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President Donald Trump has nominated Lt Gen Christopher LaNeve to serve as the Army's second-highest-ranking officer, according to congressional records. Gen James Mingus is currently vice chief of staff and has not publicly said he plans to step aside. He has been in the job less than two years, and it is typically a tenure that lasts at least three years. The move, which was posted in congressional records on Monday, is the latest in a series of surprise and unexplained firings, reassignments and promotions that have been transforming the senior ranks of the military under Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Officials in the Army and Hegseth's office would not offer any details on Mingus' apparent ouster and the effort to promote LaNeve, who is now Hegseth's top military aide. Maj Peter Sulzona, a spokesman for Mingus, told The Associated Press by email that he would not comment on pending nominations but that Mingus will continue to execute the duties and responsibilities
National Guard troops patrolled in Tennessee's second-largest city for the first time Friday while soldiers in Illinois were engaged only in planning and training after a judge handed a loss to the Trump administration and blocked their deployment to the Chicago area. At least nine armed Guard members began their patrol at the Bass Pro Shops located at the Pyramid, an iconic Memphis landmark, about a mile (1.6 kilometres) from historic Beale Street and FedEx Forum, where the NBA's Grizzlies play. They were also at a nearby tourist welcome centre along the Mississippi River. Wearing Guard fatigues and protective vests labelled military police, the troops were escorted by a local police officer and posed for photos with visitors. Meanwhile, in Illinois, Democratic US Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth said they were barred from visiting an immigration enforcement building near Chicago. For weeks, it's been home to occasional clashes between protesters and federal agents. What are
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an order sending the National Guard into Memphis to combat crime, constituting his latest test of the limits of presidential power by using military force in American cities. Trump made the announcement with Republican Tennessee Gov Bill Lee visiting the Oval Office, calling what's coming a "replica of our extraordinarily successful efforts" in Washington. That was a reference to last month, when the president deployed National Guard troops to the nation's capital and federalised the city's police force in a crackdown he has since argued reduced crime. Trump said that, in addition to troops, the push in Memphis would involve officials from various federal agencies, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the US Marshall's service: "We're sending in the big force now." Shortly before Trump's announcement, the White House said on social media that the Memphis total crime rate was higher than t
About 200 Marines have moved into Los Angeles and will protect federal property, personnel, the commander in charge says. Maj Gen Scott Sherman, commander of Task Force 51 who is overseeing the 4,700 troops deployed, said Friday that the Marines have finished training on civil disturbance. Sherman said the Marines would take over their operations at noon local time in downtown Los Angeles. The development comes a day after the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a federal judge's order that had directed President Donald Trump to return control of National Guard troops to California, shortly after a federal judge had ruled the Guard deployment was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded Trump's statutory authority.
Eight years after President Donald Trump was dazzled by a grand military parade down the Champs-lyses in Paris, he is finally getting a chance to try to top the spectacle. His long-delayed dream is expected to be realized Saturday with an extravaganza of American military might featuring tanks and other armoured vehicles rolling through the nation's capital, thousands of soldiers marching the streets and military aircraft flying overhead. In a final flourish, an elite parachute team is to jump from above the White House, land near Trump and hand him an American flag. I think it's going to be great, Trump said this week. We're going to celebrate our country for a change. For Trump, a media-attuned real estate developer who was a reality television star and beauty pageant owner, it's a chance to flex his skills as a showman. But the muscular display of military might also comes as Trump is increasingly flexing the powers of his office, including with the deployment of thousands of ...
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared to acknowledge that the Pentagon has developed plans to take over Greenland and Panama by force if necessary but refused to answer repeated questions during a hotly combative congressional hearing Thursday about his use of Signal chats to discuss military operations. Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee repeatedly got into heated exchanges with Hegseth, with some of the toughest lines of questioning coming from military veterans as many demanded yes or no answers and he tried to avoid direct responses about his actions as Pentagon chief. In one back-and-forth, Hegseth did provide an eyebrow-raising answer. Rep Adam Smith asked whether the Pentagon has plans to take Greenland or Panama by force if necessary. Our job at the Defense Department is to have plans for any contingency, Hegseth said several times. It is not unusual for the Pentagon to draw up contingency plans for conflicts that have not arisen, but his handling of
Troops marching in lockstep. Patriotic tunes filling the air. The commander in chief looking on at it all. The military parade commemorating the US Army's 250th anniversary and coinciding with President Donald Trump's 79th birthday will be a new spectacle for many Americans. This will not be the first US military parade. However, it is unusual outside of wartime, and Trump's approach stands out compared to his predecessors. The Army had long planned a celebration for its semi-quincentennial on June 14. Trump has wanted to preside over a grand military parade since his first presidency from 2017 to 2021. When he took office a second time, he found the ideal convergence and ratcheted the Pentagon's plans into a full-scale military parade on his birthday. The president, who is expected to speak in Washington as part of the affair, pitches the occasion as a way to celebrate US power and service members' sacrifice. But there are bipartisan concerns about the cost as well as concerns abo
US troops have begun directly detaining immigrants accused of trespassing on a recently designated national defence zone along the southern US border, in an escalation of the military's enforcement role, authorities said on Wednesday. US Army Lieutenant Colonel Chad Campbell described in detail the first detentions by troops last week of three immigrants accused of trespassing in a national defence area near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Those migrants were quickly turned over to US Customs and Border Protection and are now among more than 1,400 migrants to have been charged with illegally entering militarised areas along that border, under a new border enforcement strategy from President Donald Trump's administration. Troops are prohibited from conducting civilian law enforcement on US soil under the Posse Comitatus Act. But an exception known as the military purpose doctrine allows it in some instances. Authorities "noticed three individuals crossing the protective barrier into the .
The United States has to have a relationship with Pakistan and with India, a top US general has said, noting that it cannot be a binary switch where Washington cannot have ties with Islamabad if it has relations with New Delhi. US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), made the comments during a testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. We have to have a relationship with Pakistan and with India. I do not believe it is a binary switch that we can't have one with Pakistan if we have a relationship with India, Kurilla said. We should look at the merits of the relationship for the positives that it has. ISIS Khorasan (ISIS K) is perhaps one of the most active in trying to do external plots globally to include against the homeland. The Taliban is going after ISIS K - they hate each other, and have pushed a lot of them into the tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistan border, he said at the full Committee Hearing on US Military Postur
As the nation's capital cleans up from the culmination of World Pride this past weekend, focus now shifts to a very different massive event Saturday's military parade to honour the 250th birthday of the Army and the 79th birthday of President Donald Trump. "We're preparing for an enormous turnout," said Matt McCool of the Secret Service's Washington Field office, who said more than 18 miles of "anti-scale fencing" would be erected and "multiple drones" would be in the air. The entire District of Columbia is normally a no-fly zone for drones. Army officials have estimated around 2,00,000 attendees for the evening military parade, and McCool said he was prepared for "hundreds of thousands" of people. "We have a tonne of magnetometers," he said. "If a million people show up, then we're going to have some lines." A total of 175 magnetometers would be used at security checkpoints controlling access to the daytime birthday festival and the nighttime parade. Metropolitan Police Departmen
As the World War II bomber Heaven Can Wait was hit by enemy fire off the Pacific island of New Guinea on March 11, 1944, the co-pilot managed a final salute to flyers in an adjacent plane before crashing into the water. All 11 men aboard were killed. Their remains, deep below the vast sea, were designated as non-recoverable. Yet four crew members' remains are beginning to return to their hometowns after a remarkable investigation by family members and a recovery mission involving elite Navy divers who descended 200 feet (61 metres) in a pressurised bell to reach the sea floor. Staff Sgt. Eugene Darrigan, the radio operator was buried military honours and community support on Saturday in his hometown of Wappingers Falls, New York, more than eight decades after leaving behind his wife and baby son. The bombardier, 2nd Lt. Thomas Kelly, was to be buried Monday in Livermore, California, where he grew up in a ranching family. The remains of the pilot, 1st Lt. Herbert Tennyson, and ...
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday directed the active duty military to shed 20 per cent of its four-star general officers as the Trump administration keep pushing the services to streamline their top leadership positions. Hegseth also told the National Guard to shed 20% of its top positions. In a memo dated Monday, Hegseth said the cuts will remove redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership. On top of the cuts to the top-tier four-star generals, Hegseth has also directed the military to shed an additional 10% of its general and flag officers across the force, which could include any one-star or above or equivalent Navy rank. Hegseth said the cuts aimed to free the military from unnecessary bureaucratic layers. The news of the cuts was first reported by CNN.