Operations

Defense officials will hold a briefing with lawmakers this week on the military’s role in the prostitution scandal in Colombia.

Grassley notes that the Russians are "famous" for using prostitutes to get information.

President Obama announced U.S. military advisers will continue their mission to track down the warlord accused of mass atrocities.

USA Today says that an online misinformation campaign was launched against two of its journalists who were investigating Pentagon propaganda contractors.

The paper said a series of fake websites was created about the journalists, as well as fake Twitter and Facebook pages and a Wikipedia entry.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is boosting its mental health staff by 1,900 to help the growing number of soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki announced the new hires Thursday, which include 1,600 mental health clinicians and 300 support staff.

“As the tide of war recedes, we have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to anticipate the needs of returning veterans,” Shinseki said in a statement.

The CIA wants the authority to expand its covert drone campaign in Yemen to strike terrorist suspects even when it doesn’t know their identities, The Washington Post reported.

The CIA wants permission to go after targets based on intelligence showing patterns of suspicious behavior, according to the Post, such as insurgents gathering at known al Qaeda locations or unloading explosives.

Panetta said there is a full investigation under way of the pictures that showed U.S. troops posing with Afghan dead

"I hope we get to the bottom of it, quickly," the Speaker said of allegations agents were involved with prostitutes.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said Monday the U.S. military was “embarrassed” by the incident.

The Afghanistan president said NATO was "especially" to blame for the intelligence failures that allowed Sunday’s attacks by insurgents.