Army

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will visit Israel later this month as American officials attempt to broker a peace deal with Palestine and shore up military alliances in the region, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Hagel is slated to visit Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon between April 21-23, an Israeli official told the wire service.

Secretary of State John Kerry is currently visiting the region in an attempt to restart peace talks following the visit of President Obama last month. 

Two separate strikes against U.S. forces on Saturday ended with six Americans dead in Eastern and Southern Afghanistan.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman will speak with officials to assess ongoing transition efforts.

An Army three-star general who led the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa in U.S. Africa Command has been removed from his post due to charges concerning alcohol and sexual misconduct, the Associated Press reports.

Maj. Gen. Ralph Baker was relieved of his duties last week by Gen. Carter Ham, whose tenure as U.S. Africa Command chief concluded on Friday.

Ham removed Baker from his post and fined him a portion of his pay after an administrative hearing and review.

The military’s service secretaries are the latest officials who are giving back some of their pay voluntarily as a result of budget cuts under sequestration.

The secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force are all donating the amount of their salaries in 2013 equal to the number of days that civilian Pentagon employees are furloughed.

The Pentagon currently expects to furlough civilian workers up to 14 days in the 2013 fiscal year.

A U.S. Army veteran is facing federal conspiracy charges after allegedly fighting alongside al Qaeda factions in Syria, battling to oust embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, according to recent news reports. 

A bipartisan group of senators expressed outrage Thursday with the Army’s use of contractors that have potential ties to terrorist groups.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) sent letters to Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno pointing out the backlog of 43 referrals pending before the Army’s Suspension and Debarment Official that involve individuals with links to groups including the Haqqani Network and al Qaeda. The senators said they were concerned about the number of cases and said that underscores the Army’s need to take action quickly.

Pentagon officials on Thursday said they could not rule out more worker furloughs in 2014.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is making expedited airport security screenings available to injured military members.

The announcement follows a recent incident involving a wheelchair-bound member of the Marines at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport. The Marine alleged he was forced to remove his prosthetic legs.

The TSA denied forcing the amputee to take off his legs, but the agency said that it was extending more options for expedited screening to injured military personnel starting Wednesday. 

“In recognition of the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, we have revised our screening requirements to allow expedited screening for this trusted group of citizens,” said TSA Deputy Administrator John Halinski, who the agency said was a 25-year U.S. Marine Corps veteran himself.

Congress appears to be ceding the decision over whether to fund a controversial $400 million missile defense program to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and the Pentagon’s lawyers.

The Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) has long been in Congress’s crosshairs, and the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibited funding the program.

But the continuing resolution that President Obama signed on Tuesday included $380 million for the program to either fund the final year of development or cover termination costs.