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Paul McLeary

@paulmcleary.bsky.social
2.8K followers 274 following 89 posts

National security reporter for Politico, Buffalo sports fan despite all of it.

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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I went live on MS NOW from Ankara, Turkey to talk about the end of the ceasefire with Iran and what it might mean m.youtube.com/watch?v=UcUx...
m.youtube.com
Trump says ceasefire is 'OVER', U.S. launches strikes on Iran
YouTube video by MS NOW
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Our wrap up story from the NATO summit in Ankara, where Trump announced the Iran ceasefire is over www.politico.com/news/2026/07...
politico.com
Europe prepares to go it alone as Trump returns to war in Iran
The president’s comments that the U.S. ceasefire with Iran had ended only cemented the sense among NATO members that they can no longer rely on America.
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Victor Jack @victorjack.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
NEW: Czechia is on track to slash its core defense spending to below 2 percent of GDP this year, setting it on a collision course with U.S. President Donald Trump — and the country’s NATO allies. w/ @paulmcleary.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/eu-c...
politico.eu
NATO’s next villain: Czechia
Prague is on track to spend less than 2 percent of its GDP on defense, setting it on a collision course with the U.S. and other NATO allies.
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Ali Vitali @alivitali.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
It’s a busy Friday with @waytooearly.bsky.social after an extremely busy week— ☀️ Nnamdi Egwuonwu ☕️ @lbarronlopez.bsky.social ⛅️ Moses Small 🌞 Rep. Jennifer McClellan 🥐 @paulmcleary.bsky.social 🌅 @mpolymer1.bsky.social If you’re up with us, email waytooearly@ms.now with why. #waytooearly
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Phelim Kine @phelimkine.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
"South Korea’s pursuit of a nuclear submarine capability reflects Seoul’s jitters over China’s increasingly aggressive military footprint in the Indo-Pacific as well as alarm about a growing threat from North Korea" w/ @paulmcleary.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
politico.com
Trump will arm South Korea with a nuclear submarine
South Korea’s nuclear submarine development plans reflect Seoul’s concerns about potential Chinese and North Korean aggression.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Trump today told several hundred generals that American cities should be “training grounds,” calling on the military leaders to “handle” the “enemy from within…before it gets out of control.” The president's comments can often be viewed as orders. www.politico.com/news/2025/09...
politico.com
Hegseth uses rare meeting of generals to announce new military standards
He warned commanders who don’t support the changes could leave the service.
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Ali Vitali @alivitali.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
It’s Tuesday w/ @waytooearly.bsky.social and unless something major changes, the government will shut down at midnight. That & more, with… ☀️ @jonallendc.bsky.social ☕️ @mpolymer1.bsky.social 🌅 @paulmcleary.bsky.social Email why you’re up with us to WayTooEarly@msnbc.com #waytooearly
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Per the White House - legally it is still the Department of Defense. The Department of War is a "secondary title." So, it's a nickname.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Despite crime in DC being at a 30 year low, Trump orders 800 National Guard troops to the capital www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
politico.com
Trump will send National Guard into Washington
About 800 troops will assist local law enforcement amid the president’s pledge to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
NEW: Army says that of the 800 National Guard soldiers activated, "100-200 Soldiers will be supporting law enforcement at any given time. Their duties will include an array of tasks from administrative, logistics and physical presence in support of law enforcement."
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Confirmed that USS Nimitz left the South China Sea and is heading for the Middle East - making TWO U.S. carrier strike groups there once it joins the USS Vinson. Also, a wave of US refueling aircraft just left for Europe. Lots of hardware moving. www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
politico.com
US builds up military presence in Middle East
The Pentagon is routing another aircraft carrier to the region and sending additional aircraft to Europe as the conflict between Israel and Iran escalates.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
The US is "using its air defenses in the region" to assist Israel in engaging Iranian missiles targeting Israel, per US defense official. www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
politico.com
US moves warships closer to Israel
The move comes as Israel braces for a retaliatory attack from Iran.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
A must-read deep dive into the chaos inside the highest offices inside the Pentagon: www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
politico.com
The vicious rivalries tearing apart Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon
A feud between the secretary's advisers and his chief of staff created backbiting and distrust that has erupted into the open.
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
The Pentagon is in "total chaos" and Pete Hegseth is unlikely to remain in his role, according to its former top spokesperson, who painted a scene of dysfunction, backstabbing and missteps at the highest levels of the department. "The building is in disarray." www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
politico.com
Former Pentagon official warns department's dysfunction could topple Hegseth
“The last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon,” John Ullyot, the former top Defense Department spokesperson, wrote in a POLITICO Magazine opinion piece.
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
BREAKING: The DC Circuit has *rejected* DOJ's effort to lift Judge Boasberg's block on Alien Enemies Act deportations. Ruling is 2-1, with Judge Walker dissenting. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is spiraling through yet another overseas trip eclipsed by a controversy largely of his own doing. www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
politico.com
Hegseth slips up during an international trip — again
Every international trip the Pentagon chief has taken has been clouded by controversy.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
“The information that you have fighter aircraft launching off of an aircraft carrier, flying over enemy territory and impending combat operation is the most sensitive information we have” said Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot. www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
politico.com
‘It is highly classified’: Hegseth leaked sensitive attack details, former officials say
Hegseth and the White House have denied sharing classified information or war plans.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Elon Musk Musk was briefed on China by Indo-Pacom chief Adm. Samuel Paparo and SecDef Pete Hegseth this morning, showing "the extraordinary level of access Musk, a defense contractor with billions of dollars in government contracts, holds over the administration." www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
politico.com
Musk won’t hear classified war plans in Pentagon visit
A meeting about China’s threat with the Defense Secretary and a U.S. commander in the Indo-Pacific, even if unclassified, shows the billionaire’s extraordinary level of access.
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Nahal Toosi @nahaltoosi.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
SCOOP: The Trump team is taking a hatchet to the State Department's annual — and world-renowned — human rights report. www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
politico.com
Trump drastically cutting back annual human rights report
Sections on women’s rights and the security of LGBTQ+ people are among those being axed.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
The @DeptofDefense appears to have shuttered its @DoDMinerva research program, which funded studies designed to help policymakers in the military. The Web site is down, and several academics tell me they received project termination letters. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...
subscriber.politicopro.com
POLITICO Pro: Pentagon announces DOGE cuts, but won’t say what they are
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
The first big challenge for Donald Trump’s top military adviser pick isn’t the Ukraine-Russia war or even his lack of qualifications. It’s the legend about a red MAGA hat. www.politico.com/news/2025/02...
politico.com
MAGA hat drama could taint Trump’s top military adviser pick
The president said Dan Caine once offered to kill for him and slapped a signature red hat on his head, a violation of military rules.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Trump and his defense secretary today said they're looking to relieve any military officer or civilian involved in the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal www.politico.com/news/2025/02...
politico.com
Trump signals more firings of military leaders
Senior officers involved in the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan are “going to be largely gone,” he said.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Last year, now-SecDef Hegseth wrote “should we follow the Geneva conventions ... Aren’t we just better off in winning our wars according to our own rules?” And now he fired the Pentagons top military legal advisors www.politico.com/news/2025/02...
politico.com
'Roadblocks' or supports? Military lawyers question Hegseth’s firings.
The Pentagon chief said he doesn’t want lawyers who are “roadblocks” to decisions he or military commanders make.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Pete Hegseth’s firing of top Pentagon legal staff has alarmed military lawyers: “It will keep the lawyer out of the rooms where the decisions are made.” www.politico.com/news/2025/02...
politico.com
'Roadblocks' or supports? Military lawyers question Hegseth’s firings.
The Pentagon chief said he doesn’t want lawyers who are “roadblocks” to decisions he or military commanders make.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Don't let this slip by: Trump is also firing the senior judicial officers for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. They're the services' top lawyers.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
WIPED OUT: Trump gutted the Joint Chiefs Friday night, firing Chairman Gen. CQ Brown - while he was visiting troops in Texas - and SecDef Hegseth said he will also replace Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti and UASF vice chief Gen. James Slife.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
NEW: Pentagon says it is firing 5,400 civilians next week as part of an effort to cull up to 8% of the civilian workforce, while implementing a hiring freeze. 46% of DoD civilians are veterans. @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2025/02...
politico.com
Pentagon prepares to fire thousands of civilian employees in dramatic culling
The Department of Defense is preparing to eliminate 8 percent of its civilian workforce
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Dave Brown @davebrown.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
BREAKING: The Pentagon is planning to fire 5,400 civilian employees starting next week as it prepares to eliminate 8 percent of its civilian workforce, the department announced Friday www.politico.com/news/2025/02... @paulmcleary.bsky.social
politico.com
Pentagon prepares to fire thousands of civilian employees in dramatic culling
The Department of Defense is preparing to eliminate 8 percent of its civilian workforce
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
NEW: Half of all U.S. military flights transporting detained migrants out of the country have gone to Guantanamo Bay over the past month, officials told me. In total, 14 of 28 total flights have brought about 100 detainees to the base. @politico
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
NEW: Army Green Berets have been sent to Mexico to train Mexican Marines, a move which somes as US designated Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations which Musk says, “means they’re eligible for drone strikes.” www.politico.com/newsletters/...
politico.com
Four ways of looking at Trump’s Ukraine tirade
We’re watching all four to see how they can influence the coming negotiations.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Trump uncorked a new social media attack on Ukraine's leader today that was full of invented numbers and distortions of the truth. www.politico.com/news/2025/02...
politico.com
Trump attacks Zelenskyy as a ‘dictator without elections’ who duped US
The president’s remarkable attack on the Ukrainian president is sure to deeply worry international allies and domestic supporters of an American-led global order.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Funny story - the US team went on to win 3-1
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Center for European Policy Analysis @cepa.org · 15/02/2025
“Half of Europe is asleep, paralyzed into shock and another part is taking security seriously and mobilizing like the Nordic and Baltic countries. But will that be enough?” @apolyakova.bsky.social explains to Robbie Gramer @paulmcleary.bsky.social y & @ebazail.bsky.social at #MSC2025
politico.com
National Security Daily
From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
From the Munich Security Conference: European allies are gathered here this weekend bracing for the answer to a question they’ve been dreading to ask: Can they really count on the United States? www.politico.com/news/2025/02...
politico.com
‘The rules of the game have changed’: Europe fears an unreliable US ally
European defense leaders are preparing for a tense gathering with the Trump team.
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Dave Brown @davebrown.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
The U.S. on Thursday promised to speed up weapons shipments to Europe, a move that some countries have pressed for years as critical for their defense needs www.politico.eu/article/us-p... @paulmcleary.bsky.social @laukaya.bsky.social
politico.eu
US pledges to speed up arms sales to Europe
NATO chief Mark Rutte has long asked Washington to cut red tape on arms deals.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
NEW: State Dept. announces $7.3B in potential arms sales to Israel, including: 2,100 Small Diameter Bombs 2,800 500-pound bomb bodies 13,000 Joint Direct Attack Munition Guidance Kits 3,000 Hellfire Air-to-Ground Missiles and other bomb kits and bomb bodies
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Rosa DeLauro sent a letter to SecDef Hegseth today asking why he requested "$137,000 in taxpayer-funded upgrades and other associated costs" to the gov house he and his family will live in. Includes a $50K paint job. wassermanschultz.house.gov/uploadedfile...
wassermanschultz.house.gov
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Sanctions on Putin are "only about a 3" out of 10 on how painful theycan be, Trump's Ukraine/Russia czar Keith Kellogg says. “You could really increase the sanctions" on oil production and exports. www.politico.eu/article/dona...
politico.eu
US can ramp up sanctions on Putin, Trump’s Ukraine-Russia envoy says
“If there’s anybody who understands leverage, it’s President Donald J. Trump,” Keith Kellogg tells the New York Post.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
NEW: The UK will lead the Ukraine Defense Contact group next week, the first time it hasn't been chaired by the US defense secretary in a big, and possibly permanent shift. www.politico.eu/article/uk-t...
politico.eu
UK takes on leadership of Biden-era Ukraine military aid group
Britain will take over Wednesday’s meeting of Kyiv’s allies from the U.S.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
NEW: Northern Command says 500 soldiers from 10th Mountain Div are heading to the southern border, along w/ 140 "intelligence personnel" to "provide full motion video analysis, counter network analysis, and Spanish language translation to the Border Patrol."
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Dave Brown @davebrown.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
NEW TONIGHT: The Pentagon expects to send two flights of migrants to Guantanamo Bay this weekend, the first step in Trump’s plan to use the military base as a detainment facility www.politico.com/news/2025/01... @paulmcleary.bsky.social
politico.com
Pentagon plans to start migrant flights to Guantanamo this weekend
This would make good on the president’s promise to use the base as a detainment facility.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
The Army UH-60 helo that hit a commercial plane in DC is from Bravo Co., 12th Aviation Battalion, performing a "training flight" - Heather Chairez, Media Chief, Joint Task Force, National Capitol Region
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
NEW: Defense official confirms 3 soldiers on board the Army Black Hawk helicopter that crashed w/ commercial airliner tonight. No high-level officials aboard.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
First picture I've seen of migrants on a US military aircraft being deported. DOD caption reads: "Illegal aliens await takeoff for a removal flight at the Tucson International Airport, Ariz., Jan. 23, 2025."
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
This morning, SecDef Pete Hegseth said a priority is acquiring "Iron Dome for America" - assuming this is a catchall for air and missile defense, since the Iron Dom is for short-range missiles so not clear what it would do.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
This line stuck out in @SenMcConnell's statement on Hegseth tonight: There "must be a firewall between servicemembers and politics. The Biden Administration failed at this...But the restoration of ‘warrior culture’ will not come from trading one set of culture warriors for another."
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Trump insists that U.S. control of Greenland is necessary for American security, but between existing bases, new investments by Denmark and a permissive treaty, he already has much of what he wants www.politico.com/newsletters/...
politico.com
Trump already has a lot of what he wants in Greenland
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Trump orders 1,500 active-duty troops to the southern border and sets up massive military airlift to fly 5,000 migrants out of the country, for starters. www.politico.com/news/2025/01...
politico.com
Pentagon will send troops to border to boost security, airlift out migrants
This is the first step in a broader plan to deploy thousands of service members to the southern border.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
NEW: The Pentagon's first act after Trump was sworn in today was to remove the official portrait of former Joint Chiefs chairman retired Gen. Mark Milley www.politico.com/live-updates...
politico.com
Pentagon removes new portrait of Mark Milley
The picture of the former Joint Chiefs chair lasted less than two weeks.
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Paul McLeary @paulmcleary.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
NEW: Robert Salesses will serve as acting Defense Secretary until Pete Hegseth is confirmed by the Senate -he's serving as the deputy head of the Washington Headquarters Service, the agency’s administrative branch www.politico.com/live-updates...
politico.com
Meet the new (acting) secretary of Defense
Robert Salesses, a longtime Pentagon official, will helm the Defense Department as Pete Hegseth awaits his Senate confirmation.
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