A day after President Trump introduced his fiscal budget proposal, with plans to pull $7.2 billion from the Pentagon's coffers to fund the border wall, the U.S. Army Secretary says he supports the mission.
Sec. Ryan McCarthy, a former Army Ranger and Lockheed Martin executive, told Cheddar in an interview on Tuesday that "the border wall is a national security issue." McCarthy said the increased presence of soldiers on the border, along with the newly constructed parts of the wall, have already led to a drop in illegal crossings.
While crossings have dropped substantially since last spring, some critics claim it has more to do with the White House all but cutting off asylum applications in the U.S. So far, according to the CBP's own figures, the vast majority of the wall that has been constructed under the Trump administration was replacement of existing structures.
The administration's budget ー a document that will be dead on arrival in Congress but signals the president's priorities if he were to be reelectedー includes cuts to the Army's top line, though it does substantially increase R&D spending at the Pentagon that will presumably be used to help restructure and modernize the armed forces.
"The Army is in the midst of a major transformation over the last three years," McCarthy said. One of the goals of that modernization is to improve recruitment with a plan to aggressively increase talent drives in 22 major cities. "It's been a challenge," McCarthy conceded, acknowledging that the tight labor market has made the Army's job harder in getting top candidates to sign up.
One of the ways to encourage job-seekers to consider military service, he said, is to highlight the "variety of career paths" available and the Army's generous tuition assistance perks.
"We have to be ready to meet national objectives every moment of every day," he said.
The Israeli army severed northern Gaza from the rest of the besieged territory and pounded it with airstrikes Monday, preparing for expected ground battles with Hamas militants in Gaza's largest city and an even bloodier phase of the month-old war.
Four men were charged Monday over the theft of an 18-carat gold toilet from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born.
Donald Trump began testifying Monday morning in his civil fraud trial, producing the spectacle of a former president and the leading Republican presidential candidate defending himself against allegations that he dramatically inflated his net worth.
The most-watched races in Tuesday’s off-year general election have all been dominated by the ongoing debate over abortion rights.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is reportedly planning to endorse Florida Gov. Ron Desantis in the Republican primary.
The endorsement could give DeSantis' campaign a boost as he struggles to show progress against Donald Trump in the Republican primary.
With Donald Trump due on the witness stand next week, testimony from his adult sons in his civil business fraud trial wrapped up Friday with Eric Trump saying he relied completely on accountants and lawyers to assure the accuracy of financial documents key to the case.
The watchdog office overseeing the National Science Foundation is sending investigators to Antarctica's McMurdo Station after hearing concerns about the prevalence of sexual violence at the U.S. research base.
Frederico Klein, a former State Department official, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison after being found guilty on several counts including assault of multiple police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
President Joe Biden and First lady Jill Biden are traveling to Lewiston Maine to pay their respects to the people who were killed there in a mass shooting last week.
