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Tag: pentagon

  • Lawsuit Targets Secretive Musk-Led Pentagon Panel Over ‘Enormous Potential Conflicts of Interest’

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    Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    A meeting of the Pentagon’s Project Meridian was pictured on October 1, 2026 in Washington, DC.
    (Photo: US Department of Defense/X.com)

    “The federal government should not be outsourcing its vision on ‘the future of warfare’ to a panel dominated by individuals that stand to profit from it.”

    A coalition of government watchdog organizations sued the US Department of Defense on Monday over a recently announced initiative known as Project Meridian, a Pentagon advisory committee headed by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Anduril Industries cofounder Palmer Luckey—billionaires whose companies benefit extensively from federal contracts.

    The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that Project Meridian violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which “requires that any federal advisory committee that includes non-governmental members be created by a charter, have a defined structure and purpose, make its records and meetings open to the public, and be fairly balanced in its membership.”

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    In his memorandum ordering the creation of Project Meridian, Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth set a deadline of January 28, 2027 for the panel to deliver recommendations to the US Defense Department on how to “map the trajectory of future warfare” and help the country “maintain global dominance.”

    Project Meridian has held at least two meetings at the Pentagon, which has not disclosed the specific contents of the gatherings or released a list of attendees. Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich is helping Musk and Luckey spearhead the advisory panel, coordinated by the MITRE Corporation—whose board previously included the GOP’s nominee for US Senate in Michigan, Mike Rogers.

    “Despite its ongoing operations and imminent final report,” the new lawsuit reads, “defendants have failed to comply with FACA’s procedural and substantive requirements for new federal advisory committees, including FACA transparency requirements that disallow Project Meridian’s closed-door operations.”

    “Compounding the problem, Project Meridian’s private-sector membership raises precisely the type of conflict-of-interest concerns that FACA was designed to address,” the lawsuit continues. “Announced members include Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey, both leaders and stakeholders of major defense contractors with substantial financial interests in the outcome of Project Meridian’s recommendations. Other members likewise have direct financial stakes in Project Meridian’s findings or are dedicated to aggressive military action.”

    The lawsuit was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Public Citizen, and the Project on Government Oversight. The groups urged the federal court to “hold unlawful, vacate, and set aside Secretary Hegseth’s September 30 memorandum establishing Project Meridian,” “enjoin defendants from allowing Project Meridian to continue its work until defendants bring it into compliance with FACA,” and bar the Pentagon from “accepting or acting upon any recommendations by Project Meridian while it is acting outside the law.”

    Donald Sherman, CREW’s president, said in a statement on Monday that the Pentagon is “legally barred from getting advice in secret, by defense contractors with enormous potential conflicts of interest.”

    “But that’s exactly what Project Meridian is doing—soliciting private counsel from contractors about military capacity including the president’s largest political benefactor,” said Sherman. “The Federal Advisory Committee Act sets clear requirements about transparency and avoiding conflicts of interest, and Project Meridian must either comply or stop operating.”

    Musk’s SpaceX has secured more than $8 billion in Pentagon contracts in 2026 alone.

    Anduril Industries, Luckey’s firm, is known for building autonomous drones. The company won a $2 billion US Navy contract last month, days after Hegseth announced Project Meridian.

    “Project Meridian would outsource design of grand military strategy to two extremist Pentagon contractors, Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey,” Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, said Monday. “Very predictably, they will recommend more spending, much more spending, on more AI-enabled weaponry. That would simultaneously make the world more dangerous and starve funding for domestic and human needs.”

    “The law demands balance on advisory committees, precisely to prevent connected insiders like Musk and Luckey from writing policy at the expense of the public,” Weissman added.

    Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
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  • Trump Orders US Military to Plan Invasion of Panama to Seize Canal: Report

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    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Common Dreams is publishing many good articles.

    Two cargo ships enter the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal in Panama City on January 22, 2025. (Photo: Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images)

    U.S. officials familiar with the planning said options for “reclaiming” the vital waterway include close cooperation with Panama’s military and, absent that, possible war.

    This is a breaking news story… Please check back for possible updates.

    President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to prepare plans for carrying out his threat to “take back” the Panama Canal, including by military force if needed, two U.S. officials familiar with the situation told NBC News Thursday.

    According to the outlet, the officials said that U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) is drawing up potential plans that run the gamut from working more closely with Panama’s military to a less likely scenario in which U.S. troops invade the country and take the canal by force. They also said that SOUTHCOM commander Adm. Alvin Holsey has presented draft strategies to be reviewed by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is scheduled to visit Panama next month.

    The officials explained that the likelihood of a U.S invasion depended on the level of cooperation shown by the Panamanian military.

    Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out use of military force to seize control of the vital U.S.-built waterway, as well as Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

    Last week during his joint address to Congress, Trump proclaimed that “to further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal,” but his administration has not clarified precisely what “reclaiming” entails.

    The Republican president says the U.S. needs to retake control of the Panama Canal to enhance “economic security,” and has falsely claimed that the waterway is “operated by China.”

    Earlier this month, the New York-based investment firm BlackRock led a group of investors in a $23 billion deal to purchase ports at both ends of the Panama Canal from a Hong Kong-based conglomerate, an agreement Trump dubiously seized upon as proof that “we’ve already started” reclaiming the conduit.

    Panamanian President José Raúl Molina countered that “the Panama Canal is not in the process of being reclaimed… The canal is Panamanian and will continue to be Panamanian!”

    The U.S. controlled what was formerly called the Panama Canal Zone from the time of the waterway’s construction in the early 20th century—largely done by Afro-Caribbean workers, thousands of whom died in what’s widely known as the world’s deadliest construction project—until then-President Jimmy Carter transferred sovereignty to Panama in the late 1970s. Under the Torrijos-Carter treaties, the U.S. reserves the right to use military force to defend the canal’s neutrality.

    The United States has repeatedly used deadly military force in Panama over the decades, including during a 1964 student-led uprising against American control in which 22 Panamanians and four U.S. soldiers were killed, and in a full-scale invasion in 1989 ordered by then-President George H.W. Bush to capture erstwhile ally and CIA asset turned narcotrafficking dictator Manuel Noriega. The U.S. invaders killed hundreds of Panamanians, including many civilians.

    Writing for Americas Quarterly this week, Panamanian jurist Alonso E. Illueca argued that Panama’s efforts to appease Trump aren’t working. These include the BlackRock deal and other moves like quitting China’s “Belt and Road” initiative, taking in third-country migrants deported by the U.S., backing a U.S. resolution on Ukraine at the United Nations Security Council, auditing the country’s ports, and revisiting a railway project originally developed by the Chinese government.

    “Panama should abandon its accommodating policy towards the U.S., which can only lead to escalating demands to banish Chinese influence, to the detriment of Panama’s national sovereignty,” Illueca asserted.

    “An alternative policy for Panama is to align with the rules based international order,” he continued. “This includes establishing synergies with like-minded states which have been also affected by U.S. actions such as Canada, Mexico, Greenland, and Denmark. The country should seek to transcend the U.S.-China binary and find alternatives for alliances, which should include partners like the European Union.”

    “In short,” Illueca added, “the way forward for Panama lies in replacing strategic dissonance with strategic clarity.”

    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Common Dreams is publishing many good articles.

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  • Trump Offers Key Pentagon Job to Billionaire Whose Firm Trained Khashoggi’s Murderers

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    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

    Stephen Feinberg is pictured at the U.S. Capitol on December 11, 2008. (Photo: Jahi Chikwendiu/The The Washington Post via Getty Images)

    Stephen Feinberg is co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, which owns a company that provided training to members of the hit squad that murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

    President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly offered the number-two Pentagon job to a secretive billionaire investor with close ties to the military-industrial complex, potentially introducing additional conflicts of interest to an incoming administration that is set to be rife with corporate executives and lobbyists.

    Stephen Feinberg is co-founder and co-CEO of the private equity behemoth Cerberus Capital Management, which owns a firm that provided paramilitary training to members of the elite team that murdered Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

    Trump drew global outrage for publicly defending the Saudi regime in the wake of the assassination, even after U.S. intelligence agencies established that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman authorized Khashoggi’s murder.

    The New York Times reported in 2021 that four Saudis who took part in the 2018 Khashoggi assassination “received paramilitary training in the United States the previous year under a contract approved by the State Department.” Tier 1 Group, an Arkansas-based company financed by Cerberus, provided the training.

    “The instruction occurred as the secret unit responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s killing was beginning an extensive campaign of kidnapping, detention, and torture of Saudi citizens ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, to crush dissent inside the kingdom,” the Times noted.

    “Having this revolving door of people who sit on boards of major defense contractors and then cycle in and out of the Pentagon is a problem that did not begin with Trump, but is a problem nonetheless.”

    It’s not yet clear whether Feinberg intends to accept Trump’s offer to serve as deputy defense secretary, but news of the choice prompted speculation that Feinberg could be elevated to the top Pentagon spot as Fox News host Pete Hegseth—the president-elect’s nominee for the role—faces skepticism from senators amid new details of the sexual assault allegations against him. (Update: The Times reported Wednesday morning that Trump’s support for Hegseth is “wobbling” and he is “openly discussing other people for the job, including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.”)

    Citing an unnamed person familiar with his thinking, Politicoreported that Feinberg is expected to accept the job offer for deputy defense secretary. Feinberg would also have to be confirmed by the Senate.

    The Washington Post, which first reported Trump’s offer on Tuesday, noted that the private equity billionaire is a major donor to the president-elect and has “investments in defense companies that maintain lucrative Pentagon contracts.” The Post observed that Cerberus “has invested in hypersonic missiles” and “previously owned the private military contractor DynCorp.”

    Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), told the Post that “having this revolving door of people who sit on boards of major defense contractors and then cycle in and out of the Pentagon is a problem that did not begin with Trump, but is a problem nonetheless.”

    “Is he going to be listening to a whole range of constituencies or primarily business constituencies?” Duss asked of Feinberg.

    If he accepts the president-elect’s offer, Feinberg would join a number of conflict-of-interest-ridden nominees for high-level positions in the incoming Trump administration.

    Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, characterized Trump’s Cabinet picks so far as “chaotic evil” and warned that their conflicts of interest could bring horrible consequences for the American public.

    “Corruption is not only bad in and of itself,” Hauser told the Institute for Public Accuracy on Tuesday. “It’s also a bad thing that makes other terrible things more likely to happen. If you corrupt the enforcement of environmental protection laws, people will be poisoned by the water they drink and air they breathe. If you corrupt the Department of Labor, workplace safety will collapse over time and wage protections will disappear.”

    “That’s what happened under the last Trump administration. This is going to be worse,” Hauser warned. “Food safety issues, automobile safety with driverless cars, rail safety—these are all risks that the Trump team will be taking with the lives of ordinary people.”

    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

  • Alarm as Pentagon Confirms Deployment of US Troops to Israel

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    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    U.S. Defense Department spokesperson Pat Ryder holds a press conference at the Pentagon on September 12, 2024. (Photo: Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    “Netanyahu is as close as he has ever been to his ultimate wish: making the U.S. fight Iran on Israel’s behalf,” wrote one journalist.

    The Pentagon confirmed Sunday that it has authorized the deployment of an advanced antimissile system and around 100 U.S. troops to Israel as the Netanyahu government prepares to attack Iran—a move that’s expected to provoke an Iranian response.

    Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, press secretary for the U.S. Defense Department, said in a statement that at President Joe Biden’s direction, the Pentagon approved the “deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and associated crew of U.S. military personnel to Israel to help bolster Israel’s air defenses” in the wake of Iran’s ballistic missile attack earlier this month.

    “The THAAD Battery will augment Israel’s integrated air defense system,” said Ryder. “This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran.”

    The Pentagon’s statement came shortly after The Wall Street Journal and other outlets reported on the Biden administration’s plans.

    It is not clear when the U.S. troops are set to arrive in Israel. The U.S. currently has some 40,000 soldiers stationed across the Middle East.

    “We risk becoming entangled in another catastrophic war that will inevitably harm innocent civilians and may cost billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars.”

    Iran fired roughly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1 in response to the assassinations of Hezbollah’s leader and Hamas’ political chief. Most of the Iranian missiles were shot down with the help of the U.S., whose Navy fired interceptors at the missiles.

    Journalist Séamus Malekafzali argued the U.S. deployment of troops and the THAAD system shows that “the Israelis are clearly planning something for Iran that is going to cause a retaliation they know their own systems are unable to take.”

    “U.S. troops being deployed to Israel in this matter is seismic,” Malekafzali added. “The U.S. military is now inextricably involved in this war, directly, without any illusions of barriers. Netanyahu is as close as he has ever been to his ultimate wish: making the U.S. fight Iran on Israel’s behalf.”

    Israel’s cabinet met Thursday to discuss a potential response to Iran’s October 1 missile barrage. One unnamed Israeli source told The Times of Israel that “no big decisions” were made at the cabinet meeting. Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Biden said that U.S. and Israeli officials were “discussing” the possibility of an attack on Iranian oil infrastructure.

    Iran has warned of a “crushing” response to any Israeli attack.

    In a statement Sunday, progressive U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), and Greg Casar (D-Texas) said that “military force will not solve the challenge posed by Iran.”

    “We need meaningful de-escalation and diplomacy—not a wider war,” the lawmakers added. “Nothing in current law authorizes the United States to conduct offensive military action against Iran. We risk becoming entangled in another catastrophic war that will inevitably harm innocent civilians and may cost billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars.”

    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

  • US, UK Bomb Yemeni Capital as Part of ‘Sustained’ Attack on Houthis

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    Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    A U.S. warplane takes off from an aircraft carrier en route to airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on January 22, 2024.  (Photo: U.S. Central Command)

    “The U.S. just bombed Yemen again,” the peace group CodePink noted. “The U.S. is illegally attacking Yemen so Israel can continue illegally attacking Gaza.”

    Anti-war voices on Monday condemned the start of what appeared to be the “sustained” assault on Yemen by U.S. and U.K. forces that top Biden administration officials have reportedly been planning—without congressional approval—in a bid to stop Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping.

    “The U.S. just bombed Yemen again,” the peace group CodePink lamented on social media. “The U.S. is illegally attacking Yemen so Israel can continue illegally attacking Gaza.”

    The intensified attacks on Yemen—an impoverished nation reeling from a decade of civil war and U.S.-backed Saudi-led airstrikes—come amid Israel’s 108-day assault on Gaza, which has killed over 25,000 people and drawn a response from the Houthis in the form of largely ineffective missile and drone strikes.

    “Today, the militaries of the United States and United Kingdom, at the direction of their respective governments with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, conducted an additional round of proportionate and necessary strikes against eight Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the Houthis’ continued attacks against international and commercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea,” a joint statement from those six nations explained.

    “These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners, and are in response to a series of illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi actions since our coalition strikes on January 11, including anti-ship ballistic missile and unmanned aerial system attacks that struck two U.S.-owned merchant vessels,” the statement continued.

    According to the six countries, Monday’s attacks “specifically targeted a Houthi underground storage site and locations associated with the Houthis’ missile and air surveillance capabilities.”

    Fatik Al-Rodaini, a Yemeni journalist and human rights activist who founded the charity Mona Relief, reported on social media that “massive explosions have been heard loudly in the capital Sanaa,” while multiple videos published online showed large explosions rocking the city, raising fears of civilian casualties.

    Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti vowed on social media Monday that “the American-British aggression will only increase the Yemeni people’s determination to carry out their moral and humanitarian responsibilities towards the oppressed in Gaza.”

    “The war today is between Yemen, which is struggling to stop the crimes of genocide, and the American-British coalition to support and protect its perpetrators,” he added. “Thus, every party or individual in this world is faced with two choices that have no thirds: either to preserve its humanity and stand with Yemen, or to lose it and stand with the American-British alliance.”

    Asked last week if bombing Yemen was working, U.S. President Joe Biden—an ardent supporter of Israel’s assault on Gaza—replied: “Well, when you say ‘working,’ are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes.”

    Some Biden administration officials have said it may take weeks or even months to stop Houthi attacks on Israeli-linked commerce. U.S. bombardment is nothing new to Yemenis, who have suffered American air and drone strikes—as well as occasional ground raids like the one in which 8-year-old Yemeni American Nawar al-Awlaki was killed—since the George W. Bush administration.

    According to the U.K.-based monitor Airwars, U.S. forces have killed an estimated 154-273 Yemeni civilians in 181 declared actions since 2002.

    In an article published by The Nation Monday, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) asserted that “President Biden has both the constitutional obligation and a political imperative to seek congressional authorization” for attacking Yemen.

    “To be sure, the president is afforded the authority under the Constitution and the War Powers Act to repel a sudden Houthi attack on the United States, its territories, possessions, or its armed forces, in the narrow case where self-defense requires immediate action,” the congressman added. “But in the absence of such a national emergency, the president must seek authorization from Congress.”

    The online activist group RootsAction weighed in on the latest U.S. war—which Biden administration officials won’t admit is one—by accusing the president of seeking to “starve the region’s poorest country.”

    “Joe Biden is starting a war on Yemen with no exit plan. Just more forever wars that no one wants,” the group said. “The Democratic Party expects us to vote for this in November?”

    Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Rishi Sunak, UK's janitor prime minister.
    Rishi Sunak, UK’s janitor prime minister.