B-52 bombers from Louisiana recently landed in Diego Garcia to “showcase our capability for rapid deployment in support of the combatant commander’s objectives,” said Maj. Joshua Dawkins, 96th Bomb Squadron director of operations. Throughout this deployment, the heavy bombers will integrate alongside Allies and partners throughout the region to demonstrate and strengthen a shared commitment to security and stability in …

With the demise and departure of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries, American officials are selling American power, and American private military contractors, to Mali, Niger, and other troubled Sahel countries. “The international community has a responsibility to empower AU (African Union) missions to respond to Africa’s growing security challenges,” remarked U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield. “The financing resolution, …

Israel may hire private military contractors to protect and distribute aid supplies in Gaza, according to several current and former U.S. officials. Israeli officials have broached the idea in recent weeks with senior officials from the Biden administration, which is shipping the components of a floating dock to Gaza so it can deliver aid by sea. Some U.S. officials are …

Between 2012 and 2019, the DoD paid more than $160 billion to private military contractors. This figure does not include hiring statistics for the Department of State and other federal government agencies. It also doesn’t include money spent by certain sympathetic foreign governments. If they get hurt in the line of duty, all these contractors are entitled to Defense Base …

The judicial panel overseeing Camp Lejeune water contamination lawsuits ruled that victims are not entitled to juries at upcoming bellwether trials. The judges said Congress did not clearly delineate a right to jury trials when it passed the 2022 law allowing those harmed by the contamination to file damage claims with the Navy and then lawsuits in federal court if …

Multiparty talks, including Hamas, Israel, the United States, and Egypt, now include cease-fire negotiations as well as hostage release issues. The presence of both sides for so-called proximity talks – meeting mediators separately while in the same city – suggested negotiations were further along than at any time since a big push at the start of February when Israel rejected …

A hundred advocacy groups send an open letter to President Biden asking him to, once again, close the controversial detention center at this American base in Cuba. A visit by Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, promoted the request. Her department issued a new report …

After more than 20 years of fighting, the last U.S. combat troops left Afghanistan in August 2021. However, instability continues in the war-torn country. Similarly, most private military contractors left Afghanistan around 2021. However, many of these contractors continue to suffer from serious deployment-related injuries. Some of these long-term, deployment-related injuries are discussed below. These injury victims are eligible for …

Participants in a new study will wear ring-shaped remote medical monitors that track oxygen saturation levels and other vital data, which doctors can then interpret. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military used open-air burn pits to get rid of garbage. Plastics, metal, and even biohazardous waste were doused in jet fuel and set on fire. Millions of …

As part of a longstanding plan to remove troops from Okinawa, some 9,000 Marines will move to their new digs at Camp Blaz, which is on Guam, by the end of 2024. Currently, about 18,000 Marines are stationed on Okinawa. “A small detachment of Logistics Marines will move to Guam in late 2024 in preparation for follow-on forces to move …

Seventeen years ago this month, then-President George W. Bush backtracked on his earlier “Mission Accomplished” proclamation and sent 20,000 additional soldiers, along with almost as many private military contractors, to the war-torn country. Troop surge planning began in 2005 after the Iraq War entered its second year with no end in sight. The plan moved forward, even though opposition to …

Bancroft Global Development has “agreed to a framework to discuss possible future activities with the government of the Central African Republic” as Wagner Group Russian mercenaries depart. Presidential spokesperson Albert Yaloké Mokpème explained that the Central African Republic wanted “to diversify its relations” in terms of security. “As part of the reconstruction of the national army, we called on partners, …