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Hegseth announces a new drone command and cuts to 20% of generals in 'State of the Force' speech
QUANTICO, Va. (AP) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced some major changes to the U.S. military on Wednesday in what he called his "State of the Force" address, including establishing a new drone command and cutting 20% of the nation's generals and admirals.
The Pentagon also will launch an effort to study the future of warfare that will be led in part by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Hegseth said. The Defense Department will create an Office of Religious Affairs and plans to build a new base for the first time in 40 years, he added.
Hegseth made the announcements to junior officers and enlisted leaders at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia -- the second year in a row that he has given such an address. But this time, the U.S. military is seven months into a war with Iran with no clear end in sight, has captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and killed more than 200 people in strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in Latin America, among other actions worldwide.
The speech is not a usual fixture among Pentagon leaders. While Hegseth's predecessors have regularly addressed troops and top officers, they have traditionally done so in small or private settings.
The Pentagon chief, however, again led with how he has drastically retooled the U.S. military by targeting what he calls "woke" culture -- through a rollback of diversity programs, a review of ground combat units with female troops and a new screening program for "testosterone deficiency" among male personnel -- as well as attacks on the media for the coverage of the military.
The Pentagon chief announced the intention to create a new four-star command to oversee the rollout of autonomous and robotic capabilities in what he called "the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history."
He acknowledged that "the pace of war is changing faster than the process to support it." Iran commonly uses cheap drones, including those that have killed U.S. troops during the seven-month war. Hegseth pointed to Ukraine's pioneering use of drones to combat Russian forces -- something American forces have learned from firsthand.
"Ukraine's lesson is not that one type of drone wins wars, but rather the need for a purpose-built system that maximizes the ability to adapt," Hegseth said.
3 GOP states go to US Supreme Court to challenge 3 Democratic-led states' abortion 'shield' laws
Three Republican states went to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to challenge abortion "shield laws" protecting providers in three Democratic states, escalating the legal conflict over pills that account for a majority of abortions.
The attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana contend that the laws in California, Massachusetts and New York undermine their abortion bans and their states' sovereignty. Federal regulations allow prescriptions for abortion pills to be made by telehealth and filled by mail, and the three GOP states want to keep the pills out and punish out-of-state providers for sending them.
"This is the first time we've seen a state or group of states suing other states to challenge the validity of shield laws," said Mary Ziegler, a University of California, Davis, law professor and author of seven books on abortion law and history.
The Supreme Court can hear disputes between states directly, though it rarely does. If the top court weighs in, it could short-circuit existing lawsuits.
Louisiana and anti-abortion activists have been frustrated with a lack of federal action by President Donald Trump's administration against medication abortion. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over its rules allowing mail-order prescriptions. The Supreme Court in May preserved access to abortion medications as that case plays out.
"We need and deserve the opportunity to be able to enforce our laws against those who have chosen, despite their knowledge of the illegality, to continue to foster abortion in our state," Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said during a news conference with Murrill and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin.
Thirteen states ban abortion in all stages of pregnancy, which the Supreme Court allowed in its 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Most Democratic-controlled states adopted abortion protections, including eight with laws intended to protect providers who prescribe abortion pills for patients in states with bans.
Louisiana and Texas have pursued criminal charges and civil claims against doctors based in New York and California. Officials in California and New York have refused to cooperate, citing their shield laws.
Iran indicates it's received an official US response to its latest offer on ending the war
Iranian officials indicated Wednesday they have received an official U.S. response to Tehran's latest proposal to end the seven-month war, which U.S. President Donald Trump had publicly rejected just days earlier.
The officials did not say what the response contained and whether it was a rejection.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the U.S. response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a Cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told the state-run IRNA news agency.
"We will make every effort to bring the agreement to fruition and will firmly stand up for the rights of the Iranian people," Pezeshkian said. "The agreement must now be based on a win-win strategy."
The Cabinet meeting followed Araghchi's return to Iran after travelling to New York for last week's U.N. General Assembly, where officials held indirect talks with U.S. officials and also met with Qatari and Pakistani mediators on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders.
Araghchi briefed the Cabinet on his trip to New York and the meetings he held there, including Iran's conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which Mohajerani said had been conveyed through mediators.
Araghchi last week said he floated the proposal to reopen the strait in a week if the U.S. agreed to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian assets and waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions.
Trump swiftly rejected the proposal, saying Iran wanted to make a deal because it was "losing so badly" but that its offer "would not be acceptable." Despite Trump's public rebuffing, mediators continued working with Iran and the U.S. to try to broker a deal to end the fighting and open the strait, according to officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled new sanctions on Tuesday targeting people and companies around the globe that it accuses of being financial facilitators or enablers of Iran's military supply chain.
The latest action is part of the Trump administration's "Operation Economic Outcast" campaign aimed at severing "critical financial lifelines" for the already heavily sanctioned Iranian government.
Ten people and entities based in Iran, Hong Kong and Pakistan now face sanctions over accusations of procuring weapons and weapon components for Iran's defense ministry as it fights its now seven-month war against the U.S.
US removes Syria from arms export ban as Trump administration draws closer to new Syrian government
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration is removing Syria from a list of countries that are not allowed to purchase or import U.S. weaponry, a step that is part of a monthslong process of easing sanctions on the new government in Damascus and its leaders.
In a notice published Wednesday in the Federal Register, the State Department said it was amending its International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR, so that Syria no longer was among the nations subject to a policy of denial for licenses and other approvals needed for the sale of U.S. weapons and munitions.
The change effective Thursday means that arms sales requests from Syria will now be considered on a case-by-case basis.
President Donald Trump acted last year to ease economic sanctions on Syria that had been in place for decades during now-ousted President Bashar Assad's rule. In August, Secretary of State Marco Rubio rescinded Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, helping paving the way for the latest step in drawing closer to the current government.
The State Department has also announced plans to reopen the U.S. Embassy in Damascus. It has been closed for 14 years.
With Syria's removal from the ITAR blacklist, only seven countries remain subject to the policy of denial for licenses for U.S. arms exports: Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea and Venezuela.
Syria's interim president, former rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, overthrew the Assad government nearly two years ago and has embarked on a policy of change that has impressed the Trump administration. His moves have led to hopes of eventual stability in a country that was wracked by civil war and the Islamic State insurgency that engulfed northeast and western Iraq for years.
Wednesday's withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq may mean that the Syrian government plays a greater role in preventing an IS resurgence.
Senate committee advances Dr. Nicole Saphier's nomination for surgeon general
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dr. Nicole Saphier, President Donald Trump 's third nominee for surgeon general, moved a step closer to confirmation after a Senate committee voted to advance her nomination on Wednesday.
Saphier, a radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor, was advanced out of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on a 12 to 11 vote to serve as surgeon general after she was grilled at her confirmation hearing earlier this month about her stance on childhood vaccines.
She expressed support for vaccines and told lawmakers she didn't believe they cause autism. The Trump administration has sought to revisit claims about a link between vaccines and autism, although widespread scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is none.
Timothy Westlake, who was nominated to serve as assistant secretary for mental health and substance use at the Department of Health and Human Services was also advanced out of committee on the same en bloc vote.
It was not immediately clear when the officials would face a full Senate vote for their confirmation but they are expected to be approved.
During her confirmation hearing, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy pressed Saphier to declare whether she believed there was a link between vaccines and autism. Saphier responded that she does "not believe childhood vaccines cause autism," adding that "the MMR vaccine is our greatest tool for combating measles," in response to a question by Cassidy over whether parents should give children that shot.
MMR stands for measles, mumps and rubella, and the president recently called for the shots to be spaced out, against the guidance of medical groups.
The surgeon general position carries limited policymaking power but serves as a loud megaphone as the nation's top communicator to Americans on public health issues.
Hulk star Lou Ferrigno fulfills childhood dream meeting with Pope Leo XIV
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Incredible Hulk fulfilled a childhood dream by meeting with Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday.
Lou Ferrigno, who starred as the Marvel character during its 1977-1982 U.S. television run, met with the American pope and chatted briefly with him at the end of Leo's general audience in St. Peter's Square.
"I'm here because it's a lifelong dream for me to meet the pope," Ferrigno told reporters. Noting that one side of his family hails from the southern Amalfi region, Ferrigno said that he grew up hearing about the pope in a Catholic Italian family and served as an altar boy.
"I'm very, very honored to be here to see Pope Leo, because it's my whole life, it's a dream coming true," he said.
He posed for photographers, mimicking the gesture that made him famous in his onscreen transformation from Bruce Banner into the superhero Hulk -- flexing his arm muscles.
Ferrigno, a retired professional bodybuilder, starred as Hulk in the CBS series before going on to other television and film roles. He noted that some had been filmed in Rome, and that he appreciated the pope's message.
"Our world, our country needs someone like him: A great leader about kindness and peace, because there's so much turmoil happening in this world," he said.
It's unknown if the former Robert Prevost was a Hulk fan.
By 1977, when the series began, the Chicago-born pope was graduating from Villanova University and entering the Augustinian religious order as a novitiate.
Recently, Leo has acknowledged he and his family were regular watchers of a different television personality: the newly-beatified Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the popular American TV and radio preacher.
Trump plugs $54 billion natural gas project in Alaska, flanked by a senator in a tight race
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said South Korea plans to invest about $54 billion in a natural gas project in Alaska, an announcement he made in the Oval Office on Wednesday flanked by a Republican senator who has found himself in a tough reelection race in the state.
It was the second time in three days that the president elevated Senate candidates in states where Trump won comfortably each time he has run for president -- but where Republicans are now in surprisingly competitive races just weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. On Monday, Trump made a similar-styled announcement about a massive steel plant in Iowa.
On Wednesday, Trump repeatedly praised Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, a two-term senator and long-time advocate for the Alaska natural gas project who is facing a competitive challenge from Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman.
"He's got my ear, and he's had my ear for a long time on Alaska," Trump said of Sullivan, adding that "all these energy projects are all mine, and I got 'em done working with Dan Sullivan."
It was not immediately clear how quickly South Korea's government would advance funding for the project, which comes from pledges made as part of a 2025 trade deal with South Korea, which included promises of $350 billion in U.S. investments in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs on South Korean cars, auto parts and other products.
The project consists of an 807-mile natural gas pipeline connecting Alaska's North Slope to a liquefied natural gas export terminal in southern Alaska and the White House said it would eventually reduce energy costs for the state's residents.
"Mr. President, this one is huge for Alaska," Sullivan said, adding that he'd been working on it "relentlessly."
Trump is hitting the road to promote his administration's actions