President Obama posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to U.S. Army Specialist Leslie H. Sabo Jr., Wednesday, May 16, at 3:10 p.m., four decades after his death during the Vietnam War.

Ron Paul (R-Texas) was back to work on Capitol Hill Wednesday speaking out on the defense authorization bill, taking positions that often left him alienated from mainstream Republicans.

Paul appeared at two press conferences on the defense bill, which is being debated in the House Wednesday: one with anti-war lawmakers calling for a speedier withdrawal and another to ban indefinite detention for terror suspects captured on U.S. soil.

One House Democrat is looking to codify a ban on the Pentagon from buying weapons from Russian arms dealers who also supply weapons to Syria. 

Iran has installed 20 new centrifuges into its underground nuclear plant near Tehran days before key negotiations over the country's nuclear program are slated to begin this month.  

Robert Gates, who was defense secretary when President Obama ordered the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, said the decision to deploy Navy SEALs to kill bin Laden was a risky decision and a “courageous” call.

Gates said in an interview with host Charlie Rose on “CBS This Morning” Wednesday that he preferred using a missile attack to take out bin Laden's compound, which he described as “the least risky way to take him out.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is pressing the Pentagon on whether a plan to overhaul its entire fleet of F-22 Raptors will harm ongoing Air Force operations around the world. 

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said the House GOP proposal to limit troop reductions is too restrictive

The House passed a bill Tuesday evening that would grandfather in 49,000 National Guard members to receive more paid leave benefits after the Pentagon changed them last year.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), passed on a voice vote. The bill would undo a Defense Department policy that reduced the amount of paid leave received by National Guard members who had deployed before the policy went into effect last October.

French President Francois Hollande is already having to back off his campaign pledge to withdraw all French forces from Afghanistan this year, The Washington Post reports.

Hollande's desire to withdraw France's 3,400 military personnel — the fifth largest contingent in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force — two years ahead of schedule has created friction with the United States and NATO. Hollande is expected to broach the issue with President Obama in a visit to the White House ahead of the G-8 summit Friday.

Hollande has since clarified that he would only withdraw “combatant” troops, leaving behind hundreds of military trainers. Removing all military personnel on such a short timetable would require France to leave behind much of its equipment, the Post reported, including top-of-the-line armored personnel carriers and self-propelled artillery.