Author: Anne Flaherty

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday approved new rules that will make it harder to discharge gays from the military, calling the changes a matter of “common sense and common decency.” Gates announced new guidelines for how the Pentagon carries out the 1993 law banning gays from serving openly in the military — rules…

WASHINGTON — Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says that the Defense Department is close to changing how it enforces its policy on “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which bans gays from serving openly. In February, Defense Secretary Robert Gates directed his legal counsel to suggest ways to relax enforcement of the policy, which is based on…

WASHINGTON — The four-star Army general who is managing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan says “the time has come” for the military to rethink its policy toward gays. Gen. David Petraeus stopped short of saying whether he personally believed if the military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is outdated or unfair. Instead, Petraeus…

  WASHINGTON — A Defense Department official is under investigation for allegedly hiring private contractors to gather intelligence on suspected insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a U.S. official said Monday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the case, told The Associated Press that Michael D. Furlong directed a defense contract to…

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Thursday the cost to build its next-generation fighter jet has doubled to as much as $113 million per plane since 2001. The bad news about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Progam, delivered Thursday to Congress, was swiftly denounced by lawmakers who said runaway spending on major weapons systems has become…

WASHINGTON — The Navy says that three dogs died and dozens more were in poor health after being neglected by a private security contractor in Chicago that had been hired to train the dogs to detect explosives. A team of military handlers discovered the dogs last October at a facility run by Securitas Security Services…

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman says it will not compete against Boeing Co. for a $35 billion contract to build refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force because it does not think it can win. Northrop’s chief executive officer and president, Wes Bush, said Monday that the Pentagon guidelines for the program favor Boeing’s smaller refueling…

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s chief legal counsel said a nine-month study on gays in the military will likely review rules for troops on sodomy and oral sex. The Uniform Code of Military Justice prohibits sodomy and oral sex, even among consenting adults and married couples. Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson, who is helping to lead…