President Obama's exit plan for Afghanistan is growing clearer — but it's not yet certain how many American troops will bear the weight of maintaining peace in post-war Afghanistan. And there's disagreement at a big NATO meeting with Leon Panetta.
What with all of the political drama in this year's Best Picture crop — and Michelle Obama hosting the kid from Beasts of the Southern Wild at the White House — we couldn't help but wonder which films our top politicians would like to see win.
Even as outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta continues to push the Supreme Court to open up more rights, the Pentagon has officially begun extending certain benefits to same-sex military families.
The two newest targets of John McCain's barbs over the attack on the Benghazi are the outgoing Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who McCain essentially called a liar.
The Pentagon will unveil the extension of as many benefits as it legally can to gay and lesbian military partners, but until a Supreme Court decision arrives this summer, an increasingly open Defense Department needs to tread lightly.
Wayne LaPierre got into it with Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace; Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey come to the aid of Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel.
Until now no military or political leader has explicitly linked the two. Here's why that's a big deal.
The defense secretary owns a golden retriever — code name: Bravo; real name: Bravo — who, besides witnessing first-paw the CIA's plans to hunt down Osama bin Laden, is way better at keeping secrets than the disgraced former CIA chief.
Iran has a growing legion of low-grade hackers that are quickly becoming a pain in the side of the Obama administration, and financial companies.
Some people struggle to act grateful for symbolic gifts from friends or colleagues. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is not one of those people.
After his unexplained two-week absence from the public eye, China's presumptive next president looks to be undertaking a campaign to prove he's healthy and fit to lead, starting with a meeting this week with U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
At the ceremony to mark the arrival of the remains of the four diplomats who died in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised their service and promised not to "retreat from the world."
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave a heated interview to CBS This Morning on Tuesday, lashing out at the Navy SEAL whose controversial book about the Osama bin Laden raid has upset many in the military community.
As the street sweepers clear the glitter from the sidewalks and our cities fade back to their dull, non-rainbow colors, we bring you some dispatches from pride weekend.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta thanked gay and lesbian service members in a video address on Friday, as the Pentagon celebrates gay pride month for the first time.
Leon Panetta had to tell the Senate Appropriations Committee the writer and director of Zero Dark Thirty, one of the killing Bin Laden movies, weren't given any classified information while researching the film.
Rudy Giuliani thinks he's still running for the Republican nomination and attacked Mitt Romney's reputation as a job creator on State of the Union; John McCain attacked Obama's foreign policy record on Fox News Sunday.
While the two Air Force pilots granted whistleblower status while refusing to fly the F-22 Raptor are safe from harm's way, that can't be said for the 200 other F-22 pilots.
The two Air Force pilots who put their careers on the line to blow the whistle on the military's F-22 fleet on 60 Minutes will have their chance at vindication.
It's not every day you hear the head of the Pentagon asking for more cuts to his department, but that's exactly what Defense Secretary Leon Panetta did on Thursday.
The party was last night, and the hangover has set in. These are the some of the best jokes and weirdest pictures from the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
If you were worried about the U.S. invading another Muslim country, you can breathe easy for now.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has apologized for grisly new photos showing American soldiers posing with the body parts of Taliban suicide bombers and promised that “anyone found responsible for this inhuman conduct will be held accountable.” If similar recent events are any indication, those punishments will be a long time coming.
That Leon Panetta has spent an incredible $860,000 to fly between his day job in Washington and his home in Northern California since taking office may not exactly be his fault, but even the thrifty secretary of defense himself this week can't help but notice the irony of that flight bill.
Also: Prince Harry and his ex-girlfriend are speaking.
For war-weary Americans who mostly want to know when the Afghan war is over, the answer apparently depends on what the definition of “is” is.
Just as U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta landed in Afghanistan, someone drove a stolen pickup truck onto the runway before crashing into a ditch in what's starting to look like an attempted attack on Panetta, who wasn't hurt.
You can sum up the White House's diplomatic surge following the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians in two phrases: Keep calm and draw down.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday that military action was an option in dealing with Syria, but he and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey sounded really reluctant about it in their testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In a candid admission that is both revealing of the inner circle of the White House — and designed to make the president look good — Joe Biden says that he, along with most of Barack Obama's senior advisers, told the president not to undertake the mission to kill Osama bin Laden.
As expected, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta pulled back the curtain on a sweeping set of spending cuts that he says "will be a test of whether reducing the deficit is about talk or action."
President Barack Obama spoke about the defense cuts announced Thursday, reiterated "strengthening our presence in the Asia Pacific while Defense Secretary Panetta spoke about our smaller, leaner force.
Defense cutbacks became less of a theory and more of a reality Wednesday, as Boeing announced the planned closure of one of its oldest airplane plants in Kansas and a separate report indicated a coming reduction of the Air Force's fleet.
This week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is poised to deliver a humbling assessment of America's military capabilities in a budget plan to the White House, reports The New York Times.
"In vain" is a phrase a lot of politicians have used since we invaded Iraq in 2003, always to reassure us that soldiers had not died that way.
It's a tough world out there for Obama administration officials seeking to speak candidly about Israel.
Plus: Alex Rodriguez has a fancy new house, Leon Panetta finally meets J.R. Martinez, and Muhammad Ali's health is reportedly "not in a good way."
Each weekend when Leon Panetta flies roundtrip from Washington D.C. to Monterey, California, it costs around $30,000--you're paying for it, and he's only reimbursing you for the price of a coach seat.
After winning a bet with a restauranteur, Leon Panetta may ring in the New Year with a $10,000 bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1870 wine, The Los Angeles Times reports.
The growing consensus on how the 12-member panel will plans to cut $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit is starting to look like a big win for the Defense Department, which has could see its budget slashed by hundreds of billions of dollars if there is no deal.
Is Obama or the Iraqis behind the major push for a troop withdrawal?
American officials say second-in-command killed in Pakistan, likely by drone strike
Defense secretary warns of the effects more cuts might have on the Pentagon
Leon Panetta is already earning a reputation as an outspoken Defense secretary
Resignation of William J. Lynn II comes as Obama reshapes his national security team
Panetta and Petraeus were easily confirmed. But there's a budget debate a-brewing
What years of government service will do to a man
The current CIA chief has supporters on both sides of the aisle
Panetta's accusation furthers mistrust over intelligence sharing
CIA chief is widely expect to be easily confirmed for defense secretary post
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