Exclusive: Top lawyer for military joint chiefs told chairman that officers should retire if faced with an unlawful order. That advice is raising serious concerns among current and former officials. Latest: www.cnn.com/2025/12/19/p...

Potentially a big day on the Hill tomorrow… Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine and SecState Marco Rubio are expected to brief the Gang of 8 tomorrow afternoon Separately, outgoing Southern Command commander Adm. Alvin Holsey is expected to virtually meet HASC and SASC leaders.

New: Alleged traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were not heading toward the US, Adm Bradley told lawmakers yesterday, per people briefed. Instead they were heading to link up with another vessel that was bound for Suriname. www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/p...

New: The men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat after the Sept 2 secondary strike did not appear to have radio or other comms devices, top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers, undercutting claim they could have called for backup. www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/p...

New: A classified final version of the Pentagon inspector general’s report into Hegseth’s use of Signal to discuss sensitive military operations has been delivered to lawmakers for review, and a declassified, redacted version is set to be released publicly on Thursday. www.cnn.com/2025/12/02/p...

The US military carried out a followup strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean on Sept 2, killing survivors of the initial strike, sources said. People briefed on the “double-tap” strike said they were concerned that it could violate the law of armed conflict. www.cnn.com/2025/11/28/p...

Update on the US-Ukraine talks in Geneva today: US and Ukrainian delegations are having a formal meeting now “where they will be ironing out the details of the agreement,” per US official. Previous talks were “conclusive” in some areas, official says.

NEWS: The UK is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/11/p...

Trump admin officials told Congress that the US is not currently planning to launch strikes inside Venezuela and doesn’t have a legal justification that would support attacks against land targets right now—but they’re seeking one from DOJ, per US official. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/06/p...

New: The Pentagon cleared giving Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles after assessing that it would not negatively impact US stockpiles, despite Trump suggesting earlier this month that the US might not have enough to give away. Final decision largely political now. edition.cnn.com/2025/10/31/p...

NEW: National Guard troops deployed in Washington, DC, will remain mobilized in the city at least through February 2026. Hegseth extended their orders on Monday. edition.cnn.com/2025/10/29/p...

NEW: The Department of Homeland Security is funneling $10 billion through the Navy to help facilitate the construction of a sprawling network of migrant detention centers across the US in an arrangement aimed at getting the centers built faster. www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...

Great video by @averyschmitz.bsky.social (with some narration help by me 🤭) taking a look at what the US military has built up in the Caribbean.

The US military has been steadily massing a large number of troops, naval and air assets in the Caribbean over the last two months. Here’s what’s been positioned as Trump pressures Venezuela (and, increasingly, Colombia): www.cnn.com/2025/10/19/w...

Great segment here with @rgoodlaw.bsky.social. Also, important observations from @natashabertrand.bsky.social about the dynamics of lawyering within DoD on the Caribbean strikes, including the sidelining of actual experts and reliance on the OLC license to kill. www.youtube.com/watch?v=L062...

Breaking: At least one US military strike in the Caribbean targeted Colombians on a boat leaving from Colombia, sources tell us. The deliberate targeting of Colombians suggests the US military’s campaign is wider than previously believed www.cnn.com/2025/10/15/p...

NEW: How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action New details here about how the Army’s top uniformed lawyer was fired just weeks after raising concerns about the use of the military domestically and mass firings of DoD employees www.cnn.com/2025/10/15/p...

Phenomenal story from @natashabertrand.bsky.social - these lawyers play a vital role in making sure military orders are lawful

New: DOJ has produced a classified legal opinion that justifies lethal strikes against a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers—justifying an open-ended war against suspected smugglers, now considered by the US to be enemy combatants. www.cnn.com/2025/10/06/p...

this is wild: while Stephen Miller's guy was in Minnesota for his uncle's funeral, somebody was able to see his entire phone and take pictures of his Signal group chats talking about military deployments to Portland, and brought them to the Strib (gift link: www.startribune.com/trump-offici...)

Trump has determined that the US is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels & deemed them "unlawful combatants," according to the Pentagon. DoD general counsel briefed hill yesterday. The admin has been weighing the combatant designation for months. www.cnn.com/2025/10/02/p...

News: Hegseth’s surprise gathering of top military brass in Virginia next week is being called so he can describe the administration’s reinvention of the Department of Defense as the “Department of War” and outline new standards for military personnel, sources say www.cnn.com/2025/09/26/p...

NATO allies are divided over whether to make it a policy to shoot down Russian jets that violate NATO’s airspace, with some countries including the US & Poland signaling that future violations should be met with force, while others, including Germany, urge more restraint. www.cnn.com/2025/09/25/p...

“The rules set out by the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seek to establish new constraints on journalists that news organizations consider unconstitutional and at odds with democratic norms.” Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/u...

Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, indicated that the Pentagon’s move here is illegal. ‘This policy operates as a prior restraint on publication which is considered the most serious of First Amendment violations,’ Mr. Stern said. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/b...

"In a ruling dripping with derision, a federal judge has rejected President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, asserting that the rambling 85-page suit did not follow federal rules for filing civil complaints." www.cnn.com/2025/09/19/m...

President Trump has been quietly pushing his national security officials for months to find a way to get Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan back from the Taliban, per 3 sources--possibly putting US troops back on the ground there www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/p...

NEW: NDAs around the Pentagon, increasingly scarce contact with Congress, a fixation on social media and public image — and a wariness of anyone who threatens it, including the Army secretary. Secretary of Culture War: How Hegseth wields power at the Pentagon www.cnn.com/2025/09/12/p...

In briefing to the hill, DoD did not present conclusive evidence that the targets of last week’s attack were members of Tren de Aragua, top Armed Services Dem and sources say. Briefers also acknowledged the boat turned around before being struck. www.cnn.com/2025/09/11/p...

Russia’s drone incursion into Poland marked the first time in its history that NATO planes have shot down potential threats in allied airspace, per NATO spokesperson. German Patriots in Poland were also placed on alert, he said.

Hegseth in the Oval Office just now says the Pentagon wants "Maximum lethality -- not tepid legality.” Comes amid questions about the legal authorities the administration relied on to strike a Venezuelan boat it accused of carrying cartel members and drugs.

Trump will sign an executive order tomorrow making the “department of war” the “secondary” name for DoD, until Hegseth can propose a legislative solution for a more permanent change. Hegseth to also be renamed Sec of War…

See you next week, DC… (maybe!!!)

Meanwhile...Breaking: The US military is deploying more than 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters around Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels, two US defense officials told CNN. www.cnn.com/2025/08/15/p...

Trump just announced that he’s activating the DC national guard (as many as 800 troops, per CNN reporting) and federalizing the DC police. Dramatic escalations as the city’s crime rate is at a 30-year low

New: Defense Secretary Hegseth and his Qatari counterpart have signed an agreement outlining the terms of Qatar’s “unconditional donation” of a Boeing jet to the Pentagon (and that is expected to be used by Trump), confirming that the US will pay nothing for the plane. www.cnn.com/2025/07/27/p...

New: The Pentagon’s watchdog has received evidence that the military plans shared from Secretary of Defense Hegseth’s Signal account were taken from a document marked classified at the time, sources say, undercutting Hegseth’s claims that nothing classified was shared. www.cnn.com/2025/07/23/p...

The US and NATO are working with Germany to get additional Patriots to Ukraine “as quickly as possible,” the senior US military commander in Europe said Thursday. "The guidance that I've been given has been to move out as quickly as possible,” US Gen. Alex Grynkewich said today in Wiesbaden.

Secdef Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine last week, per 5 sources, setting off a scramble inside the administration to understand why the halt was implemented and explain it to Congress and Kyiv. www.cnn.com/2025/07/08/p...

“Rafael Grossi’s comments appear to support an early assessment first reported by CNN which suggests the United States’ strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites last week did not destroy the core components of its nuclear program, and likely only set it back by months.” www.cnn.com/2025/06/29/w...

New reporting: The US military did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran’s largest nuclear sites last weekend because the site is so deep that the bombs likely would not have been effective, the US’ top general told senators during a briefing on Thursday. www.cnn.com/2025/06/27/p...

We call on President Trump and his administration today to end their inflammatory attacks on CNN's @natashabertrand.bsky.social, and journalists and news organizations more broadly following reporting of an early intelligence assessment of the U.S. strikes in Iran. pen.org/press-releas...

New CNN reporting: The Trump admin has discussed helping Iran access <$30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program, easing sanctions, and freeing up billions of dollars in restricted Iranian funds–efforts to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table. www.cnn.com/2025/06/26/p...

Exclusive: US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an early US intel assessment. The WH says the assessment is "flat-out wrong." www.cnn.com/2025/06/24/p...

“US intelligence assessments had reached a different conclusion – not only was Iran not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon, it was also up to three years away from being able to produce and deliver one to a target of its choosing.” www.cnn.com/2025/06/17/p...

NEW: When Trump put 2,000 Guard troops under his control on Saturday night and ordered them into Los Angeles, it was billed as an urgent response to quell protests. But officials had been discussing for months how to use the military to bolster immugration enforcement. www.cnn.com/2025/06/12/p...

Breaking: More than 700 Marines based out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California have been mobilized to respond to the protests in Los Angeles, according to three people familiar with the matter. www.cnn.com/2025/06/09/p...

Millions of pounds of military hardware are expected to roll down the streets of DC in just over a week, fulfilling a dream of President Trump but also sparking concerns about how roads & infrastructure will fare under the weight of heavy tanks and fighting vehicles. www.cnn.com/2025/06/06/p...

ICYMI: Hegseth has ordered the secretary of the Navy to rename the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk, per a defense official. The ship, which was launched in 2021 and named after the gay rights activist and Navy veteran, is set to be officially renamed later this month. www.cnn.com/2025/06/03/p...

New: A key Pentagon office was gutted after it disclosed that it would be overseeing the testing of Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system and the programs associated with the massive, multi-billion dollar project. www.cnn.com/2025/05/30/p...