As President Obama stood at the podium in the Pentagon briefing room Thursday to outline the nation’s defense priorities, the military stood with him. Their primary audience was a few miles across the river — in Congress. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose beloved army will face a significant troop reduction under Obama’s plan, was at the president’s side. Marine Corps commandant Gen. James F. Amos, whose service will also shrink, stood just behind him. And over Obama’s right shoulder loomed Gen. Ray Odierno, the former commander in Iraq who is now the army chief of staff. Read full article > >

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In creating new defense strategy, Obama attempts to outflank Congress

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — Two Army helicopters crashed Monday night at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in an accident that killed four soldiers, a military spokesman said late Monday. The two-seat OH-58 Kiowa observation helicopters crashed after 8 p.m. in the southwest training area of the sprawling base near Tacoma, Wash., according the Army. Read full article > >

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2 Army helicopters crash on Washington military base; 4 soldiers killed

Federal workers dodged a bullet last month when the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction died without approving employee cuts or anything else. But they are not out of the line of fire yet, nor will they be for some time. The first demonstration of that came Wednesday when Senate Republicans proposed taking money from government workers to cover the cost of extending the payroll tax cut. Read full article > >

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Payroll tax-cut plan rejected, but workers aren’t in the clear

For weeks, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction heard exhortations to “go big” and come up with a $4 trillion to $5 trillion debt reduction package. But committee members apparently couldn’t even agree on their mandated $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction — and it seems increasingly likely that they will now throw in the towel with no agreement at all . Read full article > >

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Our super-pathetic debt supercommittee

The economy seems likely to define the tenure of the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, just as counterterrorism and combat preoccupied his predecessors.

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Economy to Be a Challenge for New Military Chief

President Obama has chosen Gen. Martin Dempsey, the relatively new Army chief of staff, to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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New Joint Chiefs chairman picked

President Obama summoned one of his favorite and most trusted military advisers, Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, to the White House on May 21 for a one-on-one meeting . It was a Saturday, less than three weeks since the president had celebrated the death of Osama bin Laden with Cartwright and other members of his national security team. But this time, the president had bad news. Over the previous year, Obama had asked Cartwright on three occasions if he’d be willing to serve as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking officer in the armed forces and principal military adviser to the president. According to two military officials close to Cartwright, who has served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs since 2007, the general demurred the first two times, saying he was looking forward to retirement after a 40-year military career. Read full article > >

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Gen. Cartwright, poised to lead Joint Chiefs, had his shot derailed by critics

WASHINGTON — A general installed just last month as the Army’s top officer is President Barack Obama’s surprise choice to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two people familiar with the selection process said Wednesday. Gen. Martin Dempsey, an accomplished veteran of the Iraq war, would succeed Navy Adm. Mike Mullen as the president’s top military adviser when Mullen’s term as chairman ends Sept. 30. Dempsey would have to be confirmed by the Senate. Two people familiar with the choice, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been announced by the White House, said it is scheduled to be made public on Tuesday. Read full article > >

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AP sources: Just-hired Army chief Dempsey is Obama’s choice as next chairman of Joint Chiefs

The decision comes after antitrust regulators made it clear they would not approve the joint takeover bid for the operator of the Big Board.

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DealBook: Nasdaq and ICE Drop Offer for NYSE Euronext

As U.S. helicopters secretly entered Pakistani airspace Sunday, the Joint Operations Center at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan was under the control of a square-jawed admiral from Texas who had labored for years to find Osama bin Laden’s elusive trail. Vice Adm. William H. McRaven, one of the most experienced terrorist hunters in the U.S. government, had tapped a special unit of Navy SEALs for the mission two months earlier. A former SEAL himself, McRaven had overseen weeks of intensive training for a covert operation that could cripple al-Qaeda if it worked, or strain an already troubled alliance with Pakistan if it went awry. Read full article > >

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Adm. William McRaven: The terrorist hunter on whose shoulders Osama bin Laden raid rested

Sunday’s assault on Osama Bin Laden — as quick and ruthless an operation as you would see in any spy movie — shows that the CIA and the military’s super-secret Joint Special Operations Command have combined to create what amounts to a highly effective killing machine.

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How the U.S. found and finished Bin Laden

Sunday’s assault on Osama Bin Laden — as quick and ruthless an operation as you would see in any spy movie — shows that the CIA and the military’s super-secret Joint Special Operations Command have combined to create what amounts to a highly effective killing machine.

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How the U.S. found and finished Bin Laden

Manny Ramirez is retiring from Major League Baseball due to “an issue” with drugs, the league said Friday. In a statement, MLB said it had “recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment…

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Manny Ramirez Quits Baseball

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — A 22-year-old U.S. soldier pleaded guilty Wednesday to the murders of three unarmed Afghan civilians, telling a military judge “the plan was to kill people” in his coordinated conspiracy with four fellow soldiers.

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US soldier pleads guilty to murders of 3 Afghan civilians, faces up to 24 years in prison

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to strip $450 million from funds slated for a controversial program to build an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter second engine, a next-generation aircraft development program that has been riddled with cost overruns and labeled unnecessary by critics.

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House votes down F-35 fighter funding