Department of Defense

House Armed Services Committee chair Buck McKeon asks the Department of Defense to release more Benghazi-related details:

“As Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, I believe that I have an obligation to provide robust oversight of the administration’s conduct in matters of national security.  This is a responsibility that I take very seriously and the Committee’s oversight of the terrorist attack in Benghazi is no exception.  I am well aware of the unclassified interagency timeline Ms. King refers to in her letter.  I find it insufficient, which is why I requested additional information from the Department of Defense.  DoD's explanation that no further information is available is equally insufficient and unacceptable. "

"The Department has been generally cooperative with this committee in getting to the bottom of what went wrong in Benghazi.  They have supported a number of classified and unclassified exchanges with Members and staff.  That does not mean that the process now comes to an end, or that the wealth of potential information has been exhausted.  I am deeply disappointed in the Department’s response and am committed to continuing the Armed Services Committee's oversight into the tragedy at Benghazi."

Senate Republicans signaled Tuesday afternoon that they may put up a fight if Barack Obama nominates former Nebraska Republican senator Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense.

Asked about Hagel’s 2008 statement that the “Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people here [in Washington, D.C.],” South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham said Hagel will “have to answer for that comment” if he is nominated. 

Has the Department of Defense finally gotten it right with respect to the Fort Hood Shooting? In January, you may recall, the DoD released a pathetic whitewash of the events of November 5, 2009. The report ("Protecting the Force: Lessons from Fort Hood") said nothing of consequence about Major Nidal Malik Hasan, what led him to open fire on his fellow Americans (e.g., his radical jihadist beliefs), or the many warning signs the DoD and others missed.  The report did not even mention the fact that Hasan had been in contact with a known al Qaeda cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, who has repeatedly called on Muslims serving in America and elsewhere to turn on their “infidel” compatriots.