Policy & Strategy

When sequestration took effect in March, the Pentagon had warned it would furlough civilians as many as 22 days.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is raising her profile as a leading advocate for changing the way the military prosecutes sexual assault cases.

The Topline: Repeated GOP attacks claiming the White House covered up the truth about the September attack in Benghazi, Libya, are nothing more than a politically motivated “side-show," President Obama said Monday.

“The whole issue of talking points, frankly, throughout this process has been a side-show,” Obama said during a press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron. “The fact that this keeps getting churned out, frankly, has a lot to do with political motivations.”

His comments come just a few days after it was revealed that State Department officials removed references to al Qaeda and CIA warnings about security threats to the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in talking points shared with the public. 

Republican lawmakers have charged that the administration sought to downplay the terrorist attack in the weeks before last November’s presidential election.

Obama sought to paint accusations as a partisan fight during Monday's press conference. 

“We don't have time to be playing these kinds of political games here in Washington. We should be focused on what are we doing to protect them,” Obama said. “We dishonor them when we turn things like this into a political circus.”

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British leaders are continuing to push for more "flexibility" in a European Union ban on arming the Syrian opposition, looking to open the door to direct weapons sales to rebel forces. 

At a joint press conference, Obama said Russia had an "obligation" to broker a peaceful transition of power in Syria.

Secretary Chuck Hagel isn't ruling out proposals in Congress that would make major changes to the military's judicial structure.

The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold its first hearing this week to examine whether changes should be made to the U.S. legal authority for military detention and the war on terror.

Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) will hold a hearing Thursday on the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), the law passed just days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Acting Pentagon general counsel Robert Taylor is among the witnesses who will testify before the committee. Other witnesses include Maj. Gen. Michael Nagata, the Joint Staff’s deputy director for special operations/counterterrorism, and Brig. Gen. Richard Gross, legal counsel of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Gates said he would likely not have approved sending a special forces team had he been in charge.

Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a veteran of the Iraq war, said military leaders have failed to do enough to prevent or punish sexual assault.

McCain accused top military leaders of resisting efforts to help rebels in Syria.