An investigation by David Evans of Bloomberg found that Prudential Insurance has been profiting on life insurance policies of deceased veterans. The funds are held in “Prudential’s general corporate account, earning investment income for the insurer.” According to regulatory filings from 2008, survivors were being paid 1 percent interest on their Alliance Accounts, while Prudential [...]
Archive for the ‘Military’ Category
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Classified documents provide window into realities of Afghanistan war
July 26th, 2010 
Beth “A six-year archive of classified military documents made public on Sunday offers an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal,” reports The New York Times. The documents were released online by WikiLeaks.org, but The New York Times, the British newspaper The Guardian and [...]
CIA drones target unnamed suspects in Pakistan
May 6th, 2010 Beth According to counter-terrorism officials, the “CIA received secret permission to attack a wider range of targets, including suspected militants whose names are not known, as part of a dramatic expansion of its campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan’s border region,” reports David S. Cloud of the Los Angeles Times.
Army trauma units failing to meet needs of soldiers
April 27th, 2010 Beth James Dao and Dan Frosch, of The New York Times, report on Warrior Transition Units created in the wake of the Walter Reed scandal. Meant as safe havens for soldiers as they recouperated from injuries and transitioned back into active duty or civilian life, the units “are far from being restful sanctuaries.”
Personality disorder used to discharge soldiers, strip them of benefits
April 13th, 2010 Beth Pentagon mentor system to be overhauled
April 5th, 2010 Beth Tom Vanden Brook and Ken Dilanian of USA Today report that Defense Secretary Robert Gates “ordered an overhaul of the Pentagon’s use of retired senior officers to advise the military, limiting the pay of “senior mentors” and requiring them to disclose their business ties to defense contractors.“ This move is in response to a USA [...]
U.S changes rules for holding Afgan detainees
March 17th, 2010 Beth A month after an investigation by CNN’s Abbie Boudreau and Scott Zamost, the U.S. military has changed a controversial policy in Afghanistan that soldiers claimed put them at risk . The policy, known as the 96-hour rule, required that detainees be released or turned to Afghan authorities within four days. The new rule, announced by [...]
Deadly military aviation accidents on the rise
February 23rd, 2010 Beth “U.S. soldiers have been twice as likely to die from aviation accidents as they were from ground mishaps or incidents over the past two and a half decades, according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of U.S. Army data.” An increased reliance on aviation has contributed to the increase in these deadly air accidents. There have [...]
Ex-residents slow to be notified of toxic water on Marine base
February 17th, 2010 Beth Despite a 2007 law requiring the Marine Corps to notify former residents of Camp Lejeune, N.C. that they may have been exposed to contaminated water between 1957 and 1987, many have never been notified while others are just now finding out, according to a report by Barbara Barrett of McClatchy Newspapers.
Breach of trust prompts legislation in Congress
January 29th, 2010 Beth A year-long investigation by Wendy Halloran from WHNT-Huntsville, Ala. is capped off with the introduction of U.S. House Resolution 4535 known as “The Diploma and Accreditation Integrity Protection Act.” The investigation exposed the use of fake credentials in all levels of the U.S. Army.
