By Matt Cantor 
The Pentagon has nixed a new medal for drone pilots before anyone was nominated for it. The Distinguished Warfare Medal, announced by Leon Panetta just before he left the Pentagon, angered veterans as well as those taking issue with drone tactics, the Washington Post reports. A veterans’ petition hit the…
From: http://www.newser.com/story/166321/pentagon-drops-drone-pilot-medal.html
By Congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX)
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas 36) released the following open letter to Congress Tuesday afternoon, encouraging members to support Congressman Frank Wolf’s bill creating a Select Committee to investigate the Obama administration’s response to the Sept. 11, 2012 killings of Americans in Benghazi, Libya.
Dear Colleague:
As a fellow member of this body, I feel that we should protect and honor the sacrifice of those who sacrifice their lives to provide us with the freedoms that make our nation great.
In that same spirit, we should investigate and seek the truth about what happened on that tragic day in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012.
These four men served their nation with honor and character in the face of danger, and we likewise should honor their memory in seeking the truth about what actually took place that fateful day.
The purpose of this letter is to encourage colleagues of the House of Representatives to support Congressman Wolf’s H.Res. 36, which will create a House Select Committee on the Terrorist Attack in Benghazi.
It is essential that a full accounting of the events of September 11, 2012, be provided and that the American public be fully informed regarding this egregious terrorist attack on US diplomatic personnel and facilities.
We owe that truth to the American people and the families of the fallen.
It appears that many of the facts and details surrounding the terrorist attack which resulted in four American deaths and an undetermined number of American casualties have not yet been ascertained by previous hearings and inquiries.
Additional information is now slowly surfacing in the media, which makes a comprehensive bipartisan inquiry an imperative. Many questions have not been answered thus far.
The House Select Committee should address, at a minimum, the following questions:
1. Why was there no military response to the events in Benghazi?
a. Were military assets in the region available? If not, why not?
b. If so, were they alerted?
c. Were assets deployed to any location in preparation for a rescue or recovery attempt?
d. Was military assistance requested by the Department of State? If so, what type?
e. Were any US Army/Naval/USMC assets available to support the US diplomats in Benghazi during the attack?
f. What, if any, recommendations for military action were made by DOD and the US Africa Command?
2. What, if any, non-military assistance was provided during the attack?
3. How many US personnel were injured in Benghazi?
4. Why have the survivors of the attack not been questioned?
5. Where are the survivors?
6. Who was in the White House Situation Room (WHSR) during the entire 8-hour period of the attacks, and was a senior US military officer present?
7. Where were Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey during the crisis, and what inputs and recommendations did they make?
8. Where were Tom Donilon, the National Security Advisor, Denis McDonough, his deputy, Valerie Jarrett and John Brennan during the attacks, and what (if any) recommendations or decisions did any of them make?
9. Why were F-16 fighter aircraft based in Aviano, Italy (less than two hours away) never considered a viable option for disruption (if not dispersal) of the attackers until “boots on the ground” (troop support–General Dempsey’s words) arrived?
10. Were any
From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/congressman-challenges-colleagues-to-press-obama-on-benghazi/
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Leon Panetta, Former U.S. Defense Secretary and CIA Director, to Speak at Santa Clara University’s 162nd Commencement June 15
Pamela Eibeck, first woman president of University of the Pacific, to address advanced degree recipients June 14
SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Santa Clara University today announced the speakers for the Jesuit, Silicon Valley-based University’s 2013 graduate and undergraduate commencement ceremonies, June 14 and 15.
Undergraduate Commencement
Leon Panetta, the former U.S. Secretary of Defense and a 1960 magna cum laude political science major and 1963 graduate of Santa Clara University’s School of Law, will address the University’s graduating seniors and their family and friends, June 15 at 8:30 a.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium. His wife Sylvia Panetta, co-director of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy in Monterey, Calif., will receive an honorary degree as well.
“Sylvia and I are honored to be recognized by Santa Clara University. Santa Clara has a special place in our hearts. It’s where we first met; it is where I learned many of the core values that have guided me from the earliest days of my career,” said Panetta. Read more here.
Graduate Commencement
An award-winning engineering educator and the first woman president of the University of the Pacific will address Santa Clara University’s graduate students at their 2013 commencement ceremony on Friday, June 14.
The commencement will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the University’s Leavey Events Center.
Pamela A. Eibeck has been president of University of the Pacific for four years, overseeing its expansion beyond its Stockton, Calif. campus to campuses in Sacramento and San Francisco.
In attendance at the commencement will be about 600 students receiving advanced degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences’ Pastoral Ministries program, the School of Engineering, the Leavey School of Business, and the School of Education and Counseling Psychology. Read more here.
Honorary Degrees
At the undergraduate ceremony, honorary degrees will be awarded to Leon and Sylvia Panetta; Robert Mathewson, S.J.; James Houghton ’81; and Steven ’60 and Patricia Schott. At the graduate ceremony, Pamela A. Eibeck will receive an honorary degree.
From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/11/leon-panetta-former-us-defense-secretary-and-cia-d/
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will not let an impending $46 billion in budget cuts erode U.S. military power, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday. He said the cuts will “cause pain” but insisted that they can be managed without hurting national security.
At his first news conference since taking over for Leon Panetta as Pentagon chief, Hagel struck a more relaxed tone about the budget reductions, which are part of $85 billion in government-wide spending cuts that were taking effect Friday at midnight.
Whereas Panetta had warned of “catastrophic” effects that could reduce America to the status of a “second-rate” military power, Hagel said he believed the budget crisis can be managed in ways that do not put U.S. national security in jeopardy.
Hagel said the U.S. is “the best fighting force, the most capable fighting force, the most powerful fighting force in the world. The management of this institution, starting with the Joint Chiefs, are not going to allow this capacity to erode.”
Read more at Official Wire. By Robert Burns.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By Bobby Powell
A recently leaked Department of Justice “White Paper” gives the President of the United States and those he designates – “high government officials” – the authority to take the life of any American citizen, even if there is no proof that the citizen in question is involved in nefarious activities.
John Brennan, the Obama administration’s pick to replace Leon Panetta as the next CIA Director, has found his nomination put on hold by Senator Rand Paul after refusing to answer Paul’s question in front of the Senate sub-committee regarding the use of drones to attack American citizens domestically, again without ever having been charged with a crime in a court of law. Senator Paul calls the idea “appalling.”
In this episode of “The Truth Is Viral”, Nate Wessler, a lawyer with the ACLU’s National Security Project, echoes Senator Paul’s sentiments in this exclusive interview in which he calls Obama and the members of his administration “Judge, jury, and executioner.” That is a strong statement of condemnation coming from the historically ultra-liberal ACLU.
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By Jim Emerson
This President was raised as a spoiled brat; his mother and grandparents coddled and spoiled the man-child during his formative years. Spoiled brats tend to become narcissistic, demanding, and disrespectful. Spoiled adults tend to have an overestimation of their talents and abilities and shirk responsibility if anything goes wrong. They must always be at the center of attention; if not, they will most likely abuse drugs or alcohol to escape reality.
On February 7th during his last testimony as Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta stated that he informed Mr. Obama that the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya was under attack. Not wanting to get his hands dirty with a possibly embarrassing situation that may harm his chance of re-election, Obama passed the buck to Mr. Panetta by telling him to “do whatever you need to do to be able to protect our people there.” Mr. Obama was incommunicado for the nest six hours while Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans were being murdered. Mr. Panetta and General Dempsey did nothing but watch. Secretary Clinton was nowhere to be found. The only people who had the courage to take action were relieved of command. The administration follows the lead of its head, Obama; as he does nothing, they do nothing.
Uncaring
When asked to explain their actions, the only response is a careless disregard for the dead with a battle cry of “What difference does it make” or “The United States military is not and should not be a global 911 service capable of arriving on the scene within minutes to every possible contingency around the world.” The absence of leadership and accountability should send a powerful message to the troops and State Department employees abroad. The United States government under Obama does not care about them.
Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan may well be the man responsible for the attack on Benghazi. Brennan is the man running the Drone assassination program. According to “Benghazi: The Definitive Report”, the attack on the consulate was in retaliation for Drone strikes against terrorist groups inside Libya. Brennan ran the operations with JSOC, something that couldn’t be done without orders from the White House, to conduct a drone war without any oversight.
Holder’s Justice Department created a memo that would allow the Obama Administration to kill anyone anywhere, including Americans. This document attempts to grant Obama and Brennan the power to kill without any annoying legal recourse.
The lap dog media never links this to Obama. Like any weak parent of a spoiled brat, they cave to his will. The media is ignoring the stench of the rotting fish, thinking it is Michelle’s perfume.
By delaying a confirmation vote on Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary, Senate Republicans have forced Leon Panetta to remain on the job he is eager to give up. But they’ve also given the White House an opportunity to cast the GOP as obstructing President Barack Obama‘s assembly of a second-term national security team.
Senate Republicans temporarily blocked a Hagel confirmation vote on Thursday, insisting that the administration must first answer more questions about its handling of a terrorist attack last September on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, called it “political posturing.”
“Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, it got worse,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said after the GOP forced the delay.
The Senate action amounted to a parliamentary maneuver, with Democrats needing 60 votes for Hagel’s confirmation to move forward. It fell two votes short.
Still, Hagel is likely to win confirmation on a mostly party-line vote after the Senate returns from next week’s recess. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said he expects many of his Republican colleagues to join him then to end the debate.
Alexander stopped short of predicting Hagel will be confirmed, but that is almost assured if he only needs a simple majority, and Democrats control the Senate by a 55-45 margin. Alexander called Thursday’s vote “unfortunate” and “unnecessary” because Hagel’s nomination came up on the Senate floor too quickly — just two days after it was approved by a divided Armed Services Committee.
The unprecedented stall tactic against a defense secretary nominee raised the rancor of frustrated Democrats, who immediately accused Republicans of threatening security and said they unnecessarily undercut U.S. credibility abroad.
“The world is too dangerous to have this period of uncertainty,” said Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The nomination of John Brennan as CIA director was also delayed; the Senate Intelligence Committee pushed off a vote amid Republican demands that the White House turn over more details about drone strikes against terror suspects and about the Benghazi attack.
In contrast, the Senate swiftly confirmed John Kerry to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Decatur, Georgia
10:35 A.M. EST
MR. EARNEST: Good morning, everybody. And Happy Valentine's Day. I'm glad you're on board for our trip to Decatur, Georgia today. Rest assured you can — we'll be back in plenty of time for you to do something nice for your valentines this evening.
So let me begin with a brief opening statement, and then we'll open it up to questions.
As I mentioned, we're headed to Georgia this morning where the President will discuss one of the initiatives that he unveiled in the State of the Union that will expand economic opportunity for the middle class and everyone working hard to get there — high-quality preschool education for every child in America.
Studies show that for every dollar we invest in a quality preschool program, we’ll save more than 7 dollars because of the impact that a good early childhood education program has for our youngest students, including on things like graduation rates, teen pregnancy rates, and even violent crime rates. The OECD estimates that the United States ranks 28th out of 38 for our share of children that are enrolled in high-quality preschool programs.
So the point is that these programs have a profound impact on the lives of our children, and yet we're not doing enough on it. States like Georgia and Oklahoma, which are states that are run by Republican governors — and routinely vote for Republican presidential candidates, by the way — have made important investments in these kinds of programs. So there is no reason this should get bogged down in partisan politics. And the President will call on members in his remarks today — members of Congress in both parties — to act quickly on this.
With that, we’ll open it up for a few questions.
Q All right, Josh, moving straight to a political question — it sounds like the Republicans are planning a full-scale filibuster of Senator Hagel. Does the President still stand by his nomination? And how do you intend to move on?
MR. EARNEST: The President stands strongly behind Senator Hagel. The President believes that Senator Hagel would do a wonderful job in a very important role, which is leading the Department of Defense at a challenging time for our country.
Currently, we have 66,000 men and women in uniform who are deployed in Afghanistan. The President talked in his State of the Union address earlier this week about the important transition that’s underway there to bring those troops home. We need our new Secretary of Defense in place to be a part of that process.
We obviously have some looming questions about the impact of the sequester on the Department of Defense budget. The outgoing Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, has commented about the terrible impact that the sequester would have on our military readiness.
Next week, there is a defense ministerial …read more
Source: White House Press Office
By John Johnson 
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By Kevin Spak 
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By Daniel Noe
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) hammered with multiple question both Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey over the failures associated with Benghazi.
By John Johnson 
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By John Johnson 
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
Senior defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is removing the military’s ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war.
WASHINGTON (OfficialWire) — Republican opposition to Chuck Hagel as the next defense secretary swelled from inside and outside the Senate Thursday as a former Senate colleague launched a campaign to block his nomination.
Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who served for a decade with Hagel, said his grassroots organization, Patriot Voices, will lead a nationwide campaign to stop Hagel from succeeding Leon Panetta as head of the Pentagon.
“While I respect Sen. Hagel’s service to America, I cannot stand by and support his nomination,” Santorum said in a statement. “His anti-Israel, pro-Iran mindset makes him uniquely unqualified to serve as our Defense secretary.”
Hagel, nominated Monday by President Barack Obama, has faced criticism that he is soft on Iran and weak in his support for Israel. Pushing back in private meetings with defense officials, he has told them this week that he backs strong international sanctions against Iran and believes all options, including military action, should be on the table.
Read More at OfficialWire . By Donna Cassata.
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore (Creative Commons)
A national defense analyst and Pentagon advisor agrees with a number of GOP senators who don’t think former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel (R) is qualified to be secretary of defense.
After several weeks of speculation, President Obama has officially nominated Hagel to replace Leon Panetta, who wants to return to private life during Obama’s second term. In choosing Hagel, the president is reportedly signaling he is ready for a contentious confirmation fight, likely dominated by questions about Hagel’s stance on Israel and Iran. (Hagel to face rough going in Senate)
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has joined other Senate Republicans — including Roger Wicker of Mississippi and newly seated Ted Cruz from Texas — in criticizing Hagel, mostly for his virulently anti-Israel and pro-Iranian foreign policy positions. Graham told CNN over the weekend that Hagel is a controversial choice, as his thinking on most issues of foreign policy is out of the mainstream. He also questions Hagel’s management experience.
Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis (USA-Ret.), now senior fellow for national security at the Family Research Council (FRC), says Hagel does not have the experience needed to run a vast and complex operation like the U.S. Department of Defense.
Read More at onenewsnow.com . By Chad Groening.
