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How the Pentagon Is Getting Into the Venezuelan Oil Business Under Trump

The Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital, founded by the Biden administration to give loans to bolster the U.S. defense industry, is helping lead President Trump’s oil deal.

© Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times

President Trump said his defense secretary and secretary of state reached an agreement with the Venezuelan government on securing billions of barrels of oil reserves “through a partnership with private business.”
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How the Pentagon Is Getting Into the Venezuelan Oil Business Under Trump

The Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital, founded by the Biden administration to give loans to bolster the U.S. defense industry, is helping lead President Trump’s oil deal.

© Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times

President Trump said his defense secretary and secretary of state reached an agreement with the Venezuelan government on securing billions of barrels of oil reserves “through a partnership with private business.”
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Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll Resigns as U.S. Military Grapples With Two Wars

The resignation of Daniel P. Driscoll, the secretary of the Army, had been expected but comes at a tumultuous time for the service.

© Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Daniel P. Driscoll, the secretary of the Army, had clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
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Hegseth Blocks Promotions of Four Army Officers as Purge Widens

The turmoil has left a leadership vacuum in the Army at a moment when it is trying to find ways to defend troops against the threat posed by cheap drones.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

In 2026, Mr. Hegseth has removed at least 45 officers, selected by boards made up of peers, from promotion lists. More than half of those officers have been female or Black.
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Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Uphold Ban on Transgender Troops

President Trump issued an executive order barring transgender service members from the military as part of a broader attack on transgender rights.

© Allison Robbert for The New York Times

If the justices accept the case, they could schedule oral arguments during the Supreme Court’s term that begins in October.
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Trump Plans to Mark 9/11 at the Pentagon, Not Ground Zero

President Trump originally intended to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 with remarks at ground zero, but the memorial’s organizers do not allow speeches. Mr. Trump changed his plans.

© Vincent Alban/The New York Times

Memorials left at the south tower reflecting pool last year at the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
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Fired Journalists From Stars and Stripes Sue Pentagon

Par : Minho Kim
Three journalists dismissed from Stars and Stripes accused the government of violating their First Amendment rights, asking the courts to stop their termination.

© Jared Soares for The New York Times

A lawsuit filed on Thursday argues that new Pentagon policies severely limit the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes, which started publishing during the Civil War.
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West Point Climate Professor Says He Was Fired for Refusing to ‘Defy Science’

Dr. Adam Kalkstein is suing the U. S. Military Academy, where he was a professor of geography and the only climate scientist, after being fired.

© Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

Cadets walking near Pershing Barracks at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 2014. A West Point climate professor says he was fired for refusing to “defy science.”
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Pentagon Fires Editor and Publisher of Independent Military Publication

Par : Minho Kim
The firings at Stars and Stripes also claimed a Middle East correspondent. They are the latest effort by the Pentagon to diminish the news outlet’s editorial independence.

© Mark Godfrey/Associated Press

Service members reading Stars and Stripes in Cu Chi, South Vietnam, in September 1969. The publication has a long history of independent reporting on the U.S. military.
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Trump’s Order to Cut Military Exercises With South Korea Carries Risks, Experts Say

President Trump’s decision to curtail the military exercises came as allies question the U.S. commitment to longstanding alliances.

© Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

American and South Korean troops participating in the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises last year.
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Trump’s Order to Cut Military Exercises With South Korea Carries Risks, Experts Say

President Trump’s decision to curtail the military exercises came as allies question the U.S. commitment to longstanding alliances.

© Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

American and South Korean troops participating in the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises last year.
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Trump Officials Scrap Effort to Recruit Pentagon Lawyers to Represent Migrant Children

The reversal of the plan, which had not been publicly disclosed, comes amid mounting confusion about how the administration is protecting the rights of unaccompanied minors.

© Paul Ratje for The New York Times

Migrants entered the Paso Del Norte International Bridge for their Customs and Border Protection appointments in early 2025.
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Trump Orders Pentagon to Curtail Military Exercises With Ally South Korea

In a social media post, the president scolded South Korea for not helping denuclearize Iran, and also praised North Korea and its leader.

© Al Drago for The New York Times

In his post on Sunday, President Trump did not mention a rift in relations with North Korea in 2017, when Kim Jong Un called him a “mentally deranged dotard.”
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Trump Orders Pentagon to Curtail Military Exercises With Ally South Korea

In a social media post, the president scolded South Korea for not helping denuclearize Iran, and also praised North Korea and its leader.

© Al Drago for The New York Times

In his post on Sunday, President Trump did not mention a rift in relations with North Korea in 2017, when Kim Jong Un called him a “mentally deranged dotard.”
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Top Admiral Praises Sailors but Concedes Hardships After Visit to U.S.S. Lincoln

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, acknowledged the difficulty of the carrier’s nearly nine-month deployment but said mental health issues were lower than on other vessels.

© Zachary Pearson/U.S. Navy, via Getty Images

The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in the Strait of Hormuz on 2019.
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The U.S. Military Wants A.I. Dominance. Feuds and China May Thwart It.

The administration is veering wildly in its response to the national security implications of A.I. as China, America’s main technological and military rival, charges ahead.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Recent A.I. advances have roiled the Pentagon and the national security establishment.
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Trump Dismisses Reports About Dire Conditions Aboard U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln

Asked whether the deployment of the Abraham Lincoln had gone on too long, the president said its deployment had lasted “not nearly long enough.”

© DVIDS, via Reuters

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Trump Gives Green Light to U.S. Companies to Aim Hacks at Cybercriminals

The practice would align the United States more closely with countries like China and Russia, where spy agencies have long relied on private-sector hackers to help with national security missions.

© Vincent Thian/Associated Press

An expert on China’s hacking ecosystem said that historically Beijing had copied various cybersecurity policies from the United States, but that the new Trump policy was a reversal of that arrangement.
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Hegseth Is Pressed to Clarify Lawyer’s Role in Promotion Decisions

Representative Jason Crow asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to explain statements about his special adviser’s influence following a New York Times report.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

Representative Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, has asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide a written response clarifying his testimony by Sept. 10.
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