Thursday, December 17, 2015

Defense Secretary Carter used personal email in first months on the job

Defense Secretary Ash Carter used his personal email account to conduct some of his professional correspondence during his first months on the job earlier this year, the Pentagon admitted late Wednesday.
Carter's use of the personal account was first reported by The New York Times, which said that he had been confronted about his email habits by White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough this past May, three months after Carter took office as defense secretary.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook released a statement saying that Carter believes his use of personal email for work-related business was a mistake. Cook declined to say whether it was a violation of Pentagon email policies. Cook also said Carter stopped the practice, but Cook did not say when.
Carter also acknowledged the move was a mistake in an interview with CBS' “This Morning” on Thursday. He said he occasionally used his iPhone to send messages to immediate staff, but stressed no classified information was involved.
Read more at Foxnews.com

CHATTANOOGA MASSACRE FINALLY CALLED 'ISLAMIC TERRORISM'

Five American servicemen were killed July 16 at two Tennessee military installations. Islamic radical Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, was shot and killed by police at a recruiting station in Chattanooga (Photo: Fox News screenshot) The Obama administration finally appears comfortable acknowledging the obvious: The July 16 killing of five U.S. military personnel in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was an act of Islamic terrorism.

Kuwaiti-born gunman Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez went on a rampage at a recruiting center and another U.S. military installation this summer, but U.S. officials were reticent to call the attack terrorism. Then-U.S. Attorney Bill Killian told reporters on July 16 that an investigation would determine the attack’s classification, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch said a “national security investigation” would take place.

The waffling is over. FBI Director James Comey twice said Abdulazeez’s shooting was an act of terror during a New York news conference Wednesday.

“We’ve investigated Chattanooga as a terror attack from the beginning,” Comey said while standing next to NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton, Fox News reported. “The Chattanooga killer was inspired by a foreign terror organization. It’s hard to entangle which particular source … there are lots of competing poisons out there.”

Abdulazeez died in a shootout with police on the day of the attack.

Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez (Photo: Fox News screenshot)

The FBI’s decision clears the way for victims to receive Purple Hearts. U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., has introduced a non-binding resolution in Congress calling for Purple Hearts to be awarded.

“These men proudly served their country, and several made the ultimate sacrifice to save others,” Fleischmann said Monday, the Associated Press reported.
Read more at WND.com