WASHINGTON - The assistant secretary of defense for transportation policy and leaders from U.S. Transportation Command and Defense Logistics Agency have lauded combined cost-saving efforts of inter-service, inter-agency and industry partners.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Transportation Command collaborates with industry and other agencies to find innovative, cost-effective solutions to logistics challenges, the unit’s deputy commander said during a presentation at the Defense Logistics 2012 in Arlington, Va.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta repeated the U.S. government’s growing concern that Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad may be preparing to use chemical weapons on their own people.

WASHINGTON - In declaring Dec. 7, 2012, as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, President Barack Obama called on Americans to pay tribute to those who died in the attack, remember the loved ones they left behind and show gratitude "to a generation of service members who carried our nation through some of the 20th century's darkest moments."

WASHINGTON - The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments are partnering to build an integrated military and veteran support system, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said during a joint press conference in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department has issued new policy guidelines intended to provide better protection for members of the military and veterans who seek tuition assistance for post-secondary degrees.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Pacific Command has moved ships into place to monitor a possible North Korean rocket launch, Pacom commander Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III told Pentagon reporters.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama intends to nominate Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, currently the vice chief of staff of the Army, to succeed Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis as the next commander of U.S. Central Command, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced.

WASHINGTON - Major changes to the Transition Assistance Program will revolutionize the way the military prepares people to leave the services, with mandatory programs throughout their careers to set them up for a successful transition, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki announced.

WASHINGTON - The United States would like China to be a constructive influence on the world stage, and the U.S. Pacific Command is stressing cooperation and collaboration in the region, Pacom's commander said.

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. - An accomplished guitarist who also enjoys serving in the military, Marine Corps Cpl. Mark A. Boughton said he gets amped up playing with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing Band at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina.

WASHINGTON - American and Iraqi officials signed a memorandum of understanding in Baghdad that will make it easier for the two countries to work together.

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader who was responsible for acquiring and distributing weapons and explosives to insurgents during an operation in the Dahanah-ye Ghori district of Baghlan province.

WASHINGTON - As many as 300 National Guardsmen will remain deployed along the U.S.-Mexico border for another year as part of a border security partnership between the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and South Korean defense and diplomatic experts will conduct a tabletop exercise examining nuclear deterrence on the Korean Peninsula, a Pentagon official told reporters.

WASHINGTON - With more than 680,000 mobile devices in use across the Defense Department, they are quickly emerging as a critical component of military communications -- bringing a plethora of new security risks, a defense official said.

WASHINGTON - Northern Mali has become a terrorist haven, and DOD will continue to work with African nations and regional organizations to isolate and degrade the threat emanating from the area, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs told a Senate panel.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department has received guidance from the Office of Management and Budget and is now planning for sequestration, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said.

WASHINGTON - “The basic problem with Korean War history, as it’s understood in the United States, is that it’s full of Americans, but you don’t find much about the Koreans on either side, and you don’t find out much about the Chinese or the Russians,” historian Allan R. Millett said during a DOD-sponsored History Speaker Series lecture at the Pentagon.

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan and coalition security force killed insurgent leader Mohammed Yar Gul and two other insurgents during an operation in the Watahpur district of Kunar province.

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - Army Spc. Erin Colburn, an intelligence analyst with the New York Army National Guard’s 27th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, has been selected for admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

WASHINGTON - The 32nd Annual Department of Defense Disability Awards Ceremony was hosted by Frederick E. Vollrath, performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for readiness and force management, in the Pentagon Auditorium.

WASHINGTON - Ten years ago this month, an entry in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2003 created a position in the Defense Department that for the first time harnessed and focused the department’s diverse intelligence assets.

WASHINGTON - Service members of all ranks and experience should know that they are the ones with the institutional knowledge needed to build a bridge between generations and develop the force of the future, said Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Bryan B. Battaglia, the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

WASHINGTON - NATO foreign ministers have agreed to Turkey’s request for Patriot anti-missile batteries to defend the country against possible airstrikes from neighboring Syria.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta joined other senior defense officials at National Defense University in Washington, D.C., to honor former U.S. legislators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar, who in 1991 established a program that has become a critical part of the U.S. approach to reducing the worldwide proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

BETHESDA, Md. - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta honored more than 300 health care professionals at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., for their outstanding performance, calling them "miracle workers."

WASHINGTON - Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, presented six service members from each of the five branches of the armed forces and U.S. Special Operations Command with the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs’ Grateful Nation Award.

KHOWST PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Afghaninstan-deployed Army Pfc. Brennon Van Luven has been shot at by insurgents yet remains undeterred as he serves with his military comrades. He also learned a new skill in Afghanistan -- how to drive a vehicle.

FORT HOOD, Texas - Citing the appearance of bias, the highest military appellate court ordered the removal of Army Col. Gregory Gross as trial judge in the court-martial of Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist accused in a November 2009 shooting spree at a deployment center on Fort Hood, Texas.

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader during a security operation in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama warned Syria’s Bashar Assad regime that the use of chemical and biological weapons would be “unacceptable.”

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta recognized the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program’s founders with the Defense Department’s highest civilian honor, the Distinguished Public Service Award.

WASHINGTON - The assistant secretary of defense for maintenance and policy outlined the issues and challenges facing the maintenance community with consideration to current conflicts and steep costs.

WASHINGTON - A senior Defense Department official underscored the importance of contractors, industry partnerships and allies at a time of fewer federal dollars and amid a transition to a post-war era.

WASHINGTON - Extremist groups collaborating in Africa pose a threat beyond the region that extends to Europe and the United States, U.S. Africa Command’s top military officer said.

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. - The partnerships that have enabled U.S. Transportation Command to support wartime operations and other contingencies around the world will remain vital in the post-conflict era, its commander says.

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - Children of all ages will be able to track Santa Claus on his annual journey, thanks to the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

WASHINGTON - The Labor Department, in concert with two other federal agencies, has provided a tool to guide potential employers seeking to hire disabled veterans.

WASHINGTON - A combined Afghan and coalition security force arrested the senior Taliban leader for eastern Chimtal district in Balkh province.

MCMURDO STATION, Antarctica - As the cool winter air begins to roll into Sioux City, Iowa, Air Force Chaplain (Capt.) William Vit is feeling a much colder breeze.