. government report on UFOs released Friday makes at least one thing clear: The truth is still out there.

The new data highlights the divide between the dangers posed by war and the persistent mental health crisis in not only the military but the country at large.

A forthcoming Pentagon report neither confirms nor rules out the possibility of UFOs. But why would they come all this way without a hello?

An image claims to show a U.S. military aircraft saluting the fallen service members it's carrying during an "angel flight." That's false.

The Biden administration is returning more than $2 billion redirected from Department of Defense projects for Trump's border wall, and is again calling on Congress to cancel other remaining border wall funds.Why it matters: Biden had promised not to build "another foot" of President Trump's infamous border wall if elected. One of his first executive actions paused construction of the wall, and called for a plan for the funds in 60 days — a deadline that passed in March.Get market news worthy of

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," the inventor and writer Arthur C. Clarke famously said.

The Pentagon will ‘maintain existing policy for the display of unofficial flags,’ a spokesperson says

Whatever or whoever they are, they’re still out there.

In a letter to the White House on Wednesday, Senator Jeanne Shaheen and 19 other senators asked for an increase in allotted SIVs, citing the increased Taliban threat to Afghan allies.

The Pentagon went through its first independent financial audit in 2017. But after three failed attempts, lawmakers are losing their patience. A new bill could impose financial penalties on the DoD.

The pandemic halted the prevalence survey the Department does every two years to estimate how many incidents occur, not just how many are reported.

In 2019, the Trump administration used Defense Department cash for border wall projects when Congress refused to fund them.

In 2019, the Trump administration used Defense Department cash for border wall projects when Congress refused to fund them.

After more than seventy years, the government is publicly acknowledging that mysterious sightings can no longer be dismissed. Plus, Dorothy Wickenden on three revolutionary women.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Thursday that the climate crisis is making it more difficult for the military to defend the U.S. and its allies.

Starting Monday, all Michigan residents are welcome to schedule an appointment to get vaccinated at the Michigan State University Pavilion clinic operated by the Ingham County Health Department in partnership with the college. The site is a drive-thru only clinic, and appointments are available as early as this week.

The U.S. Department of Defense recently confirmed that a 2019 video that captured apparent unidentified flying objects is an authentic video.

WASHINGTON, DC — Actor Mark Ruffalo lent some celebrity heft on Tuesday to an announcement by Michigan Congressional delegates about the reintroduction of legislation that would force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to start regulating PFAS chemicals in drinking water and officially designate them as hazardous substances. “The PFAS Action Act, which is what we’re talking about today, will simply set deadlines for the EPA to act,” Ruffalo said. In Michigan, those chemicals are regulated in drinking water because the state passed its own standards last summer. “The safe drinking water standard drives me nuts that we can’t do it,” said Dingell, who represents Ann Arbor, one of the earliest and largest cities in Michigan to detect the chemicals in the drinking water. The Biden administration has shown support for both a national drinking water standard and the Superfund classification.

The Pentagon's advanced research division awarded a trio of companies with contracts to build and demonstrate a nuclear-based propulsion system on a spacecraft.

The Pentagon announced Wednesday updates to its policies regarding transgender members of the military that restore the 2016 guidance prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and provide access to medical care. In an executive order in January, President Joe Biden reversed the Trump-era ban on transgender troops serving in the miltiary and instructed a review of policies that could be discriminating. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday that the 60 days expired last week, and policy makers were going through what they've learned over the review process. The Pentagon announced the updated policies Wednesday, coinciding with Trans Day of Visibility. In response to the January executive order, the Department of Defense also directed a review of any service member separated, discharged or denied reenlistment.

A linguist for the Department of Defense pleaded guilty on Friday to passing classified information about U.S. human intelligence sources to an individual with ties to Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist organization, the Department of Justice said. Though she never met the man in person, the man expressed interest in marrying her and having her move to Lebanon, the court documents said. Prosecutors said Thompson did not tell the man where she was stationed and said he had not asked for classified information before January 2020. She handed over true names, personal identification data, background information and photos of clandestine human sources, and also passed on details of U.S. targets, court documents said. Thompson pled guilty to one count of delivering national defense information to aid a foreign government, and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan is once again taking the lead on domestic terrorism across the country. The Homeland Security subcommittee on terrorism -- led by former CIA analyst and Department of Defense official Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin -- argued the U.S. should shift its focus from foreign terrorism to domestic. “While external threats remain, the single greatest threat to our country right now is the threat of domestic terrorism and the tensions and polarization between us,” Slotkin said. AdSlotkin cited a new Homeland Security threat assessment that detailed that 2020 was a perfect storm for radical domestic groups. “Our government must send its own message back by labeling extremist violence as domestic terrorism.

Department of Defense taking steps to "stamp out extremism among the ranks" Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is urging troops to share any experiences they have had related to extremism with their commanders during a 60 day military-wide "stand down" to address the issue. Military Times deputy editor Leo Shane III joins CBSN's "Red & Blue" anchor Elaine Quijano to discuss the initiative and what successful efforts to "stamp out extremism among the ranks" might look like.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Tuesday approved an extension until May 23 of nearly 2,300 troops to support Capitol Hill police. The request asked to keep over 2,000 National Guard service members for 60 days. The National Guard has been stationed at the Capitol since the events of the January 6 riot. Currently, there are about 5,100 service members, down from the peak of 26,000 stationed there for Inauguration Day on January 20. The National Guard has played a critical role to the Department's enhanced security posture."

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Tuesday approved an extension until May 23 of nearly 2,300 troops to support Capitol Hill police. The request asked to keep over 2,000 National Guard service members for 60 days. The National Guard has been stationed at the Capitol since the events of the January 6 riot. Currently, there are about 5,100 service members, down from the peak of 26,000 stationed there for Inauguration Day on January 20. The National Guard has played a critical role to the Department's enhanced security posture."

The Department of Defense added nine companies to its list of Chinese companies with military links, including Xiaomi and state-owned plane manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (Comac). U.S. investors will have to divest their stakes in Chinese companies on the military list by November this year, according to an executive order signed by Trump last November. Xiaomi said in a statement that its products are for “civilian and commercial use" and said it is not owned, controlled or affiliated with the Chinese military. Xiaomi Corp. overtook Apple Inc. as the world’s No. “CNOOC acts as a bully for the People’s Liberation Army to intimidate China’s neighbors, and the Chinese military continues to benefit from government civil-military fusion policies for malign purposes,” Ross said.

FILE - This March 27, 2008 file photo shows the Pentagon in Washington. – President-elect Joe Biden's transition team expressed frustration Friday with the level of cooperation they're getting from political appointees at the Department of Defense, saying there has been “an abrupt halt in the already limited cooperation there." Yohannes Abraham, executive director of the transition, told reporters that Biden agency review teams at DOD learned Thursday of meetings “being pulled down" and immediately reported it. Abraham made it clear that Biden's transition team was not satisfied with that decision. “There have been many agencies and departments that have facilitated the exchange of info and meetings over the past few weeks,” Abraham said.

FILE - This March 27, 2008 file photo shows the Pentagon in Washington. – President-elect Joe Biden's transition team expressed frustration Friday with the level of cooperation they're getting from political appointees at the Department of Defense, saying there has been “an abrupt halt in the already limited cooperation there." Yohannes Abraham, executive director of the transition, told reporters that Biden agency review teams at DOD learned Thursday of meetings “being pulled down" and immediately reported it. Abraham made it clear that Biden's transition team was not satisfied with that decision. “There have been many agencies and departments that have facilitated the exchange of info and meetings over the past few weeks,” Abraham said.

Proposed federal legislation that would radically transform the nation's criminal justice system through such changes as eliminating agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration and the use of federal surveillance technology is set to be unveiled Tuesday, July 7, by the Movement for Black Lives. Dubbed the BREATHE Act, the legislation is the culmination of a project led by the policy table of the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of more than 150 organizations. The proposed changes are sweeping and likely to receive robust pushback from lawmakers who perceive the legislation as too radical. The polling found that the majority of Americans say the criminal justice system needs major changes, including many saying it needs a complete overhaul. We are a generation that wants to make sure that the needs of all Black people are met, Cullors said.

All rights reserved)Government watchdogs say President Trumps Fourth of July gala in the nations capital last year cost taxpayers more than $13 million, twice as much as previous celebrations. Trumps desire to have Department of Defense military vehicles participate helped drive up the cost, according to the Government Accountability Office. Some other costs, such as for military flyovers of the National Mall, were not included in the estimate, the report said. Trumps military-focused Independence Day event went beyond the traditional concert and fireworks of years past. The GAO estimated that holiday celebrations from 2016 to 2018 cost from $6 million to $7 million annually.

ANN ARBOR The U.S. Office of Naval Research has awarded a $7.5 million grant to a team of researchers led by the University of Michigan to bring metamaterial to life. Metamaterials are unlike natural materials in that their properties are determined by how the material is structured. Led by physicist Xiaoming Mao, the five-year grant from the Department of Defenses 2020 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative program will allow her put her theoretical work with metamaterial to practice. In other words, her metamaterials can change properties based on how they come into contact with certain objects by absorbing direct stress, shock and preventing damage. The research could have significant implications on the design of helmets and body armor that change properties upon direct collision impact.

FreeImages.com/Matthew WilliamsDETROIT - Data from the Department of Defense shows the National Guard had a higher suicide rate last year than active duty and reserve military components. The suicide rate among National Guard service members was 30.6 per 100,000, compared to 24.8 per active duty service members and 22.9 per 100,000 for reserve component service members. "This year's report indicates that suicide rates for active-component and reserve members are comparable to U.S. population rates after accounting for age and sex. But rates for the National Guard are higher than the U.S. population after similar adjustments," she said. The Michigan National Guard implemented new suicide-prevention training after three soldiers died by suicide in less than a month earlier this year.

Copyright 2019 CNNWASHINGTON (CNN) - The Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to use $2.5 billion from the Department of Defense to construct parts of a wall along the southwestern border that the government argues is necessary to protect national security. The Supreme Court's order is a significant win for President Donald Trump, who is likely to use the construction of a wall as a major talking point on the campaign trail. This is a breaking story and will be updated. Distributed by LAKANA. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Pexels(CNN) - The US House of Representatives has ordered an investigation into whether the Department of Defense experimented with ticks and other insects as biological weapons. The most common disease spread by ticks is Lyme disease, which can cause multiple symptoms including fever, muscle aches, joint pain, rash and facial paralysis. Each year, nearly 30,000 cases of Lyme Disease are reported to the CDC, which also says that more than 300,000 people are diagnosed with the disease each year. In 2017, a total of 42,743 confirmed and probable cases of Lyme Disease were reported to the CDC, 17% more than in 2016, according to the agency. During the amendment's debate, Smith said Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases were "exploding" in the US and that "Americans have a right to know whether any of this is true."