WASHINGTON - Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey abruptly stepped down Friday as the Bush administration struggled to cope with the fallout from a scandal over substandard conditions for wounded Iraq soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The escalating legal battles between county officials that erupted after the indictment of Supervisor Don Stapley have converged on the Mesa Republican’s secretary, who is now the subject of a criminal investigation and is being represented by a lawyer appointed by the county.

WASHINGTON - President Bush promoted his most trusted foreign policy adviser to Secretary of State on Tuesday, tapping Condoleezza Rice to replace warrior-turned-diplomat Colin Powell as part of a sweeping second-term Cabinet overhaul.

Were someone to draw a symbolic representation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s personality, it might be a picture of sharp-edged knives pointing in all directions.

December 20, 2004

BANGKOK, Thailand - The likelihood of a human flu pandemic is very high, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt warned Monday as he sought Southeast Asian cooperation to combat the spread of bird flu.

PULLMAN, Wash. - For the first time in a month, Arizona State's defense against the run was effective. Washington State gained 118 yards, about 70 below what ASU has allowed in its last eight games.

WARSAW, Poland - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal Wednesday to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, an agreement that prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former Soviet satellite.

TOKYO - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday the United States is ready to use the "full range" of its military might to defend Japan in light of North Korea's nuclear weapons test, and her Japanese counterpart drew a firm line against developing a Japanese bomb.

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush is looking at world hot spots from Baghdad to Pyongyang, without leaving Texas. Keeping up an annual tradition, Bush was meeting with his defense and foreign policy teams on Thursday at his ranch, where he is spending August.

WASHINGTON - Robert Gates, seemingly clinching confirmation as the new secretary of defense, said Tuesday the United States is not winning in Iraq and he's confident President Bush will listen to his ideas about forging a new war strategy.

The Obama administration’s challenge to the Arizona immigration statute SB 1070 is not about its popularity, or whether the statute is wise or unwise policy. Legislatures are permitted to enact laws thought unpopular or unwise by others. And as Chief Justice Roberts observed, and the administration’s lawyer agreed, the challenge is also not in any way about civil rights or racial profiling.

By failing to identify major cuts to the federal budget to the tune of $1.2 trillion, American Legion member George Cushing is concerned what the ineffectiveness of the congressional supercommittee could mean for national security and ensuring veterans receive benefits.

Cushing returned home this month from Washington D.C. after a meeting in the office of Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Bishop Thomas O'Brien's defense team revealed Thursday it has possession of a car that may have run over the pedestrian that the former leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix struck first in a fatal hit-and-run.

Dirk Koetter was on the phone when he heard a commotion inside the Arizona State football offices at the Carson Center.

WASHINGTON - Air defenses around the nation’s capital have been strengthened amid a heightened terrorism alert and a warning from CIA director George Tenet that al-Qaida attacks could occur as early as this week, defense officials said Wednesday.

With regard to Secretary Leon Panetta’s fear that reduced defense spending will “hollow out our military,” one must ask why there are currently over 196,000 American military troops stationed in 150-plus foreign countries. Does the money spent to deploy troops in this manner really help secure the shores of the United States of America?

Republicans are claiming that if Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry had had his way 20 years ago, the Apache attack helicopter never would have taken off from its production line in Mesa.

PULLMAN, Wash. - For the first time in a month, Arizona State's defense against the run was effective. Washington State gained 118 yards, about 70 below what ASU has allowed in its last eight games.

The case against state Rep. David Burnell Smith has been built largely on reports and statements made by the lawmaker in the fall of 2004 that he overspent on his primary campaign by up to $6,000.

SEOUL, South Korea - Japan and Washington agreed Friday to strengthen cooperation on missile defense amid concerns of a possible long-range rocket launch by North Korea, as U.S. forces wrapped up massive Pacific war games in a show of military might.

WASHINGTON - President Bush's 2007 budget seeks a nearly 5 percent increase in Defense Department spending, to $439.3 billion, with significantly more money for weapons programs, according to senior Pentagon officials and documents obtained by The Associated Press.