WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) – The Pentagon on Thursday
cleared BlackBerry and Samsung mobile devices for use on Defense
Department networks, a step toward opening up the military to a
wide variety of technology equipment makers while still ensuring
communications security.

Lieutenant Colonel Damien Pickart, a Pentagon spokesman,
said the department cleared the use of BlackBerry 10 smart
phones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets using its Enterprise
Service 10 system, as well as Samsung’s Android Knox.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea’s continuing development of nuclear technology and long-range ballistic missiles will move it closer to its stated goal of being able to hit the United States with an atomic weapon, a new Pentagon report to Congress said on Thursday.

The report, the first version of an annual Pentagon assessment required by law, said Pyongyang’s Taepodong-2 missile, with continued development, might ultimately be able to reach parts of the United States carrying a nuclear payload if configured as an intercontinental ballistic missile.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea’s continuing development of nuclear technology and long-range ballistic missiles will move it closer to its stated goal of being able to hit the United States with an atomic weapon, a new Pentagon report to Congress said on Thursday.

The report, the first version of an annual Pentagon assessment required by law, said Pyongyang’s Taepodong-2 missile, with continued development, might ultimately be able to reach parts of the United States carrying a nuclear payload if configured as an intercontinental ballistic missile.

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) – North Korea’s continuing
development of nuclear technology and long-range ballistic
missiles will move it closer to its stated goal of being able to
hit the United States with an atomic weapon, a new Pentagon
report to Congress said on Thursday.

The report, the first version of an annual Pentagon
assessment required by law, said Pyongyang’s Taepodong-2
missile, with continued development, might ultimately be able to
reach parts of the United States carrying a nuclear payload if
configured as an intercontinental ballistic missile.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is rethinking its opposition to arming the Syrian rebels, President Barack Obama’s defense chief said on Thursday, even as Obama himself signaled that no decision to deepen U.S. involvement in the conflict was imminent.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel cautioned that giving weapons to the forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad was only one option being considered by the United States. It carries the risk of arms finding their way into the hands of anti-American extremists among the insurgents, such as the Nusra Front.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon is expected to clear Apple, Samsung and BlackBerry mobile devices for use on Defense Department networks in the next few weeks, part of an effort to ensure the military has access to the latest communications technology, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

The decision will set the stage for an intensified struggle for Pentagon customers among BlackBerry devices, Apple’s iPhones or iPads and units using Google’s Android platform such as Samsung Electronics’ phones. The Pentagon currently has some 600,000 users of smart phones, computer tablets and other mobile devices.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon is preparing to ask Congress soon for more authority to shift funds to cope with automatic spending cuts, confronting lawmakers with another exception to the “sequester” just days after they gave a break to the flying public and the airline industry.

The request may be sent to the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee as early as next week, a House Republican aide said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) – The Pentagon is preparing to
ask Congress soon for more authority to shift funds to cope with
automatic spending cuts, confronting lawmakers with another
exception to the “sequester” just days after they gave a break
to the flying public and the airline industry.

The request may be sent to the House of Representatives’
Appropriations Committee as early as next week, a House
Republican aide said on Wednesday.

DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington is signaling its military commitment to its Gulf Arab allies at a time of unfamiliar strain in their decades old partnership.

Syria’s civil war and Iran’s nuclear program have led to tensions, with Gulf Arab states willing a more assertive U.S. response to bring Iran to heel and force Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. Growing U.S. energy independence has further complicated a relationship founded on oil and defense.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said on Thursday that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad has probably used chemical weapons on a small scale in the country’s civil war, but insisted that President Barack Obama needed definitive proof before he would take action.

The disclosure created a quandary for Obama, who has set the use of chemical weapons as a “red line” that Assad must not cross, and triggered calls from some hawkish Washington lawmakers for a U.S. military response, which the president has resisted.