U.S. military leaders have deployed more than 20 American soldiers to the war-torn West African nation of Mali, calling into question the Pentagon's previous promise not to put troops on the ground there. 

Congressional opposition to base closures is forcing the Army to waste millions of dollars on aging facilities, the service’s top civilian said Tuesday. 

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said Tuesday that it was “literally impossible” for the Pentagon to incorporate $52 billion in cuts under sequestration in its 2014 budget.

Dempsey pushed back against criticism from Republicans, who have argued the Pentagon should have lived by the budget caps set by the sequester in the 2014 budget. The Pentagon requested a base budget in 2014 of $526 billion, $52 billion above the budget caps under sequestration.

Dempsey said that because sequestration didn’t take effect until March 1, the Pentagon wouldn’t have had the time to prepare a completely separate budget for that scenario.

The South Carolina senator said "the system did not work as designed" ahead of the marathon bombings. 

The top U.S. military official said Tuesday that armed U.S. intervention in Syria might not lead to a political solution that the Obama administration and lawmakers hope could end the two-year conflict.

Obama said he would call on lawmakers to "step up and help me" close the controversial military prison.

The president said he was committed to find out "exactly what happened" in the deadly attack.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday it was withholding performance bonuses for senior officials who are in charge of the large disability claims backlog.

The VA said in a statement that 2012 bonuses were being withheld for senior executives because of a failure to meet the VA’s performance goals.

The money will instead go toward helping to eliminate the backlog.

There is more public support than opposition for U.S. military action in Syria if the reports of chemical weapons are confirmed, according to a new poll from Pew Research.

The survey found 45 percent of respondents supported military action against Syria, while 31 percent were opposed. Nearly a quarter of respondents, 23 percent, did not have an opinion or did not know.

President Obama has warned that the used of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Assad would be a “game changer,” although Obama has proceeded cautiously after the White House said there was some evidence a chemical attack occurred.