US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday said the daring operation to kill Osama bin Laden at his Abbottabad safe house in Pakistan was very risky as the al- Qaeda chief's presence there was not 100 per cent confirmed. As Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Panetta played a leading role in the finding and killing of bin Laden. Subsequently he was made the Defense Secretary by President Barack Obama....
02:04 PM, Feb 14, 2013
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta today said that the combination of a recent missile test combined with nuclear explosions by North Korea represents a real threat to America. "There is no question that North Korea constitutes a threat to the United States, to regional stability and to global security. The combination of a recent missile test combined with what apparently was this nuclear test, we believe, represents a real threat...
10:14 AM, Feb 14, 2013
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has admitted that torture and enhanced interrogation techniques were used to "put together the puzzle" that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. ...
01:38 PM, Feb 04, 2013
Leon Panetta, who as CIA director oversaw the US operation that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said the job could have been done without resorting to controversial interrogation methods that some have said constitute torture. ...
01:20 AM, Feb 04, 2013
Outgoing US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta accused Iran of an intensified campaign to destabilize the Middle East by smuggling anti-aircraft weapons to militant allies, The Wall Street Journal reported on February 2. ...
01:10 PM, Feb 02, 2013
The Pentagon is lifting its ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after generations of limits on their service, defense officials said on January 23. The changes, set to be announced on January 24 by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, will not happen overnight. The services must now develop plans for allowing women to seek the combat positions, a senior...
11:35 AM, Jan 24, 2013
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has decided to lift the military's ban on women serving in combat, a move that could open thousands of front-line jobs to women, a senior US defense official said. ...
02:46 AM, Jan 24, 2013
President Barack Obama appeared poised on January 4 to pick former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as the next US defense secretary and the announcement may come early next week. Sources on Capitol Hill and in the national security community said all signs were pointing to Hagel as Obama's choice to replace current Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. ...
01:40 PM, Jan 05, 2013
President Barack Obama offered strong support for former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as the potential next US defence secretary but said in remarks aired on Sunday that he had not yet decided on a nominee for the Pentagon post. ...
01:20 AM, Dec 31, 2012
Washington: With the US working to make its foreign military sales more responsive and more effective, the Obama Administration on Tuesday expressed its willingness to boost defence trade with rising powers like Brazil and India. "The entire US government is working to make our security cooperation particularly foreign military sales more responsive and more effective. We are particularly seeking to boost defence trade with rising powers like Brazil and India,"...
01:40 AM, Dec 19, 2012
Incirlik Air Base: The Pentagon says it will send Patriot air defense missiles and 400 troops to Turkey as part of a NATO force meant to protect Turkish territory from potential Syrian missile attack. Pentagon press secretary George Little said US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed a deployment order on Friday en route to Turkey from Afghanistan. The order calls for 400 US soldiers to operate two batteries of Patriots...
03:40 PM, Dec 14, 2012
Washington: Al Qaeda still represents the most important threat the United States faces across the world, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said on Friday. "We have significantly weakened their ability to do the kind of command and control and planning that would be necessary to conduct another 9/11 attack. At the same time, they still continue to threaten our country. And they still represent, I think, probably the most important threat...
10:51 AM, Dec 14, 2012
Washington: Indian-American doctor Dilip Joseph, who was rescued from Taliban's captivity in a military operation in Afghanistan, is doing well, but will continue to receive precautionary examinations and debriefing before he returns home, his employers have said. "I have not spoken to him yet but I hear that he is physically doing OK," said Lars Peterson, executive director of Morning Star Development for which Joseph worked. "Although he was reported...
08:23 AM, Dec 12, 2012
Washington: In a daring rescue operation, elite American commandos have rescued an Indian-American doctor who was in the custody of the Taliban in Afghanistan, losing one Navy SEAL and killing seven insurgents. Colorado-based Dilip Joseph had been abducted on December 5 along with two Afghan colleagues as they left a rural medical clinic in Sorobi district in Kabul province. He was rescued in an early Sunday morning operation ordered after...
11:04 PM, Dec 10, 2012
Washington: The scandal involving former CIA Director David Petraeus widened on Tuesday as US defense officials said they were looking into "flirtatious" e-mails between General John Allen, the top US commander in Afghanistan, and a woman at the center of the affair. Defense Department officials said they were sifting through 30,000 pages of email and other communications between Allen and Jill Kelley, a Florida socialite whose complaints about harassing messages...
07:54 AM, Nov 14, 2012
Perth: In a new twist to the Gen David Petraeus sex scandal, the Pentagon said on Tuesday that the top American commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, is under investigation for alleged "inappropriate communications" with a woman who is said to have received threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom Petraeus had an extramarital affair. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said in a written statement issued to reporters aboard...
06:17 PM, Nov 13, 2012
Washington: David Petraeus was a star on the battlefield, commanding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but was undone by "poor judgment" in engaging in an extramarital affair that led to his downfall as CIA director. Just two days after his 60th birthday, Petraeus stepped down from the spy agency where he had held the top office since September 6, 2011. "After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely...
11:49 AM, Nov 10, 2012
Washington: Identifying India as a major player in the region, the Pentagon has said that the United States is looking to deepen its relationship with New Delhi as the Defense Secretary Leon Panetta embarks on his fourth trip to the Asia Pacific region. "With respect to India, he (Panetta) believes that India is a very important player. As you know, he recently visited the country and had very productive discussions...
04:36 AM, Nov 09, 2012
Washington: Apart from consolidating its defence trade with India, the US is now moving towards technology sharing and co-production, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday. "We're moving well beyond purely defence trade with India, towards technology sharing and co-production," Deputy Secretary of Defence, Ashton Carter, told a Washington think-tank. Early in 2012, Carter was entrusted by Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, to remove bureaucratic hurdles in defence trade with India....
01:53 AM, Oct 04, 2012
Washington: The United States does not believe Israel has made a decision on whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday, following sharp rhetoric from Israeli officials that has put financial markets on edge. Panetta, who visited Israel two weeks ago, told reporters at the Pentagon it was important that military action be the "last resort" and said there was still time...
02:59 AM, Aug 15, 2012
