A U.S. surveillance ship violated Chinese and international laws during patrols more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the Chinese coast over the weekend, China's state-run media reported Tuesday. "China has lodged serious representations with the United States, as the USNS Impeccable conducted activities in China's special economic zone in the South China Sea," said Ma Zhaoxu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman. "We demand that the United States put an immediate stop to related activities and take effective measures to ...

The Pentagon said Monday that Chinese ships harassed a U.S. surveillance ship Sunday in the South China Sea in the latest of several instances of "increasingly aggressive conduct" in the past week. During the incident, five Chinese vessels "shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity to USNS Impeccable, in an apparent coordinated effort to harass the U.S. ocean surveillance ship while it was conducting routine operations in international waters," the Pentagon said in a written statement. The crew members ...

The reversal of two decades of policy on images of returning war casualties is an important and welcome milestone for the American people. NEWARK, Delaware (CNN) -- The reversal of two decades of policy on images of returning war casualties is an important and welcome milestone for the American people. The Pentagon's decision announced Thursday allowing media coverage of coffins of war victims returning to Dover Air Force Base -- if families agree -- restores to its rightful, honorable place ...

British prosecutors said Thursday they will not seek charges against accused Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon, which puts him one step closer to being extradited to the United States to face charges. The Crown Prosecution Service said its decision comes despite McKinnon's admission that he broke the law and intentionally gained unauthorized access to computer systems. "Although there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Mr. McKinnon for these offenses, the evidence we have does not come near to reflecting the criminality that ...

After promising the American people his team has already found $2 trillion in budget savings by scouring the federal budget, President Obama is planning to lay out some of the potential spending cuts in great detail when he unveils his first blueprint on Thursday, according to senior administration officials familiar with the budget plans. "My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs," Obama said ...

One response of the Bush Administration to the attacks of 9/11 was to invade Iraq. Another was to order up a new fleet of hyper-secure helicopters to transport the commander-in-chief — out of concern that a president borne by the current generation of choppers could be cut off from the rest of the world. But like the war in Iraq, the new helicopter is taking much longer, and costing far more, than originally anticipated. But as President Obama winds ...

Cost overruns on big-ticket Pentagon projects have left the U.S. military facing a budgetary "train wreck" at a time of growing budget deficits, Sen. John McCain said Tuesday. McCain and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan and the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the cost of 95 major weapons systems -- ships, aircraft and armored vehicles -- have ballooned by a total of 30 percent in recent years, to about $1.3 trillion. The senators announced an effort, including legislation, ...

A Pentagon review looking at allowing media coverage of the flag-draped coffins of fallen troops returning to the United States could be ready for the secretary of defense to look over within days, according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell. The review was ordered by Secretary Robert Gates after President Obama asked for more information on the Pentagon's longstanding policy of barring media from viewing the coffins as they come into Dover Air Force base in Delaware. At a news conference ...

The Bush Pentagon tried to find loopholes in the Geneva Conventions for its "ghost detainee" program in Iraq and to delay the release of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to avoid bad press, three human rights groups contend. Pentagon documents discuss CIA and Pentagon detention activities earlier this decade and indicate coordination between agencies in hiding internees from the Red Cross. Amnesty International USA, New York University's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and the Center for Constitutional Rights obtained the ...

One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year. The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone -- six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday. The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as ...