NATO Secretary General to Visit Ukraine

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will visit Ukraine Thursday for meetings with Petro Poroshenko, the country’s president, amid high tensions with Russia, who the alliance says is continuing to mass troops near the Ukrainian border. In addition to Poroshenko, Rasmussen is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatseniuk, Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin,…

Chuck Hagel: The Best Dressed in President Obama’s Cabinet (Updated)

(Updated July 28, 2014, with video from a Defense News Minute) In a city where the powerful often wear boring, dark-color suits, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel bucks that trend. The Nebraskan can often be found wearing bright-colored socks, slick power ties and casual kicks that have made the man in charge of the world’s most powerful…

Hagel to Visit US Submarine, Fighter, Helicopter Bases

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will leave Wednesday on a two-day domestic trip that includes a stop at the much-watched F-35 joint strike fighter schoolhouse at Eglin Air Force Base on the Florida panhandle. During the visit, Hagel plans to stress the Pentagon’s commitment to the multinational, multiservice program, despite the fleet being grounded following a…

ESSAY: Obama’s Bergdahl-Taliban Gamble Is All About Timing

Buried beneath the nasty political brawl over the Obama administration’s swap of five senior Taliban prisoners for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is Obama’s cold-blooded strategic thinking. And President Barack Obama’s big gamble already has deepened Republicans’ frustrations with him, which could make easing sequestration a political impossibility.

Obama to Visit USAF Airmen at Polish F-16 Base

President Barack Obama will visit US Air Force airmen stationed at Łask Air Base during a his visit to Poland next week, the White House announced on Friday. The Air Force sent F-16 fighter jets to the base — which is about 100 miles southwest of Warsaw — in March following Russia’s invasion of Crimea. Obama will visit Łask on June 3 with Polish President Bronisław Komorowski, Ben…

The Polish People Love Chuck Hagel

To Polish citizens, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is a rock star. In late January, Hagel visited Poland, where the red carpet was rolled out all over the country. The Polish newspapers have even dubbed him Hagelski, a nod to his Polish heritage. During a visit to Kiszkowo — a rural town in western part of the country —…

Roberts Gates Discusses Vladimir Putin’s Intentions in Ukraine

Drawing down military forces in Europe sends the wrong signal to Eastern European nations, particularly as Russian forces have massed on Ukraine’s eastern border, former US Defense Secretary Robert Gates says. In an interview with Military Times videographer Mike Morones, Gates discusses his past interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and what he believes are…

What’s Russia’s Next Move? Seeing Inside Putin’s Head

World leaders have no clue what Russian President Vladimir Putin’s next move is following Moscow’s invasion and annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Putin has massed more than 20,000 troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu told US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week that Moscow had no plans to send the troops…

A Visual Look Inside DoD’s 2015 Budget Proposal

Deciphering the Pentagon’s 2015 spending proposal has been difficult, but Defense News has some charts the could serve as a decoder ring. Out friends at VisualDoD helped us compile data from the Defense Department’s spending plan to create these detailed graphics, which tell a story on their own. First, the chart at the top of…