WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pentagon leaders knew of the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi an hour after it began, but were unable to mobilize reinforcements based in Europe in time to prevent the death of the U.S. ambassador, according to a timeline released on Friday.

Senior defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, rejected criticism accusing the Pentagon of failing to move quickly to send reinforcements to relieve the consulate or using armed aerial drones to fire on the attackers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iranian warplanes fired at an unarmed U.S. drone in international airspace last week but did not hit the aircraft, the Pentagon said on Thursday, disclosing details of an unprecedented incident that triggered a formal warning to Tehran through diplomatic channels.

The November 1 intercept was the first time Tehran had fired at an unmanned American aircraft, in a stark reminder of how tensions between the United States and Iran could escalate quickly into violence.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iranian warplanes fired at an unarmed U.S. drone in international airspace last week but did not hit the aircraft, the Pentagon said on Thursday, an unprecedented incident that triggered a sharp warning to Tehran through diplomatic channels.

The Pentagon said the November 1 intercept appeared to be the first time Tehran has fired at an unmanned American aircraft, in this case an MQ-1 “Predator.”

WASHINGTON/SALT LAKE CITY, Nov 3 (Reuters) – While neither
of the candidates in next week’s U.S. presidential election was
in the military, Mitt Romney’s age – he was eligible to serve in
Vietnam – has raised questions during the campaign about why he
didn’t serve and whether his Mormon faith had anything to do
with it.

Guy Hicks, a Mormon and former officer in the Army Reserve
Special Forces, said there is a public misperception that
members of the Mormon Church do not serve in the military.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Cyberspace is the battlefield of the future, with attackers already going after banks and other financial institutions and developing the ability to strike U.S. power grids and government systems, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Friday.

“We confront a whole new threat of warfare in (cyberspace). … This is an area we’ve got to pay close attention to. This is the battlefront of the future,” he told a business group in Norfolk, Virginia, a city at the center of one of the largest concentrations of military power in the United States.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Cyberspace is the battlefield
of the future, with attackers already going after banks and
other financial institutions and developing the ability to
strike U.S. power grids and government systems, Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta said on Friday.

“We confront a whole new threat of warfare in (cyberspace).
… This is an area we’ve got to pay close attention to. This is
the battlefront of the future,” he told a business group in
Norfolk, Virginia, a city at the center of one of the largest
concentrations of military power in the United States.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A team of U.S. military planners is in Jordan to help the Amman government grapple with Syrian refugees, bolster its military capabilities and prepare for any trouble with Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday.

The team, led by special operations forces and comprising about 150 troops, mainly from the U.S. Army, is constructing a headquarters building in Amman from which to work with Jordanian forces on joint operational planning and intelligence sharing, a senior defense official said.

BRUSSELS, Oct 10 (Reuters) – A team of U.S. military
planners is in Jordan to help the government grapple with Syrian
refugees, bolster its military capabilities and prepare for any
trouble with its chemical weapons stockpiles, U.S. Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday.

“We have been working with Jordan for a period of time now
… on a number of the issues that have developed as a result of
what’s happened in Syria,” Panetta told a news conference in
Brussels.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta sought to reassure NATO allies on Wednesday that effective action was being taken to stop “insider” attacks on their soldiers that have undermined trust between coalition and Afghan forces.

Panetta also told a meeting of alliance defense ministers that the 11-year-old Afghan war had “reached a critical moment” after the pullout of 33,000 U.S. “surge” troops brought in two years ago to help counter a strengthening Taliban insurgency.

BRUSSELS, Oct 9 (Reuters) – NATO has plans in place to
defend Turkey against attack from Syria, and will aim to provide
assistance if Ankara asks for it, senior officials said on
Tuesday.

NATO ambassadors threw their support behind Turkey in an
emergency meeting last week after Syrian shells struck a border
town in Turkey killing five civilians.