Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the potential for another war breaking out remains high in places like North Korea.

Forty-eight percent view Iran as a “very serious threat,” with 43 percent describing North Korea that way. 

The Senate Armed Services chairman rebuffed Kabul's demand that the White House commit to future funds in a postwar pact.

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

U.S. defense and intelligence institutions must step up their efforts against China as the Asian powerhouse continues to flex its military might in the Pacific. 

Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was named chairman of BAE Systems Inc. on Wednesday.

Chertoff was elected for a three-year term, which begins May 1, and will succeed retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni.

Chertoff was secretary of Homeland Security under former President George W. Bush, after he succeeded the department’s first secretary, Tom Ridge, in 2005. Chertoff served through the duration of Bush’s second term.

In a rare move for the cloistered group, Taliban leaders are appealing to Muslims worldwide for financial support.

Ohio state Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) launched the first television ad of his campaign to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) on Wednesday, drawing heavily on his military background as he works to introduce himself to Ohio voters.

Mandel’s campaign said the ad would air statewide on broadcast and cable for “an extended period of time," but did not disclose the size of the buy. A source said Mandel's campaign had reserved about $540,000 in airtime in Ohio markets starting Wednesday and Thursday.

“Grandson of a soldier and a blue-collar laborer, Josh Mandel served two tours in Iraq and came home to protect our tax dollars,” says the narrator in the ad. “Now Washington is broken and needs new leaders, and this Marine is ready to answer the call.”

The 30-second spot shows Mandel lacing up his boots, as if preparing for battle.

Mandel, a fresh-faced former state lawmaker and first-term treasurer, has attracted the attention of major Republican figures, including Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.) and Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Jim DeMint (S.C.), whose Senate Conservatives Fund is also backing Mandel. McCain and Christie traveled to Ohio on Monday to campaign for Mandel.

The Defense Department said it “strongly rejects” the behavior of troops posing with dead suicide bombers in photos released Wednesday.