House Committee On Armed Services

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In this Aug. 29, 2019, photo, then-President Donald Trump, left, watches with then-Vice President Mike Pence and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper as the flag for U.S. Space Command is unfurled as Trump announces the establishment of the U.S. Space Command in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) **FILE**

Space Force working on laser defenses

By Bill Gertz - The Washington Times

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers talks as a character witness during former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard ethics trial Friday, July 8, 2016, in Opelika, Ala. (Todd Van Emst/Opelika-Auburn News via AP. Pool) **FILE**

Mike Rogers hits Pentagon for bias against conservatives

By Mike Glenn - The Washington Times

An F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the Eagles of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 115 is prepared for take-off from the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73). U.S. Navy photo.

Adm. Philip Davidson: U.S. to deploy missiles to deter China

By Bill Gertz - The Washington Times

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, then-chairman of the Armed Services Committee, attends a news conference on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) ** FILE **

Thornberry ‘confident’ in Mike Rogers as next Armed Services ranking member

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

Illustration on current American vulnerability by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Losing World War III inside America’s borders

By Peter Vincent Pry

In this Monday, June 1, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump walks past police in Lafayette Park after visiting outside St. John's Church across from the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Adam Smith, House Armed Services chair, pushes Pentagon on Trump mobilizing military amid protests

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

President Donald Trump departs the White House to visit outside St. John's Church, Monday, June 1, 2020, in Washington. Part of the church was set on fire during protests on Sunday night. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Mark Esper, Mark Milley summoned to Congress to testify on Trump’s mobilizing of federal forces

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

Ranking Member Mac Thornberry, D-Texas, speaks as Secretary of the Army Mark Esper, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson, and U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, appear before a House Armed Services Committee budget hearing for the Departments of the Army and Air Force on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 2, 2019. Also pictured is Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., left. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) ** FILE **

Adam Smith, Mac Thornberry launch defense policy bill process amid coronavirus pandemic

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

Defense Secretary Mark Esper, accompanied by Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that China remains the Defense Department's "highest priority." (Associated Press)

Mark Esper: China threat Pentagon’s ‘highest priority’

By Bill Gertz - The Washington Times

This Wednesday, June 6, 2018, photo, reviewed by U.S. military officials, shows a placard announcing prayer call at the maximum security prison at Camp VI, at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Guantanamo, Cuba. The detention center opened in January 2002 under then-President George W. Bush as a makeshift place to hold and interrogate people suspected of involvement with al Qaeda and the Taliban. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Closing Gitmo prison, detainee transfer fight renewed in Pentagon budget debate

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

The Pentagon vehemently denies that the White House exerted any political pressure throughout the process for awarding the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, which ultimately went to Microsoft. (Associated Press/File)

Adam Smith, House defense panel chief, backs Space Force, doubts Air Force oversight

By Carlo Muñoz - The Washington Times

Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson speaks during a House Armed Services Committee budget hearing for the Departments of the Army and Air Force on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Heather Wilson, Air Force secretary, says service is ‘too small’ to execute its mission

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and David Norquist, far right, the Defense Department's budget chief, arrive to testify at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the fiscal year 2020 Pentagon budget, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Lawmakers are concerned about military construction projects that could lose funding this year to pay for President Donald Trump's border wall. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Patrick Shanahan pushes for Space Force amid lawmaker doubts

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Patrick Shanahan yet to discuss Space Force funding with top Democrat

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

Members of a U.S Army engineering brigade place concertina wire around an encampment for troops, and personnel from the Department of Defense and U.S. Customs and Border Protection near the U.S.-Mexico International bridge, Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018, in Donna, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) **FILE**

House panel to probe Trump’s troop deployment to U.S.-Mexico border

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

In this Sept. 10, 2013, file photo, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Trump put U.S. in ‘riskier position’ by rushing to replace Mattis, incoming House chair says

By Andrew Blake - The Washington Times

In this image provided by the U.S. Air Force, an F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off from Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, as the U.S. on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015, launched its first airstrikes by Turkey-based F-16 fighter jets against Islamic State targets in Syria, marking a limited escalation of a yearlong air campaign that critics have called excessively cautious. (Krystal Ardrey/U.S. Air Force via AP) **FILE**

Obama-era sequester decimated U.S. military; Air Force short 2,000 pilots: report

By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times

U.S. Navy SEALs in action. (U.S. Navy photo)

Navy SEALs’ switch to MMA training spurs fight over new commander

By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times

Iraqi army soldiers celebrate during a training mission outside Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, May 27, 2015. Islamic State extremists unleashed a wave of suicide attacks targeting the Iraqi army in western Anbar province, killing at least 17 troops in a major blow to government efforts to dislodge the militants from the sprawling Sunni heartland, an Iraqi military spokesman said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Ashton Carter: Training of Iraqis slow, but new U.S. troops making progress

By Jacqueline Klimas - The Washington Times

FILE - In this April 16, 2015, file photo, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, right, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, left, speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon. Two of America's top military leaders will be asked to defend President Barack Obama's handling of the tinderbox of violence and struggle in the Middle East. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Gen. Martin Dempsey, who is finishing a four-year stint as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are to appear Wednesday, June 17, 2015, before the House Armed Services Committee. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Carter: Iraqi training goal to fall way short of recruits

By DEB RIECHMANN - Associated Press