About Face
The Pentagon is aiming to fundamentally reform the way America's men and women experience justice while in uniform.
Pentagon
Rare Italian Goats Helped Afghanistan How?
At a Senate hearing last week, lawmakers questioned whether a Pentagon business task force had accomplished anything worthwhile.
Afghanistan Waste Exhibit A
A Senate subcommittee is looking at waste by a Pentagon task force. It would do well to review the reasons why a major hydroelectric power plant sits unfinished.
The U.S. Spent Half a Billion on Mining in Afghanistan
The special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction has labeled yet another project in danger of failing. This time its U.S. plans to develop the country’s oil, gas, and minerals industries.
The Pentagon's Mysterious $766 Million Task Force
Senators were already questioning why the Department of Defense was restricting a government watchdog. Now there are criminal investigations and questions about retaliation against a whistleblower.
The Pentagon Evades Questions on $800 Million Afghanistan Program
Despite lacking access to key documents and personnel, the inspector general determined that nearly $43 million had been spent on a natural gas station that should have cost closer to $300,000.
It's Time to Simplify Defense Acquisitions
Dan Ward explains how making things simpler at the Pentagon will make our country's defenses more effective.
The Pentagon Has Finally Identified the Remains of a POW Lost Since 1942
Long buried alongside hundreds of unknown U.S. soldiers in the Philippines, Private Arthur “Bud” Kelder is on his way home after a lawsuit by his family.
The Problems With the Pentagon's Effort to Recover MIAs
A draft inspector general report found that the mission lacks basic metrics for how to do the job—and when to end it.
Pentagon Finally Decides to Dig Up Remains of Lost Soldier
The military will exhume a grave in the Philippines that may hold the remains of Bud Kelder, an American POW whose family has long been fighting the Pentagon to get him home.
Big Revamp of the Pentagon's Troubled Mission to Find Missing Soldiers
Without change of leadership throughout, meaningful improvement could be elusive.
Pentagon Finally Overhauls Effort to Identify Its Missing
The restructuring promises to address many of the problems laid out in a recent ProPublica and NPR investigation.
Why Did the Pentagon Give Up on a Fallen GI?
For more than 50 years, Army PFC Lawrence S. Gordon was mistakenly interred as a German soldier in a cemetery in France. Then European officials did what the U.S. military would not: exhumed and identified him with DNA.
Ways to Fix the Pentagon's Effort to ID 83,000 Missing Service Members
Changes must go beyond bureaucracy to update the scientific approach and embrace outside help.
How You Can Help Find Someone Missing in Action
John Eakin shares what he learned about tracking down the remains of his cousin who died in a World War II POW camp.
Obama Administration Helped Kill Transparency Push on Military Aid
Last year a bipartisan effort to force more transparency about military aid failed after objections from the Pentagon. Will the same thing happen this year?
Does the U.S. Pay Families When Drones Kill Innocent Yemenis?
We requested information on how the U.S. handles condolence payments for civilian drone strike deaths in Yemen. But the military won’t reveal a thing.
Who Is the United States at War With? That's Classified Information
President Obama has repeatedly said the U.S. is targeting Al Qaeda and “associated forces.” But the government won’t say who those forces are.
The Most Important Journalism About Rape in the Military
A Pentagon report says 26,000 service members were sexually assaulted in 2012. For context, we’ve rounded up some of the best journalism on sexual assault in the U.S. armed forces.
The Merry Pranksters Who Hacked the Afghan War
It was a dark time in a long, drawn-out war. Afghanistan was festering with resentment. The Pentagon brass were desperate. It was the kind of last-ditch moment when authorities start throwing an era's weirdest ideas at its most hopeless bureaucratic mistakes.
Highest Paid People on the Pentagon Budget: Three Football Coaches
The head coaches at Army, Navy, and Air Force make the most money in the Pentagon—and it's not all that surprising.
What Can Congress Do to Put an End to Rape and Sexual Abuse in the Military?
Because someone has to.
Why Again Are We Asking About 'Don't Ask'
The Pentagon was counseled to act quickly and decisively on allowing gays in the military. So why is it being slow and dilatory?
Thou Shall Not Covet Thy General’s Dollars
The Pentagon’s budget has become sacrosanct in American politics, although iconoclasts across the spectrum suggest a reformation.