The Army will be forced to lose another 100,000 soldiers if automatic budget cuts go into effect. Read more...

The U.S. military could let loose its newest megabomb in the skies above Iran if tensions between Tehran and Washington come to a head, according to a top Air Force general. 

The bomb, dubbed the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, is a 30,000-pound behemoth capable of blasting through hundreds of feet of reinforced concrete to hit a target. It dwarfs the Pentagon’s Massive Ordnance Air Blast weapon — known affectionately as the “mother of all bombs” in defense circles — and is the largest, non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. military arsenal. 

Read more...

Markey, ranking member on the Energy Committee, said "it makes no sense" to expand after enactment of the nuclear treaty.

Read more...

Lawmakers want the State Department to appoint an envoy to Iran who would lead direct, bilateral talks "without preconditions."

Read more...

U.S. and Afghan officials signed an agreement Friday to transfer prisoners to the Afghan government, an issue that had been a sticking point in talks between the two countries.

The United States will accelerate its transfer of Afghan detainees at the Parwan Detention Facility to give President Hamid Karzai’s government control in six months.

Read more...

Pentagon officials said more base closures are needed because a reduction of 100,000 troops means less infrastructure is necessary.

Read more...

U.S. military investigators want to know whether members of the Afghan Air Force have been using American-financed aircraft to smuggle illicit drugs across the country.

The military inquiry is being spearheaded by elements within International Security Forces-Afghanistan, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is leading a separate probe into the matter. The Wall Street Journal first reported about the inquiries late Wednesday.

Army Lt. Gen. Daniel Bolger, commander of NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan, told the Journal that the investigations are in the preliminary stages and said no evidence of trafficking has been uncovered.

"The nature of the allegations is fairly dramatic and indicated that [AAF officials] were transporting drugs on aircraft and transported weapons not owned by the government of Afghanistan for the use of private groups," he said.

Read more...

Two lawmakers are proposing legislation Thursday that would impose sanctions on all Iranian banks, a measure to further ratchet up the pressure on Iran to try to convince Tehran to halt its nuclear program.

The sanctions bill, which is being introduced in the Senate by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and in the House by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), piggybacks on sanctions included in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act against the Central Bank of Iran, which were proposed by Kirk and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).

Read more...

Rep. Dan Burton (Ind.), the third-ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, warned on Thursday afternoon that Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), President Obama and others should not be thinking about taking military action against Syria without first putting the question before Congress.

Burton was reacting to comments this week from McCain, who called on airstrikes against Syria to defend rebels against violence from Syrian Presidnet Bashar al-Assad.

---

"Respectfully, I disagree with the senator from Arizona," Burton said on the House floor. "Our main goal in the Middle East is to protect our interests and the interests of our major ally, Israel.

"If we are to be dragged into a civil war in Syria for humanitarian reasons, I would respectfully remind Sen. McCain and the president that they do not have the power to unilaterally start a war."

Burton argued that the United States is "not the world's policeman," and said it is not the responsibility of the United States to control violence in other countries. "If it were, then bombs should be falling on a number of countries, including Yemen, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, North Korea, Burma, and I could go on and on," he said.

He also added that U.S. involvement in Libya has created pockets of al Qaeda operatives, and said the United States would need to assess the risks of repeating this mistake in Syria.

"Do we really want to undertake a significant military commitment … to create so-called safe havens in Syria to deliver weapons and supplies to al Qaeda fighters from Iraq?" he asked.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday also downplayed McCain's call for military action, saying that it would be "premature" to commit the United States to such action at this point.