Army rescinds Biden cyber official's job offer after Laura Loomer pressure
Why it matters: Loomer, a prominent conspiracy theorist and self-appointed enforcer of loyalty to Trump, has a remarkable level of influence over hirings and firings inside Trump 2.0.
Driving the news: Earlier on Wednesday, West Point named Jen Easterly, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and a West Point graduate, as its new Distinguished Chair in the Department of Social Studies.
Following the announcement, Loomer reacted to the news in an X post saying, "There are clearly a lot of Biden holdovers at DOD undermining the Trump admin."
Loomer, who also tagged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the post, also noted that Easterly was leading CISA when the Department of Homeland Security stood up the short-lived Disinformation Governance Board. (CISA did not operate the board.)
Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll said in an X post after Loomer's post that he had directed West Point to rescind Easterly's offer and to conduct a full review of the academy's hiring practices.
What they're saying: "Ahead of the upcoming academic year, we are crafting a deliberate approach to ensure that our future officers are best prepared to meet the demands of the modern battlefield," an Army spokesperson told Axios in a statement.
Easterly and West Point did not respond to requests for comment.
The big picture: Loomer has taken credit for a series of high-profile firings besides Easterly, casting herself as an outside enforcer of loyalty to the MAGA mission.
Multiple National Security Council staffers were fired in April after she visited the Oval Office in the midst of the Signalgate scandal, with Trump himself praising Loomer's "recommendations."
Loomer also claimed credit for the firing of the National Security Agency's top two officials in April, as well as the agency's general counsel this week.
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Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
A new rocket system packing twice the punch of HIMARS just fired for the first time
A new rocket system designed by the US and its allies and boasting a ton of firepower was just test-fired for the first time. The Global Mobile Artillery Rocket System (GMARS) can launch twice as many munitions as the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. On Monday, Lockheed Martin announced the successful first live fire of the GMARS at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The system fired Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets, which are precision-guided munitions used by the US Army, as well as allies and partners. GMARS is designed to be a versatile long-range precision fire launcher that can work with existing US and allied platforms, including HIMARS, Lockheed Martin said in a statement. It can carry two Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), four Precision Strike Missiles (PrSMs), and 12 regular GMLRS or the extended range versions, all developed by Lockheed Martin. That loadout gives the GMARS a range of potential firing options and doubles what the celebrated HIMARS can carry. ATACMS boast a maximum range of 190 miles, while PrSM, the weapon's planned replacement, can strike targets out to 310 miles. GMLRS, as a kind of rocket artillery rather than a tactical missile, has a more limited range at 43 miles. The extended range variant goes out to 93 miles. These precision-guided munitions operate with guidance systems like GPS, sensors, and laser guidance, which allow them to zero in on specific targets. Long-range precision fires like these are a top priority for the Army amid its sweeping transformation initiative announced earlier this year, in which US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Army needed to field long-range missiles that can strike land and maritime targets by 2027. The PrSM plays an important role in these initiatives. In June, for instance, the Army tested the new missile, which can be used flexibly against land and sea targets, against a moving maritime target. The Army has also explored flexible HIMARS employment for fast strikes at greater ranges. Other critical long-range fires efforts center on the new Mid-Range Capability, or Typhon. Ongoing conflicts, like Russia's war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East, have demonstrated to the Army a need for these systems. In its statement on the recent test-firing, Lockheed Martin said the GMARS is based on German defense company Rheinmetall's HX series of tactical military trucks and supports improved interoperability — the ability to work together — between US and allied launchers and munitions, particularly in Europe. Better interoperability between systems has become a forefront want from the Army and its international allies and partners. Last month, Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of US Army Europe and Africa, said the Army wanted more commonality between its systems and those of its allies, particularly for long-range fires and air defenses. "Right now, there are many nations that if they buy a platform and another nation buys that platform, they're not interoperable because of that lack of common operating system," Donahue said at the LANDEURO Conference in Germany. "We want it to be one system optionally manned," he added, "and we want to be able to take munitions from any country and shoot through that." Similarly, modularity, meaning they can be reconfigured with different hardware and software depending on mission objectives, combat environments, enemy countermeasures, and individual soldier or personnel demands, is a top priority.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Inside Laura Loomer's rise: ‘Obsessive' research, Oval Office visits
Laura Loomer's application for a White House press pass has gone unanswered for months. The jobs she said President Donald Trump wanted her to take working for him have never materialized. And yet, there she was in the Oval Office on July 24 - her fourth time at the White House since Trump returned to office - after the president invited her during a recent phone call. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. It was the latest example of the unlikely access that Loomer, a 32-year-old, Florida-based MAGA activist and right-wing journalist, has with the world's most powerful man. Loomer has taken credit for the ouster of several federal employees, including former national security adviser Michael Waltz and some on his staff; Vinay Prasad, the Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine regulator; and, most recently, Jen Easterly, whose appointment to the faculty at West Point was rescinded last week. Her posts on social media have preceded other high-profile decisions, including the order ending Hunter Biden's Secret Service detail, which came after Loomer reported that he was being accompanied by agents on a trip to South Africa this spring. Loomer has remained close with Trump despite what she describes as 'contempt' for her by a number of White House staff and Trump advisers. While those close to the president caution that her influence with Trump only goes so far - something Loomer acknowledges - they say it's undeniable that her persistence and loyalty have paid off. 'I know she's known as a 'radical right,' but I think Laura Loomer is a very nice person,' Trump said Sunday, answering questions from reporters. 'I think she's a patriot, and she gets excited because of the fact she's a patriot, and she doesn't like things going on that she thinks are bad for the country. I like her.' In her own telling, corroborated by people around Trump, Loomer's ability to capture the president's attention and sometimes influence his actions is hardly mysterious. She uncovers information she believes will be of interest to him, passes it along to Trump officials, then pushes it out publicly in lengthy posts on X, on her website or on her weekly streaming show, 'Loomer Unleashed.' She is confident the reports will get to the president, given her reputation as a trusted ally. Where some MAGA commentators rely on days or weeks of sustained outrage from online followers to be sure their message is relayed to Trump, people around Trump are quick to ensure he sees what Loomer reports. 'Most of the time, when my information goes viral, the president hears about it, sees about it in some fashion - one of the Cabinet members tells him, or one of his golf buddies tells him, and he ends up asking me about it,' Loomer said in an interview with The Washington Post. 'That's how it goes down. It's really that simple. People just - they don't seem to be able to fathom that. That's how it works.' Key to Loomer's success is one central personality trait, according to those who have dealt with her. 'She is persistent,' said a person close to Trump, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president's personal interactions. 'She's obsessive. She's the most obsessive mind you will ever meet,' said Shane Cory, who helped Loomer set up fundraising for her work after she was banned from social media platforms in 2018 because of anti-Islamic posts. 'The thing that stands out the most with me with Laura is she has no life outside this,' Cory said. 'This is it. From the minute she wakes up in the morning to the minute she goes to sleep, this is all she does, aside from hitting the gym.' The person close to Trump insisted that the president and Loomer speak less than weekly, and 'there were times recently he was very frustrated with her and not speaking to her.' Some of her recommendations have resulted in Trump taking action. Some haven't, the person noted. The president was particularly irked by her criticism of his acceptance of a jet from the Qatari royal family, the person said. Loomer said at the time that after blasting what she called a 'gift from jihadists in suits,' she spoke to Trump and apologized for criticizing him in public. Trump's willingness to make himself accessible to Loomer should come as no surprise, the person close to Trump said, noting the president's tendency to regularly pick up the phone for callers, including reporters, who contact him directly, outside of standard White House channels. Loomer's relationship with Trump developed as he became delighted by her heckling of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when he ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. She protested him in person and published a barrage of negative pieces about him. The day DeSantis dropped out of the race, Trump called her with congratulations, she said, adding that she told Trump he was the one who had won so handily. 'He said, 'Yeah, but I couldn't have done it without you,'' Loomer recalled. In the months that followed, when Trump would see her in person at his golf clubs, he would warmly say to those around him that she had helped him defeat DeSantis. - - - In phone call, Trump invited Loomer for July 24 meeting Loomer's latest Oval Office meeting illustrates both her influence and its limits. The meeting grew out of a telephone call between Trump and Loomer in which the president 'expressed interest' in a topic she had been reporting on 'about a personnel issue,' Loomer said. She declined to say which one of her exposés about administration officials had prompted the meeting. Days before the call, however, she had drawn attention to Philip Droege, the longtime director of the White House's Office of Records Management. In a July 14 post on X, Loomer suggested that Droege was partially responsible for Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club being raided, citing a 2022 Post story. Trump invited Loomer to join him for lunch, but when she arrived at the White House that day, she learned that staff had scheduled her visit to be a regular meeting, and she did not dine with the president. Loomer said that one thing was clear. 'I know for a fact that the president has expressed concern about Philip Droege being in his administration,' Loomer said. 'I don't work for the president, but I do know that when this report came out, and when the president himself saw it, he expressed concern.' The day after her White House meeting, she published a longer story on her website about Droege's employment. He remains employed. The White House did not respond to questions about allegations Loomer has raised, but in a statement, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump 'has put together the best cabinet and staff in history, and the historic achievements over the past six months prove it.' Her access to Trump is counterbalanced by efforts from people around him to keep her at a distance, Loomer said. Trump has offered her jobs 'on four separate occasions,' she said, adding that the jobs were 'snatched away in acts of professional jealousy.' She has never officially been a part of Trump's campaign or White House teams. Loomer applied for a press pass to cover the Trump White House and considered moving to Washington, where she employs one correspondent. But neither of their applications have been approved, despite repeatedly asking about the status of receiving credentials, she said. - - - From activist seeking traction to major Trump influencer For years, Loomer has been a thorn in the side of Republicans and Democrats alike, ferociously going after people she believed weren't sufficiently aligned with the MAGA movement and casting herself as an internet underdog who was 'silenced in America' and became the 'most banned woman in the world.' In her early 20s, she worked for Project Veritas, the far-right activist group that gained fame for making surreptitious videos to discredit mainstream media figures and other ideological opponents. In 2017, she was banned from Uber and Lyft for a viral rant against 'Islamic immigrant' drivers; a year later, she was kicked off Twitter for a post calling Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) antisemitic. After Elon Musk bought Twitter, he reinstated Loomer and many other right-wing influencers, giving her a kind of semi-celebrity status on the MAGA internet. Her return helped expand Loomer's sphere of influence in right-wing social media circles, where the self-proclaimed 'pro-white nationalism' activist and 'proud Islamophobe' is known for her rapid-fire pace and anything-goes attack style. Loomer's follower count on Twitter, now X, exploded from about 270,000 in late 2022 to 1.3 million followers in November, when Trump was elected again, a Post analysis of platform data shows. She has gained 400,000 followers in the months since. Loomer has tapped into a symbiosis where 'a conservative influencer makes something a scandal, and if it picks up enough traction, then it becomes policy,' said Nina Jankowicz, a researcher who briefly served in the Biden administration as the executive director of a newly created Disinformation Governance Board before intense criticism from right-wing influencers forced it to shut down. At this point, Trump doesn't even need to see posts from Loomer for them to have an impact, Jankowicz said. Her relationship with the president is well known, and 'the underlings in the administration need to act quickly to prove their fealty.' - - - 'Couldn't get a job at McDonald's' Loomer is '100 percent self-made, through her ferocious personality,' said Cory, who has known her since her Project Veritas days. 'She creates the echo chamber,' he said. After she was banned from social media, she told Cory, 'I couldn't get a job at McDonald's,' he recalled in an interview. Cory worked with her to build up a donor base, recalling her being 'the fastest-rising one' of his clients who started from scratch. Loomer clarified that she did not actually apply for a job at the fast-food restaurant, but couldn't get hired anywhere because of 'smears' against her after facing bans. Raheem Kassam, the editor of the conservative National Pulse and co-owner of Butterworth's, a Capitol Hill restaurant that welcomes the MAGA crowd, said he has known Loomer for years. It isn't uncommon for her to call at midnight to talk about something she's working on, he said. 'It's this sense of drive that she has that you cannot find in many other people,' Kassam said. 'She really puts her task and purpose above everything, above her personal life. She believes in a certain set of things, and she's willing to throw herself in front of traffic for them.' She recently unveiled an online tip line for government officials who need to 'be exposed for their misdeeds,' using the same website where she sells her book 'Loomered' and 'Donald Trump Did Nothing Wrong!' T-shirts. But she has also attempted to retain her outsider status, often needling administration officials as unfit for the task of protecting the president. As with other influencers, Loomer has sought to use her elevated status on the right-wing web as a revenue stream. On the crowdfunding site Buy Me a Coffee, where Loomer directs X followers seeking to support her work, she has raised nearly $50,000 to help cover her 'research and travel expenses' and other costs associated with her 'investigative reports.' On the alternative video site Rumble, Loomer has posted more than 300 videos since late 2021, many of them recordings of live broadcasts from 'Loomer Unleashed,' where she often talks for three hours at a time. During one recent stream, Loomer took a brief pause from warning about how 'Communists and jihadist Muslims' were waging war to 'carry out the ultimate destruction of Western civilization' to thank her sponsor, the Colorado-based gold merchant Kirk Elliott Precious Metals, and air a commercial in which she contentedly ate popcorn as a violent mob raged outside her window. She was relaxed, she said, because she had stockpiled silver and gold. Loomer said Trump has 'an eye for spotting talent,' and that she is grateful for him 'recognizing the value in my work during the primary and for inviting me to Mar-a-Lago for a meeting, and for commencing a friendship with me.' 'It's a friendship that I cherish,' Loomer said, 'and it's hard for a lot of people to come to terms with.' - - - Jeremy B. Merrill contributed to this report. --- Video Embed Code Video: Far-right activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer reportedly influenced President Trump to fire the head of the National Security Agency. Here's what to know about her controversial past and growing influence in Trump's orbit.(c) 2025 , The Washington Post Embed code: Related Content Pets are being abandoned, surrendered amid Trump's immigration crackdown The Post exposed this farmer's struggle. Then the USDA called. Kamala Harris will not run for California governor, opening door for 2028 run
Newsweek
4 hours ago
- Newsweek
US Army To Boost Patriot Air Defense Battalions
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The U.S. Army will add three more battalions to its Patriot air defense force and beef up its air defense on the key U.S. territory of Guam. Why It Matters The Patriot ground-based air defense system is considered the gold standard of air defense, credited with knocking out even the most sophisticated of threats, like tough-to-intercept ballistic missiles. The Raytheon-built systems are in very high demand across the world, not least in Europe as Ukraine's allies struggle to meet Kyiv's requirements for defenses against next-generation aerial weapons frequently launched by Moscow. Patriot battalions are deployed in the Pacific. They also intercepted Iran's attack on the U.S.'s Al Udeid airbase in Qatar in June. What To Know The U.S. Army will increase the number of its operational Patriot battalions to 18, up from 15, an Army spokesperson told Defense News in a statement. German and Ukrainian soldiers stand in front of "Patriot" anti-aircraft missile systems during the visit of Ukrainian President Zelensky to a military training area on June 11, 2024. German and Ukrainian soldiers stand in front of "Patriot" anti-aircraft missile systems during the visit of Ukrainian President Zelensky to a military training area on June 11, 2024. Jens B'ttner/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images A Patriot battalion is made up of several Patriot batteries, said William Freer, a research fellow in national security at the U.K.-based think tank, the Council on Geostrategy. Each Patriot battery has several components, including a radar, multiple launchers, and a command and control center. Also in the mix are different types of Patriot interceptor missiles. Another battalion based on the remote Western Pacific island of Guam will have extra Patriot capabilities, according to the report. The U.S. military has several key military bases on Guam, a U.S. owned territory east of The Philippines. The then-chief of the Space and Missile Defense Command, Lieutenant General Daniel Karbler, said in mid-2023 the U.S. would expand its Patriot capabilities to "recognize the demands on the Patriot force." Karbler did not specify at the time how many additional battalions would be added. General James Mingus, the U.S. Army's vice chief of staff, said in July the Army would add "up to four" new Patriot battalions, including one in Guam. The new battalions would use the most up-to-date radar for Patriots to "vastly extend" the range of the air defense systems, the senior official said. "Recent improvements to radar used in a Patriot battery, implementing lessons and data from engagements in recent years, and improved integration with other systems promise to make Patriot even more effective in the future," Freer told Newsweek. "In the future, the majority of threats Soldiers will face will be in the skies, making air defense more critical," the U.S. Army said in a press release. Patriots, while widely hailed as very effective, are very expensive systems. Where possible, cheaper air defense systems or drones will be used to intercept slower-moving and inexpensively-made threats, like other drones. "There are long waiting lists for new customers," Freer said. "A single battery and its missiles costs around $1.1 billion, meaning a Patriot battalion could cost between $4-5 billion." Patriots would be "a vital component" in U.S. defenses in any future fight with China, Freer added. The Netherlands said on Monday it would send Patriot parts and missiles to Ukraine as part of a package worth roughly $577 million. "The Netherlands is the first country to follow up on the NATO-US weapons deal," including buying American air defense systems for Kyiv, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said in a statement on social media. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and U.S. President Donald Trump announced in July that NATO's European members and Canada would pay for urgently needed equipment for Ukraine, buying supplies like air defense systems from the U.S. "I commend The Netherlands for taking the lead and turning this initiative into concrete support on the ground, building on the steps taken last week by Germany to deliver more Patriot systems to Ukraine," Rutte said in a statement on Monday. Berlin said on Friday it would send two more Patriot systems to Ukraine through an agreement with the U.S. to urgently replace the donated systems. What People Are Saying William Freer, a research fellow in national security at the Council on Geostrategy, told Newsweek that the Patriot is "one of the most capable" air defense systems. What Happens Next With the U.S. planning to expand its Patriot battalions, "it is vital that production numbers [of interceptor missiles] are increased to meet demand and build-up stockpiles," Freer said. "There is no point in a Patriot battery if it has no missiles to fire," Freer added.
