News stories

WASHINGTON — If you search for the metrics to winning the war in Afghanistan, you will get plenty of results, plenty of metrics — and no victory declared. And that may be the way it will be, indefinitely. At best, the U.S. is seeking success, not victory, experts are now saying. The U.S.-led coalition is

WASHINGTON — Top Pentagon officials dogmatically decline to speculate about any future operation, maneuver, deployment or weapons system when asked a question by a reporter. That is, unless it is about the Boston Red Sox. Boldly going where few generals trod, Gen. James McConville says the Red Sox are a lock to win the World Series

WASHINGTON — Raymond Roberts still remembers vividly the sight of that Soviet MiG jet teasing the cargo plane he was in as a crew member ferrying supplies 70 years ago to a besieged Berlin. “We were helpless,” Roberts, who lives in Denton, Texas, said in an interview. “We were just flying in a small (air)

BEIJING — Defense Secretary James Mattis came to China armed with his knowledge of geography, history and the determination to see — perhaps prove — that retired generals do not fade away, they make the world better. Mattis believed the two superpowers could find common ground, trumpet that duet, and then try to proceed to

WASHINGTON — Very few things send Washington into a tizzy like a forecast of snow. But those palpitations are nothing compared to the tsunami shudder that coursed through the Pentagon at the thought of a ”snowflake” circulating up and down its more than 17.5 miles of hallways. That would be a Donald Rumsfeld snowflake —

WASHINGTON — Creative approaches, sustained investment and being disciplined and adaptive in execution mark the foundation of the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy unveiled Friday. In some cases, it is the longtime mantra of “everything old is new again.” In other cases, the strategy document reflects new thinking, new terminology and 21st century realities. For example,

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon should develop a new branch of military service — or at least a robust stand-alone corps within the Air Force — to boost space warfare and protections, a growing number of military analysts and members of Congress are saying. Some say the change could occur within five years, as momentum is

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. needs to keep technologically ahead of adversaries and that means, among other things, quicker advances in smartly developed and financed tools and weapons. He better dial 703-526-6630. Or drive 4.2 miles south of his Pentagon office. That is where DARPA has its headquarters and that is

WASHINGTON — The Las Vegas Golden Knights, the newest franchise in the National Hockey League, defeated one of the elite teams on Sunday, besting the Washington Capitals 4-3 in a showdown between division leaders downtown in the nation’s capital. The. Knights came back three times to tie and then take the lead for good, perhaps

How can you go to war with your enemy when the enemy is on the same sports team as one of your best friends? And playing on his home field? That is the dilemma facing U.S. strategists as they reel from the invitation by South Korea to North Korea to embrace its athletes into next

WASHINGTON – If the U.S. goes to war against North Korea, it would face a vastly tougher challenge in the air that it did in any recent conflicts, a top Air Force general said Thursday. North Korea maintains a more highly developed air defense system than the U.S. faced in the Middle East, said Lt. Gen.

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon should develop a new branch of military service — or at least a robust stand-alone corps within the Air Force — to boost space warfare and protections, a growing number of military analysts and members of Congress are saying. Some say the change could occur within five years, as momentum is