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May 15, 2013, 3:13 pm
By
Jeremy Herb
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that Congress has
become “an enabler” of sexual assault in the military after new sexual abuse allegations
surfaced against an Army sergeant tasked with sexual assault prevention. Speier, long a critic of the military’s approach to sexual
assault, said in a statement that Congress is complicit because lawmakers have failed
to pass legislation that would take the cases outside the military’s chain of
command.
“Another sex scandal rocks the military. A service member responsible for
preventing and responding to sexual assault is being investigated for
perpetrating the heinous crime he is supposed to prevent,” Speier said.
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May 15, 2013, 2:17 pm
By
Julian Pecquet
Republican senators briefly hijacked a hearing on Iran Wednesday to lambaste the Obama administration on the largely unrelated issue of CIA cash payments to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The angry lawmakers took advantage of a rare appearance by the State Department's third-ranking diplomat to demand answers on the decade of cash payments that The New York Times brought to light last month. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman refused to answer in public. “Delivering cash to an elected leader – does that help us root out corruption in that country?” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) rhetorically asked Sherman. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) followed-up by questioning the example that the United States is setting. “Would we object if other nations delivered bundles of cash to President Karzai?” he asked.
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May 15, 2013, 2:04 pm
By
Carlo Muñoz
Top Defense Department officials are getting increasingly frustrated with the services' ability to curb cases of sexual abuse within their ranks, particularly among service members tasked to prevent such cases. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel conveyed his concerns over the issue to President Obama during their weekly meeting at the White House on Tuesday, according to Pentagon press secretary George Little.
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May 15, 2013, 1:52 pm
By
Jeremy Herb
A bipartisan group of more than two-dozen lawmakers say
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel should “change course” and allow the Navy to
avoid furloughing its civilian employees.
The 27 House lawmakers wrote a letter to Hagel on Tuesday
calling his decision to require civilian furloughs across the services
“misguided.”
“The idea of mandating civilian furloughs across the DOD
flies in the face of implementing sequestration prudently,” the lawmakers said in
the letter, spearheaded by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.).
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May 15, 2013, 12:15 pm
By
Julian Pecquet
A Senate panel is expected to vote next week on arming vetted Syrian rebel groups.
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May 15, 2013, 12:03 pm
By
Jeremy Herb
The House Appropriations Committee moved its first spending
bill Wednesday as the military construction and veterans affairs subpanel
passed a $73.3 billion measure.
The appropriations bill is $1.4 billion above the funding
level enacted in 2013 and $1.4 billion below President Obama’s 2014 budget
request.
The measure provides $9.9 billion for military construction
projects and $63.1 billion in discretionary funding to the Department of Veterans
Affairs, an increase of $2.1 billion compared to last year’s levels.
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May 14, 2013, 10:05 pm
By
Jeremy Herb
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the
services to retrain and rescreen sexual assault prevention personnel after the incident at Fort Hood.
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May 14, 2013, 6:18 pm
By
Jeremy Herb and Carlo Muñoz
The Topline: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Tuesday
that the Pentagon would be furloughing most if its civilian workforce by up to
11 days this year.
Hagel made the announcement at the MArk Center in
Alexandria, Va., where he struck an apologetic tone to the civilians he was
speaking before. He began his speech by riffing on the times we live in —
saying he was “not a dinosaur” in a reference to new technologies — before he
delved into the furloughs.
Hagel said that
the decision to furlough was not made lightly, and that it was only
undertaken when there was nothing left to cut without jeopardizing national
security. “We’ve taken it as close to the line as we can, where we’re
still capable of protecting this country and the country’s efforts around the
world,” Hagel said at the town-hall event.
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May 14, 2013, 5:43 pm
By
Carlo Muñoz
Navy leaders got their wish when Pentagon leaders absolved the service's civilian shipbuilding cadre from mandatory furloughs.
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May 14, 2013, 5:38 pm
By
Julian Pecquet
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the incident could harm U.S.-Russian relations as the countries cooperate on a Syrian peace summit.
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