WASHINGTON - Building security is at the heart of rebuilding a terrorist-free Afghanistan, said Dov Zakheim, DoD's comptroller and point man for the effort.

WASHINGTON - When it comes to military operations of the future, enemy forces will not be in for a "fair fight," a senior Army officer said in a Pentagon press briefing Nov. 26.

WASHINGTON - American service members and their coalition allies continue operations in Afghanistan.

FORT LEE - Nov. 27, 2002 Food customers can get more information about product recalls, courtesy of a new Web site from the Defense Commissary Agency.

WASHINGTON - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz will depart here Dec. 1 to meet with officials in NATO headquarters, and with leaders in Great Britain and Turkey, a senior U.S. official announced today.

WASHINGTON - The National Guard has given the U.S. Northern Command a base that it can build on, one of that new organization's high-ranking officers said recently.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said strengthening democracies is the work of both NATO and the Inter-American System.

WASHINGTON - "Doing the job that taxpayers expect," is what earned three federal organizations the 2002 President's Quality Award, said George W. Bush today. The annual award is given each year to those government organizations that have demonstrated efficient business and management practices.

WASHINGTON - When President Bush signed the Homeland Security Bill into law today, he established a new cabinet-level department to ensure the safety of the American people.

There are over 19 million veterans living in the U.S. today. With each is a personal story of batt - The center needs contributions of civilian volunteers, support staff, and war industry workers also.

WASHINGTON - Three U.S. camps in Afghanistan came under Taliban and/or al Qaeda fire Nov. 24. There were no U.S. casualties in any of the incidents.

WASHINGTON - Holiday greetings to the men and women of the Armed Forces, as you gather to celebrate this day of friendship and worship.

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia - "Our people have been tested in the fires of history; they have been tempered in the furnace of suffering and injustice," said Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga. "They know the meaning and the value of liberty. They know that it is worth every effort to support it, to maintain it, to stand for it and to fight for it."

WASHINGTON - The scene atop Cardiac Hill at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., was somewhat surreal today. A group of about 30 media representatives were poised at the summit waiting to photograph and interview trainees on a road march.

WASHINGTON - Al-Nashiri is a killer who has been brought to justice, President Bush said today.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he is "very pleased" about some aspects of NATO's Prague Summit, but he's not satisfied.

WASHINGTON - Coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons today to target unmanned communications facilities located south of Al Amarah, about 165 miles southeast of Baghdad, U.S. Central Command officials said.

CHOCTAW, Miss. - He didn't call it patriotism, but that's exactly what it was when Frank Henry joined the Army at age 17 in November 1944. Though his people were among the first to inhabit this country, he wasn't a citizen then and didn't have a draft card or any of the other things citizens have.

WASHINGTON - Although its aesthetics are quite pleasing, it still lacks the opulence of Grand Central.

WASHINGTON - Defense Department officials are in the final stages of preparing the DoD fiscal 2004 budget request for the president, a senior adviser said today.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - While enlargement was the marquee event at the North Atlantic Alliance summit, it really served to highlight that this gathering was a "Transformation Summit," in the words of NATO Secretary-General George Robertson.

WASHINGTON - Two U.S. soldiers were shot this morning in Kuwait. Defense Department officials described their injuries as not life- threatening.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Building new capabilities to meet new threats is a theme of the NATO Summit here.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - NATO heads of state have invited seven countries to join the alliance.

WASHINGTON - The dangers facing NATO today are vastly different from those the alliance faced when it was formed, President Bush said today in Prague, Czech Republic.

WASHINGTON - U.S. forces in Afghanistan took enemy fire Nov. 19 in three different incidents. No Americans were injured.

WASHINGTON - President Bush hailed the Nov. 19 passage of a law authorizing the Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security as a "historic and bold step."

CHOCTAW, Miss. - Gone are the days when about three-quarters of the people on the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian Reservation were unemployed and one-third of them had no formal education. And gone are the days when Choctaws were relegated to a livelihood of sharecropping, labor-type jobs and welfare lines.

WASHINGTON - Do you know about ESI? DoD purchasing agents looking for the best deals in commercial computer software products and related information technology services certainly do.

WASHINGTON - What ultimately happens in reference to the U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq is up to the member states and the Security Council itself, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Nov. 19.

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2002 -- Stopping terrorists before they can strike depends on government offic - passport, visa and drivers license applications, airline ticket or rental car reservations, medical data, and even credit and debit card purchases, for instance.

WASHINGTON - For the second time this week, Iraq trained its anti-aircraft guns on coalition aircraft patrolling the Southern No-fly Zone over Iraq, DoD officials reported today.

WASHINGTON - Construction began last week on a major thoroughfare connecting the Afghan cities of Kabul, Kandahar and Herat, Defense Department spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said today.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Nov. 20, 2002 -- The NATO Summit here is historic because it will allow the - meaning they cannot perform all missions equally well. But that fits, he said.

WASHINGTON - The rate of suicides in the military has declined in recent years to 12 per 100,000 -- two-thirds the national average. But that's still not good enough for Department of Defense health care officials.

WASHINGTON - Each November, Americans gather together family and friends to give thanks for the many blessings we enjoy as citizens of this great land.

I am honored to have this opportunity to thank the brave men and women of America's Armed Forces f - We will root out all the terrorists who threaten America and our allies. We will not be secure as a nation until all these threats are eliminated. And no matter how long it takes, we will fight the enemies of freedom, and we will win.

WASHINGTON - Listening to a confidential briefing on Iraq and other national security threats was "eye-opening" and a "beneficial experience," according to Artur Davis of Alabama, one of the more than 25 representatives-elect who visited the Pentagon today.

WASHINGTON - Certain military job specialties, including military police and civil affairs, are being overburdened in the reserve components and may need stronger representation in the active duty force, the Defense Department's senior adviser on reserve affairs said today.

SANTIAGO - All democracies benefit from security, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld offered two initiatives to foster security and draw Western Hemisphere nations closer together.

WASHINTGON - Starting Nov. 19, all of the nation's 429 commercial airports will be staffed and secured by professional screeners, Homeland Security Adviser Tom Ridge announced today.

WASHINGTON - The spectacular attack in Indonesia, the limited attack in Kuwait and the assault on the French tanker off the shores of Yemen all show terrorists' capabilities, Homeland Security Adviser Tom Ridge said Nov. 17.

WASHINGTON - U.S. medical evacuation aircraft crews stayed busy in Afghanistan over the weekend, proving how dangerous a place the war-torn country remains.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery Nov. 17 and today at coalition airplanes enforcing the Northern No-fly Zone over Iraq.

SANTIAGO, Chile - The United Nations Security Council will be interested in "patterns of behavior" that Iraq exhibits, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Nov. 17.

SANTIAGO, Chile - Closer maritime cooperation and the building of a hemispheric peacekeeping capability are two items Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wants to discuss at the Defense Ministerial of the Americas here Nov. 19.

WASHINGTON - Fifty-eight reporters, photographers and cameramen are getting a view of military training they don't usually see -- they're doing it, not watching it.

SANTIAGO, Chile - "It's a case of 'Ready' 'Shoot,' 'Aim,'" Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Nov. 17 while talking about the new Information Awareness Office.

SANTIAGO, Chile - Iraq has no business firing on coalition aircraft engaged in activities that support U.N. Security Council resolutions, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said here Nov. 18.

SANTIAGO, Chile - The United States is seeking ways to strengthen inter-American systems, a senior DoD official said Nov. 18.

WASHINGTON - Critics opposed to using force to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein are wrong -- possibly dead wrong, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz said in Florida yesterday.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz flew to the Sunshine State Nov. 15, first meeting with sailors at Naval Station Mayport here, then traveling further south to see the Army's newest helicopter.

WASHINGTON - Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix told reporters today about the process his group will go through as they begin to ascertain the ground truth in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Recent government warnings about possible terrorist threats are not necessarily based on new information and are not specific, a senior presidential adviser said today.

WASHINGTON - The group was quiet. Some people wore military uniforms; some wore headscarves denoting their Muslim faith. After the call to prayer, known as Adhan, they sipped water as bowls of dates were placed on each table.

WASHINGTON - U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan engaged in two firefights Nov. 14, DoD officials said today.

WASHINGTON - Four Defense Department programs are among the 99 semifinalists named Nov. 13 for the 2002 Innovations in American Government Awards.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will meet with defense leaders of the Americas on Nov. 18 and 19, then travel to Prague, Czech Republic, for the NATO Summit, Pentagon officials said today.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today explained the threat Iraq poses to the United States on a call-in radio program broadcast around the world.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today dismissed Iraq's claims that it has no weapons of mass destruction.

WASHINGTON - U.S. experts are studying a tape broadcast from Qatar that may have been made by Osama bin Laden.

WASHINGTON - Clergymen from all services and several religions joined today in dedicating a chapel built at the site where American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

WASHINGTON - Zero tolerance is America's current policy toward Iraq, President Bush declared this morning.

WASHINGTON - In the first war of the 21st century, "the battlefield is here at home," and America's police, firefighters and rescue workers are on the front lines, President Bush said this morning.

WASHINGTON - Most serious threats to security affect many nations, and they "are best deterred and defended against by working together," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Nov. 11.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department's Big Four took questions from the rank and file during a Pentagon Town Hall meeting Nov. 12.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2002 - American patriotism and citizens' willingness to serve their country i - have made it clear that they'll be with us."

PHILADELPHIA - Rainy, gray and blustery skies didn't deter Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz from flying here today to attend a Veterans Day ceremony honoring Revolutionary War-era troops.

WASHINGTON - The unanimous U.N. Security Council vote shows that concerns about Saddam Hussein are not limited to the United States. It shows Iraq that the world is united against him, President Bush said during his radio address Nov. 9.

WASHINGTON - Americans must never fail to honor this country's veterans on this important holiday, the nation's top general said today.

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY - Before a rain-soaked crowd here, President Bush pledged that the United States will continue the war on terrorism until those who struck America "are fully and finally defeated."

ARLINGTON, Va. - The idea's not ready for prime time, but Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency researchers here have made a breakthrough that could mean faster, longer-range ships and millions of dollars in fuel savings.

WASHINGTON - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz honored four companies who sacrificed the bottom line to allow reserve-component service members to serve their country.

WASHINGTON - Each year, visitors to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial here leave thousands of mementos at the base of the Wall. Since 1997, visitors to a non- profit Internet site can do the same virtually.

WASHINGTON - Armed enemy Afghans fired on Special Forces soldiers in two instances, Nov. 7, DoD officials said Nov. 8.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Iraq not "to take or threaten hostile action against inspectors or coalition aircraft upholding U.N. inspections" under the U.N. Security Council resolution signed today.

WASHINGTON - College students and members of Congress combined to send giant Thanksgiving greeting cards to deployed service members as part of Operation Grateful Nation.

WASHINGTON - After meeting with the defense secretary and other top Pentagon officials on Nov. 5, Charles Chibitty, the last surviving World War II Comanche code talker, donned his feathered Indian chief's headdress and offered a prayer in the Pentagon Chapel for those killed in the terrorist attack on the building.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military is working hard to improve the living conditions of Afghan civilians, the Pentagon spokeswoman said today.

WASHINGTON - The United Nations Security Council resolution passed today is Iraq's last chance to comply with disarmament provisions passed earlier, according to information in the resolution.

WASHINGTON - The United Nations Security Council today unanimously passed a strong resolution designed to force Saddam Hussein to disarm his weapons of mass destruction and obey previous Security Council resolutions.

WASHINGTON - Ever since the first Veterans Day – originally "Armistice Day" – was established in 1919, Americans have paused to salute the service and remember the sacrifice of the men and women who have kept us free.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will host a town hall meeting Nov. 12 in the Pentagon auditorium at 11 a.m. Eastern time.

WASHINGTON - The United Nations Security Council will vote Nov. 8 on a U.S. and British proposal to disarm Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, President Bush said today.

WASHINGTON - Three major publishers have revived the World War II practice of publishing special editions of their books for U.S. troops serving overseas.

WASHINGTON - Marital discord, high personnel tempo and fear of counseling contributed to five murders at Fort Bragg, N.C., Army officials said today.

WASHINGTON - For the second day in a row, coalition fliers patrolling the Southern No-fly Zone responded to Iraqi fire.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department issued a worldwide caution Nov. 6 warning Americans to be alert for possible terrorist attacks.

WASHINGTON - Up until the 1960s veterans groups used the red poppy as the symbol of Veterans Day. In Great Britain, it still is.

WASHINGTON - Terrorism is a "great challenge" to democracy and unity in Indonesia, but Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the Indonesian people today that he thinks they are up to the challenge.

WASHINGTON - Veterans Day is always a solemn occasion to reflect on and to show our gratitude for those who have fought to preserve the freedoms all Americans enjoy today.

WASHINGTON - Coalition bases continue to receive sporadic fire from Taliban and al Qaeda sympathizers, DoD officials said Nov. 4.

FORT LEE, Va., Nov. 4, 2002 - Commissary shoppers around the world might as well plan now to loosen their belts because there's plenty of food - like 8 million pounds of turkey - ready to be bought for Thanksgiving.

WASHINGTON - The sun is setting and in my home everyone is gathering at the table. Completing last minute preparations we share in a quiet mixture of joking, enjoying each other's company and prayer. Then, my father speaks up.

WASHINGTON - Iraq continues to threaten coalition forces patrolling that country's northern and southern no-fly zones, top defense officials said today.

ARLINGTON, Va. - The police chief for Montgomery County in Maryland who led the high-profile manhunt for the snipers who killed 10 people and terrorized the Washington, D.C., region for most of October is also a highly regarded officer in the Air National Guard.

WASHINGTON - Opposition groups launched two hit-and-run rocket attacks against U.S. forward operating bases in Khowst and Gardez today.

ARLINGTON, Va. - A new online pay account management system debuted Oct. 15 and promises improved service and information security to military members, DoD civilians, military retirees and annuitants.

FORT DETRICK, Md - A study to decrease the required number of Anthrax shots and its accompanied side effects is being conducted at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland.