NEW TONIGHT: A white nationalist worked for the Trump campaign in an important position in Pennsylvania for five months — until Friday, when the campaign fired him after learning about his views @POLITICOMagpolitico.com/news/magazine/… @POLITICOMag Luke Meyer, the Trump campaign’s 24-year-old regional field director for Western Pennsylvania, goes by the online name Alberto Barbarossa. On his podcast and others, and in posts online, Barbarossa regularly shares white nationalist views.

"I dream that one day, we shall have combatant commands. Northern Command will oversee the north of the continent. Southern Command, the south. And Central Command..."

"Will oversee the center of the continent?"

"If only it were that simple." "Our Navy will have great and mighty destroyers. We shall call them DDs."

"What does that stand for?"

"Well, the first D will be for destroyer."

"What is the second D for?"

"We'll also have frigates..."

These are Russian warships. It even says so when you do a stock image search More Russian warships

Not a U.S. ship. Appears to be a Pattani-class offshore patrol vessel belonging to the Royal Thai Navy, which means it was built by China This is a cutter from the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard

Remarkable video from Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller calling out senior leaders on Afghanistan. "People are upset because senior leaders let them down, and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying 'we messed this up.'" "Did any of you throw your rank on the table and say ‘hey, it’s a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic airbase, before we evacuate everyone.’ Did anyone do that? And when you didn’t think to do that did anyone raise their hand and say ‘we completely messed this up?'"

NEW TODAY: Progressives line up their own national security recruits for Biden | @BryanDBender @politico politico.com/news/2020/12/1… @BryanDBender @politico The effort marks a new phase for progressive groups, which have criticized the ties to arms-makers of some Cabinet picks and have also lobbied the Biden-Harris team to enlist a more diverse set of views in building out its national security staff

SCOOP: Several members of the Defense Business Board were fired on Friday, marking the latest effort by the Trump administration to clean out the Pentagon in the final weeks of the president's term
politico.com/news/2020/12/0…
@laraseligman @dlippman @jacqklimas @politico "This kind of a move really will weigh heavily in people on the future and their willingness to serve on these outside advisory boards if they're going to be subjected to political loyalty test. It's unprecedented. I'm just saddened," former chair Michael Bayer said

🚨🚨🚨SCOOP: The Pentagon’s acting policy chief resigned on Tuesday after falling out of favor with the White House, raising fears of a post-election exodus at the Defense Department politico.com/news/2020/11/1…
@laraseligman @dlippman @POLITICO The departure of James Anderson, the acting undersecretary of defense for policy, potentially paves the way for Anthony Tata, Trump’s controversial nominee for the top policy job who was pulled from contention due to Islamophobic tweets, to take over the policy shop

UPDATE: Trump's former Coast Guard chief tells POLITICO why he's endorsing Joe Biden and says that under this administration, he's seen an insurgency against the Constitution
politico.com/news/2020/09/2…
@laraseligman @politico Retired Adm. Paul Zukunft also cites the government shutdown that kept Coast Guardsmen from getting paid, Trump's dismissal of science when it comes to climate change and Covid, and Trump's ban on transgender troops as the other reasons he's endorsing Biden

Aim high And now the State Department wishes the Air Force a happy birthday by featuring the Navy's Blue Angels

https://twitter.com/statedept/status/1306941241238736896?s=10

Trump ad asks people to support the troops. But it uses a picture of Russian jets politi.co/3c5vPCb via @politico @dlippman @BryanDBender “That’s definitely a MiG-29,” said Pierre Sprey, who helped design both the F-16 and A-10 planes for the U.S. Air Force. “I’m glad to see it’s supporting our troops.”

JUST IN: Michael Cutrone, a former Pence aide who came to the Pentagon in May, is now the temporary head of international security affairs at DoD
subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2020/0…
Scoop by @laraseligman @POLITICOPro The move means that Michael Ryan, who'd been performing the duties of the international security affairs chief, is moving back down to be the deputy for Europe and NATO after only two months

GOP Aides: Trump Nom for German Ambassador ‘Dead on Arrival’
Col. Douglas Macgregor under fire for anti-Semitic comments freebeacon.com/national-secur… @Kredo0 @Kredo0 "At issue is Macgregor’s claim that a group of powerful Jews are pushing the United States to support Israel unconditionally and in a manner that is detrimental to the United States"

The White House is taking advantage of a loophole to install loyalists to President Donald Trump in acting senior roles at the Pentagon, effectively skirting the Senate confirmation process politico.com/news/2020/07/1… @laraseligman @connorobrienNH @BryanDBender @politico @laraseligman @connorobrienNH @BryanDBender @politico "The administration has also discussed installing Anthony Tata, the controversial Fox News regular who has been nominated to be the Pentagon’s top policy official, in a different senior DoD role on an acting basis, according to an official familiar with the discussions"

Eric Fanning, the head of the Aerospace Industries Association, endorsed Joe Biden for president. Will that create problems for the trade group? politi.co/2ZdolXC via @jacqklimas @politico @jacqklimas @politico For this story, @jacqklimas spoke to industry officials, lobbyists, staffers and experts. Some worry the endorsement will impact how well Fanning can fight for the industry's priorities with the Trump administration, while others said the endorsement won't have any effect

NEW: More than four dozen advocacy groups are calling on senators to oppose Anthony Tata, President Donald Trump's nominee to be Pentagon policy chief Story for Pros by @connorobrienNH: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2020/0…

Trump's preoccupation with steam catapults vs. the electromagnetic aircraft launch system on new aircraft carriers makes a brief appearance in the Bolton book: "That brought up the subject of aircraft carriers, and another discourse on how the steam systems for lifting planes to and from carrier flight decks were vastly superior to the electronic systems used on the incredibly expensive Gerald Ford—$16 billion to date, said Trump..."

NEW: Sen. Jack Reed, top Armed Services Democrat, will oppose Trump's pick to be the next Pentagon policy chief, Anthony Tata, amid scrutiny over past tweets calling former President Barack Obama a "terrorist leader"
subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2020/0…
@connorobrienNH @POLITICOPro This follows CNN's report from Friday revealing Tata's past tweets, one of which called Islam the "most oppressive violent religion I know of."
cnn.com/2020/06/12/pol… @KFILE

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BREAKING: Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy is now "open" to renaming the service's 10 bases and facilities that are named after Confederate leaders, an Army official told POLITICO, in a reversal of the service's previous position
politico.com/news/2020/06/0…
@laraseligman This doesn't mean it'll happen. But as recently as February the service said it wasn't budging on the issue taskandpurpose.com/analysis/army-…

Bartiromo asks Trump about bringing supply chains back to the U.S.

"I could tell you hundreds of stories of the stupidity that I've seen. As an example, we make a fighter jet. It's a certain fighter jet. I won't tell you which, but it happens to be the F-35, OK?" I toyed with the idea of doing a fact check, but I figured it wouldn't take long for smarter people to weigh in. Oh, hey, here's one now

https://twitter.com/ValerieInsinna/status/1260923440552382466

This story by @TaskandPurpose includes a comment from an anonymous defense official taking issue with our Saturday report on the Crozier investigation taskandpurpose.com/news/uss-theod…