Pentagon

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Monday (April 27) released footage depicting “unidentified aerial phenomena” that was taken by US Navy pilots during training flights in 2004 and 2015, media reports said. The three videos, that have circulated online for years and have now been declassified, show an oval object rapidly moving while being recorded by infrared cameras, CNN reported. The video taken from 2004 was recorded off the coast of southern California while the other two were caught by F-18 pilots operating off the Atlantic Coast in January 2015. In two of the videos, the pilots reacted in awe at the speed with which the object was moving, with one person speculating it could have been a drone, the CNN report said. The videos first became public after being leaked in 2007 and 2017 and the Navy had verified their authenticity in September last year. The Navy has formal guidelines for reporting on UFO sightings. In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Sue Gough said it was officially ... » Learn More about Pentagon releases videos showing UFOs in encounters with US Navy pilots—report

President Joe Biden speaks at the Pentagon, February 10, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Brandon / POOL / AFP) BEIRUT — The US military has struck Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria, killing at least 22 fighters according to a war monitor, in what the Pentagon said was a message from the new administration after recent rocket attacks targeting US troops in Iraq. In its first military action against Iran-linked groups since Joe Biden became president five weeks ago, the Pentagon said it had carried out air strikes on Thursday at a Syria-Iraq border control point used by Iran-backed groups, destroying “multiple facilities.” “At President Biden’s direction,” the US raids targeted “infrastructure utilized by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria,” spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “These strikes were authorized in response to recent attacks against American and coalition personnel in Iraq, and to ongoing threats to those personnel,” he said. The ... » Learn More about US strikes Iran-backed militias in Syria in Biden first; 22 fighters dead

INQUIRER.net Stock Photo An American Airlines (AAL) pilot on a flight from Cincinnati to Phoenix in the United States has reported being accompanied by a large cylindrical flying object that was not detected on radar. Earlier this week, aviation blogger Steve Douglass intercepted a radio transmission from the pilot of AALFlight 2292, he wrote on his Deep Black Horizon website. “Do you have any targets up here? We just had something go right over the top of us. I hate to say this but it looked like a long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile type of thing moving really fast right over the top of us,” said the pilot at 1:19 p.m. CST on Feb 21. The blogger also shared via his blog the download link of an MP3 file of the said transmission. Douglass used flight tracking websites Flightradar24 and Flight Aware to pinpoint the flight’s location, which he determined was “over the northeast corner of New Mexico west of Clayton, New Mexico.” The plane was ... » Learn More about Pilot reports UFO sighting over New Mexico; gov’t didn’t detect it on radar

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military eased restrictions on Wednesday on religious tattoos, hairstyles or apparel that troops can display while in uniform, as long as it does not jeopardise "unit cohesion". The Pentagon said the rules it unveiled marked the first time the agency has laid out a general policy on the issue. "The new policy states that military departments will accommodate religious requests of service members unless they have an adverse effect on military readiness, mission accomplishment, unit cohesion, and good order and discipline," spokesman Lieutenant Commander Nate Christensen said in a statement. As long as a unit's mission is not put at risk or safety jeopardised, the regulations would allow an exception to standard "clean-cut" grooming standards on religious grounds, including facial hair or other hairstyles, tattoos and piercings that reflect a soldier's spiritual faith. However, certain apparel or other expressions of religious faith would not be ... » Learn More about US military eases rules on religious beards, tattoos

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ top diplomat in the United States on Friday expressed hope that President Rodrigo Duterte would be satisfied with a list of military aid the US intends for the Armed Forces of the Philippines. This, after Duterte demanded the US to “pay” if it wants to keep the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the Philippines. “Iyong sinabi ni President Duterte tungkol doon sa pagbayad, ang interpretation namin ay dahil kailangan nang imu-modernize na iyong ating armed forces,” Romualdez said in a televised briefing. (What President Duterte said about the payment, our interpretation was there is a need to modernize our armed forces.) Romualdez said they got a list of US military aid from the US Department of Defense or the Pentagon and it appeared “sufficient.” “Ikinompare namin doon sa list na ipinadala nila kay [Defense] Secretary [Delfin] Lorenzana at mukhang sapat naman sa lahat ng mga hinihingi natin. Mukhang kumpleto naman at marami pang ... » Learn More about US lays out list of aid to ‘satisfy’ Duterte following VFA payment demand

The United States has sent a list of aid for the Philippine military, and the country’s Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez hopes this would be enough to satisfy the President’s concerns in connection with the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Romualdez said he considered President Rodrigo Duterte’s demand for payment from the United States in exchange for retaining the VFA to be connected to the need to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “Regarding President Duterte’s statement about payment, our interpretation is because there is already a need to modernize our armed forces,” Romualdez said at an online briefing. He said the Pentagon had since provided a list to Philippine officials, which was compared with a list sent to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, and it appeared to be enough to address the country’s requests for aid. More arms and hardware from the United States are also coming, he added. “Hopefully, the President has seen that since ... » Learn More about US weapons, hardware in exchange for VFA

Several days after demanding more military aid from the United States in exchange for preserving the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), President Rodrigo Duterte appears to have gotten what he wanted. Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez has announced that the Pentagon has given the Philippines an inventory of arms and military hardware it can provide to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). “Mukhang sapat naman sa lahat ng mga hinihingi natin. Mukhang kumpleto naman at marami pang dadating sa mga kailangan natin na mga armas o whatever hardware that we need from the United States (It looks like what they will give is enough and more will be coming, arms or whatever hardware we need from the United States),” Romualdez said. In a recent speech, Duterte insisted that the US government pay up or he would abolish the VFA, which allows US troops to hold military exercises in the country. His spokesman, Harry Roque Jr., said the Philippines had been ... » Learn More about US gives in to Duterte demand for military aid

Nobody anticipated the coronavirus pandemic or governments’ and private organizations’ reaction to it. People’s lives were altered in some way. Organizations were forced to make decisions that fundamentally, and perhaps permanently, changed the way they do business. In the wake of the new normal, information technology (IT) and its security challenges would likely persist in 2021. Last year saw an acceleration in digitalization and, unsurprisingly, in reported cyberattacks on individuals and organizations. Unfortunately, most of the organizations that adopted remote-work arrangements, created a virtual presence or participated in sharing-economy platforms were caught unprepared, be it in financing, developing significantly changed working conditions or knowing the risks accompanying the transformation. In the haste to go digital and adapt to the new normal, a factor vital for survival was left underestimated: cybersecurity. Cyberthreats and a plethora of bad actors have leveraged ... » Learn More about A brave new world: Cybersecurity in 2021