chuck hagel

• Opinion

What do the Syrians want?

American debate over intervention in Syria is curiously divorced from the desires of the people we're trying to help.

• Anne Arundel

Aggressive tactics highlight the rigors of military rape cases

At a time when the military is under attack for how it handles sexual violence in its ranks, the proceedings underway at the Washington Navy Yard offer a case study on why women in uniform are so reluctant to report sexual assaults. The hearing highlights significant disparities between the way the military and civilian world treat accusers and the accused.

• Maryland

Walter Pincus: U.S. intervention in Egypt no solution

• Features

Pentagon makes same-sex spousal benefits official

The Department of Defense announced Wednesday that will be granting benefits to the same-sex spouses of both uniformed military personnel and civilian employees no later than Sept. 3.

• Opinion

Foley takes over as Fort Meade commander

Col. Brian P. Foley assumed command of Fort Meade during a ceremony Thursday morning.

• Opinion

Pentagon cuts civilian furlough days

The Pentagon on Tuesday cut the number of furlough days for 650,000 Defense Department civilians from 11 to six — a welcome surprise for workers who have been saddled with a 20 percent pay-cut since early July.

• Opinion

Ted Cruz, wacko like a fox

• Opinion

Military sexual assaults: reforms not dead yet

Bipartisan proposal to crackdown on sexual assaults in the U.S. armed services gets a much-needed boost from two GOP senators

• Opinion

Military sexual assaults: reforms not dead yet

• Jobs and Workplace

Defense employees frustrated by furloughs

Mary Theresa Nipwoda, a lab technician at Aberdeen Proving Ground, did what she could to prepare for the 20-percent pay cut she knew was coming this week.

• Budget Control Act of 2011

Defense employees frustrated by furloughs

• Features

Supreme Court reshapes same-sex marriage debate

A divided Supreme Court struck down a federal law Wednesday that prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage, a landmark decision that will make federal marriage benefits available to legally married same-sex couples for the first time in the nation's history.

• Politics

Mikulski says Senate committee puts veterans 'ahead of the line'

The Senate Appropriations Committee will consider a 10-point plan this week to address the claims backlog at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Chairwoman Barbara A. Mikulski said Tuesday.

• Politics

Senate committee taking up VA claims backlog

• Opinion

No comparing Elizabeth Warren and Ted Cruz

Sloganeering Cruz does not compare to substance-wielding Warren

• Ted Cruz

No comparing Elizabeth Warren and Ted Cruz

• Opinion

Warren and Cruz: principled or polarizing?

Juan Williams says rising Senate stars leading their parties toward even greater divisiveness

• Opinion

Warren and Cruz: principled or polarizing?

• Maryland

Former academy instructor acquitted of rape of midshipman

A former instructor at the Naval Academy has been found not guilty of aggravated sexual assault in an alleged attack on a female midshipman two years ago, an academy spokeswoman said Sunday.

• Anne Arundel

Former academy instructor acquitted of rape of midshipman

• Maryland

Three Naval Academy football players investigated in alleged sexual assault on female midshipman

The Naval Academy is investigating the alleged sexual assault last year of a female midshipman by three members of the football team, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday.

• Anne Arundel

Three Naval Academy football players investigated in alleged sexual assault on female midshipman

• Sports

VA looks to American Legion, other veterans groups for help with backlog

As officials at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs look internally for solutions to a claims backlog that is drawing increasing fire from Capitol Hill, they are also reaching for outside help from some of the nation's best-known veterans groups.

• Veterans Affairs

White House chief of staff visits local VA office

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough visited the Baltimore regional office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Friday to discuss efforts to address the agency's persistent backlog of veterans disability claims.

• Maryland

Obama to address Naval Academy commencement

President Barack Obama will travel to Annapolis to speak at the Naval Academy commencement, addressing the class at a time when the military faces complicated internal challenges the graduating midshipmen will soon inherit.

• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

White House chief of staff visits local VA office

• Anne Arundel

Obama to address Naval Academy commencement

• Politics

Lawmakers press Pentagon, VA to cooperate on claims backlog

A bipartisan group of lawmakers pressed the Obama administration on Wednesday to reduce the backlog of disability claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs by improving cooperation between the agencies that have a role in the process.

• Politics

Lawmakers press Pentagon, VA to cooperate on claims backlog

• Maryland

Walter Pincus: Congress looks at sexual assaults in military

• Politics

Perez vote delayed as confirmation fight intensifies

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee vote on Labor Secretary nominee Tom Perez was postponed hours before it was set to take place Wednesday, highlighting what appears to be a growing partisan fight over the confirmation of the former Maryland official.

• Opinion

Military injustice

How sexual assaults are investigated and resolved by the U.S. armed forces must be reformed

• Opinion

Military injustice

• Politics

Perez vote delayed as confirmation fight intensifies

• News

Pentagon reports sharp rise in sex assaults in military

The Pentagon estimated Tuesday that 26,000 members of the military were sexually assaulted last year, 36 percent more than a year earlier, in a trend so severe that senior officials warned it could threaten recruiting and retention of military personnel.

• Opinion

Obama's red line on Syria gets squiggly

President Barack Obama is waffling on his earlier "red line" talk about Syrian arms -- for good reason.

• Opinion

Obama's red line on Syria gets squiggly

• Laws and Legislation

Judges sue Social Security over 'quotas' on disability decisions

Administrative law judges who evaluate disability claims for the Social Security Administration want a federal court to ease a workload that they say makes errors more likely — the latest in a series of challenges confronting the Woodlawn-based agency.

• Barack Obama

Judges sue Social Security over 'quotas' on disability decisions

• Crime

Labor nominee Perez faces sharp questions from GOP senators

Thomas E. Perez faced pointed questions at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday about whether politics influenced his decisions as the head of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Justice Department.

• Thomas Edward Perez

Labor nominee Perez faces sharp questions from GOP senators

• Opinion

Can Hagel reshape the Pentagon?

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel once called the military budget 'bloated,' but he's treading cautiously so far.

• Opinion

Congress must end sequester

Sequester is putting national security at risk

• Chuck Hagel

Congress must end sequester

• Opinion

Can Hagel reshape the Pentagon?

• Maryland

Editorial: Symbolic show of empathy

• Unemployment and Layoffs

Agencies in Maryland dodge furloughs — for now

One month after across-the-board federal spending cuts known as sequestration began there are signs the impact on the economy — even in a state such as Maryland with strong ties to the federal government — might not be as severe as initially feared.

• Budget Control Act of 2011

Agencies in Maryland dodge furloughs — for now

• Maryland

Margaret Carlson: The sex scandel that plagues the military

• Sexual Assault

Baltimore sailor says he was told not to report rape

After he was raped by a fellow Navy sailor, Brian Lewis wanted justice. What he got, the Baltimore man told a Senate panel Wednesday, was an order to keep quiet.