Pentagon

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Altman to OpenAI Staff: Hegseth Is in Driver's Seat

Altman emphasizes Pentagon control as OpenAI expands into classified work

(Newser) - Sam Altman told OpenAI staff this week that when it comes to how the US military uses the company's AI, the Pentagon—not OpenAI—is in charge. In an all-hands meeting Tuesday, held four days after OpenAI revealed a new Defense Department deal, the CEO underscored the fact that...

Altman: OpenAI Pentagon Deal Looked 'Opportunistic, Sloppy'

Safeguards were added to deal after backlash

(Newser) - OpenAI's fast-tracked Pentagon deal just got a civil-liberties rewrite. After a weekend of blowback, the company said Monday that its agreement to supply AI for the Defense Department's classified systems now explicitly bars using its tools for "intentional" domestic surveillance of Americans, including tracking people via commercially...

Pentagon Got Help From Claude in Iran

Military deployed Anthropic AI tool even as it begins severing ties

(Newser) - Claude is still apparently welcome at the Pentagon, at least for now. The military used the AI tool from Anthropic in its attack on Iran over the weekend, according to separate reports in the Wall Street Journal and Axios . The move came hours after President Trump ordered federal agencies to...

Hegseth: This Is Not a 'Regime Change War'

Defense chief and top general brief the nation

(Newser) - The nation's top two military officials gave their first public briefing about the military operation in Iran, and both declined to put a specific timeline on how long it may last, reports the New York Times . (Earlier, President Trump suggested four to five weeks .) Highlights from the press...

DOD Bans Military Members From Attending Elite Schools

Hegseth calls schools like Yale, Brown 'factories of anti-American resentment,' without elaborating

(Newser) - The Pentagon will forbid members of the military from attending Columbia, Yale, Brown, and other universities starting next school year amid a campaign to cut ties with institutions that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called "factories of anti-American resentment." Hegseth announced the policy in a video posted to social...

OpenAI Chief Jumps Into Pentagon-Anthropic AI Fray

Sam Altman says his firm is exploring DOD partnership amid agency's clash with Claude maker

(Newser) - Sam Altman is positioning ChatGPT creator OpenAI as a potential middleman in the fight over how the Pentagon can use advanced AI. In a Thursday memo to his staff viewed by the Wall Street Journal , Altman said OpenAI is in talks with the Defense Department about deploying its models in...

Pentagon Shoots Down DHS Drone With Laser

Lawmakers demand probe into 2nd uncoordinated snafu in Texas near US-Mexico border

(Newser) - The Pentagon just zapped the wrong drone, again. Defense officials on Thursday used a high-energy laser to bring down a "seemingly threatening" drone that turned out to belong to Homeland Security above Fort Hancock, Texas, forcing the FAA to briefly close airspace below 18,000 feet, multiple people familiar...

Scouting America Shifts Gender Policy for Pentagon

Applicants must join under the biological sex they were assigned at birth, Hegseth announces

(Newser) - Scouting America will alter several policies at the urging of the Pentagon, including a requirement that members use "biological sex at birth and not gender identity," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday in a video . The concessions mean Hegseth will not follow through on his threat to end...

Hegseth: We're on That Review of UFO Files

But Pentagon chief offers no clear timeline for Trump-ordered review of records

(Newser) - Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth says the hunt for whatever the government knows about UFOs is officially on. Speaking Monday during a visit to aerospace firm Sierra Space in Colorado, Hegseth said the Defense Department is now sorting through files on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and possible extraterrestrial life, following President...

Sources: Pentagon Gives Anthropic an Ultimatum

Pentagon threatens contract, could invoke Defense Production Act, sources say

(Newser) - Sources say Anthropic has been handed a blunt choice by the Pentagon: drop key AI ethics limits or risk being frozen out of federal work. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has given the San Francisco startup until 5:01pm Friday to accept the Trump administration's terms of use or face...

Hegseth Tries Again to Punish Mark Kelly

Defense chief appeals ruling blocking punishment over Kelly's troop remarks

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is escalating his clash with Sen. Mark Kelly, taking his bid to punish the Arizona Democrat to a federal appeals court, Politico reports. Hegseth is asking the DC Circuit to overturn a judge's order that temporarily blocked the Pentagon from demoting Kelly, a former Navy...

US Tracks Oil Tanker to Indian Ocean, Climbs Aboard

It's the third sanctioned vessel seized by American military, after it was followed from the Caribbean

(Newser) - US military forces boarded a third sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. An organization that tracks ship movements said the vessel was the only tanker left to...

Hegseth Reportedly Forces Out Top Army Spokesman

Defense secretary reportedly wanted Col. David Butler gone

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has again reached into the Army's ranks, this time reportedly prompting the exit of a top spokesman. Col. David Butler, a senior adviser and media strategist for Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, submitted retirement papers after Hegseth directed...

Pentagon Is Playing Hardball With Anthropic

Insiders say Hegseth is threatening retaliation over efforts to limit AI use in warfare

(Newser) - The Pentagon's favorite AI assistant could soon become its biggest headache. A senior defense official tells Axios that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is on the verge of cutting ties with Anthropic and labeling the company a "supply chain risk"—a rare step typically aimed at foreign foes,...

AI Bot Claude Reportedly Helped Capture Maduro

Maker Anthropic doesn't sound happy about its deployment in military operation

(Newser) - The Pentagon's push to weave artificial intelligence into warfare received its first high-profile test in Venezuela, according to the Wall Street Journal . The newspaper reports that the military used Anthropic's AI chatbot Claude in the operation to capture then-President Nicolas Maduro last month. The details about the role...

Judge Blocks Hegseth on Mark Kelly, Quotes Dylan

Pentagon violated First Amendment rights of the former Navy captain and astronaut, says ruling

(Newser) - A federal judge just told the Pentagon it went too far in trying to punish Sen. Mark Kelly over a video urging troops not to follow unlawful orders. In a Thursday ruling, US District Judge Richard Leon halted efforts to formally censure the Arizona Democrat and reduce his retired Navy...

Trump Orders Pentagon to Buy Power From Coal Plants

Presidential effort is increasing pollution and costs that will be passed down, advocates and regulators say

(Newser) - President Trump on Wednesday ordered the Defense Department to favor coal-fired electricity in its long-term power contracts, extending his administration's efforts to support the coal industry by tapping one of the federal government's largest energy customers. At a White House event, Trump signed an executive order instructing the Pentagon...

Hegseth: Harvard 'No Longer Meets the Needs' of Pentagon

Defense secretary ends military training, certification programs at 'woke' Ivy League school

(Newser) - The Pentagon said Friday it's cutting ties with Harvard University, ending all military training, fellowships, and certificate programs with the Ivy League institution. The announcement marks the latest development in the Trump administration's prolonged standoff with Harvard over the White House's demands for reforms at the Ivy...

After Decades of Secrecy, US Reveals Spy Satellite Program

JUMPSEAT project intercepted Soviet electronic signals from orbit

(Newser) - The US has pulled back the curtain on a Cold War spy tool that listened in for decades from a highly unusual orbit. The National Reconnaissance Office has declassified JUMPSEAT, a now-retired series of eavesdropping satellites that flew from 1971 to 1987 as part of an Air Force effort known...

Judge in Mark Kelly Case Seems Skeptical of Pentagon

Judge questions Pentagon's bid to punish senator over speech

(Newser) - A federal judge signaled Tuesday that the Pentagon may have overreached in its clash with Sen. Mark Kelly over his comments to US troops, CNN reports. At a hearing in Washington, DC, Senior US District Judge Richard Leon questioned the Trump administration's bid to punish Kelly, a retired Navy...

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