Pentagon

Pentagon leaders are finalizing plans aimed at lifting the ban on transgender individuals in the military, with the goal of formally ending one of the last gender- or sexuality-based barriers to military service, senior U.S. officials told The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. is protesting an intercept of a U.S. reconnaissance plane by a Russian fighter jet last week, calling it "unsafe and unprofessional" amid what it views as increasingly aggressive air operations by Moscow.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Shaking up his Pentagon leadership, President Barack Obama tapped policy wonk Ashton Carter to oversee the sprawling Defense Department Friday, heralding his new nominee as one the nation's "foremost national security leaders."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has tapped former Pentagon No. 2 Ashton Carter to be his next defense secretary and carry out the U.S. military effort against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a senior Republican senator said Tuesday. White House officials, however, insisted no final decision has been reached.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down from President Barack Obama's Cabinet, senior administration officials said Monday, following a tenure in which he has struggled to break through the White House's insular foreign policy team.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. troops in Afghanistan may once again engage Taliban fighters, not just al-Qaida terrorists, under new guidelines quietly approved by President Barack Obama, administration officials say.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the military's failure to maintain its focus on the nation's nuclear forces led them to be mismanaged and to "slowly back down the hill." He vowed to invest in and bolster the force, saying there is no problem on this issue the Pentagon can't fix.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Revised guidance for health care workers treating Ebola patients will include using protective gear "with no skin showing," a top federal health official said Sunday, and the Pentagon announced it was forming a team to assist medical staff in the U.S., if needed.

The Pentagon is moving to ease the pain of mandatory, unpaid furloughs that civilian employees have had to bear for a month because of budgetary pressures, cutting the number of days off from 11 to six, The Associated Press has learned.

The Pentagon chief says his staff and that of his top brass will be trimmed by 20 percent in coming years.