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The Pentagon is sending about 3,000 more active-duty troops to the US-Mexico border as President Donald Trump seeks to clamp down on illegal immigration and fulfil a central promise of his campaign, US officials said Saturday. His defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, has ordered elements of a Stryker brigade combat team and a general support aviation battalion for the mission, the Pentagon announced. The forces will arrive along the nearly 2,000-mile border in the coming weeks. The Defence Department's statement did not specify the size of the deployment, but it was put at about 3,000 by the officials, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Strykers are medium-armoured wheeled personnel carriers. Already, about 9,200 US troops in total are at the southern border, including 4,200 deployed under federal orders and about 5,000 National Guard troops under the control of governors. The new troops will reinforce and expand current bor
President-elect Donald Trump's choice for defence secretary is still up in the air, but it is a sure bet he will look to reshape the Pentagon and pick a loyalist. During his tumultuous first term, five men held the job as Pentagon chief only to resign, be fired or serve briefly as a stopgap. While he has yet to announce a decision, the names of potential Pentagon chiefs stretch from the well-known such as Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee to an array of former administration loyalists, including retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who held national security posts during Trump's first term. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had been floated, but Trump said on social media Saturday that Pompeo would not be joining the new administration. Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida had also been mentioned, but he's now been tapped to be Trump's national security adviser. Some decisions may linger for days as candidates jostle for attention and officials wait for the
Russia and Ukraine exchanged scores of drone strikes Wednesday as North Korea's top diplomat arrived in Russia for talks after his country reportedly deployed thousands of soldiers to help Moscow's war efforts. Ukraine's air force said that Russia launched 62 drones and one missile overnight, adding that 33 of them were intercepted and 25 were jammed. The drones struck a residential building and a kindergarten in Kyiv, injuring nine people, including a child, according to the city administration. "Russian drones did not change their constant tactics they approached the capital from different directions, at different heights, it said. Russian attacks also targeted other regions of Ukraine, killing at least four and injuring about 30 others over the past 24 hours, authorities said. At the same time, Russian forces have pressed their slow-moving offensive in eastern Ukraine. In Moscow, the Defense Ministry announced the capture of the village of Kruhlyakivka in the Kharkiv region. T
The military-to-military relationship between India and the United States is strong, the Pentagon said Thursday on the eve of the meeting between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Defense Secretary Austin Lloyd. Rajnath Singh arrived in Washington Thursday morning as part of a four-day visit to further boost the comprehensive global strategic partnership between the two countries. He is scheduled to meet Austin at the Pentagon on Friday. The mil-to-mil relationships between the United States and India are strong, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters at a news conference here. You've seen that cooperation deepen, and not just from a DOD perspective, but from an administration perspective. Our close coordination and working together remains strong. The (Defense) secretary when he visited India, you know, announced some of those deliverables, Sabrina Singh said in response to a question. I'm not going to go through all of what he announced then, but it remains
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is telling the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, the Defense Department said Sunday. The moves come as the US and other allies push for Israel and Hamas to achieve a cease-fire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut. Officials have been on the lookout for retaliatory strikes by both Iran and Hezbollah for the killings, and the US has been beefing up its presence in the region. Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement that Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant earlier in the day, and reiterated America's commitment to take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening of US military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle .
The US Defense Department must invest more to upgrade sensors, communications and space-based technologies in the Arctic to keep pace with China and Russia who are increasingly operating there, including in joint military exercises, a new Pentagon strategy says. Saying that now is a critical time for the Arctic, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks told reporters Monday that climate change, increased activity by adversaries and degrading US infrastructure are forcing the department to rethink how to keep the Arctic secure and ensure troops are well-equipped and protected. The Arctic strategy is short on specifics, but broadly pushes for greater spending on high-tech sensor and radar systems, a range of military equipment, and continued investment in Pituffik Space Base, the US Space Force base in the northwest corner of Greenland. And it relies on growing partnerships with Canada and a number of NATO allies in the north. Defense Department leaders have, for more than the past ...
The United States will continue to view India as a strategic partner and have robust dialogue with the country, the Pentagon said on Tuesday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his historic visit to Russia, to which the Joe Biden administration has expressed its concerns. "India and Russia have had a relationship for a very long time. From a US perspective, India is a strategic partner with whom we continue to engage in with full and frank dialogue to include their relationship with Russia. As it relates to the NATO summit being this week, of course, like you, the world is focused on that," Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters at a news conference here. "But I do not think anybody will be surprised if (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin tries to represent this visit in a way that seeks to somehow show that he is not isolated from the rest of the world. And the fact of the matter is, President Putin's war of choice has isolated Russia from the rest of
The US Navy aircraft carrier strike group that for months has launched crucial strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen to protect military and commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden will remain in the region for at least another month, according to US officials. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin signed the order last week to extend the four ships' deployment for a second time, rather than bring the carrier, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, and its three warships home. The other ships in the strike group are the USS Philippine Sea, a cruiser, and two destroyers, the USS Gravely and the USS Mason. All together they include about 6,000 sailors. The decision means the sailors and the carrier's Air Wing won't be home until the middle of the summer, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision not made public. The officials declined to provide exact dates. A normal ship deployment lasts for about seven months, and the ships left their homepo