Tom Bowman

President Obama gave one of his final news conferences as president on Friday. Here, NPR reporters provide context on five different Obama quotes.

Michael Flynn was a celebrated Army intelligence officer, though he was forced out of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He's known for energy and smarts, and for sharing conspiracy theories.

President-elect Donald Trump has already picked two former generals, Michael Flynn and James Mattis, for top positions and is considering at least one more, David Petraeus.

At a rally in Cincinnati on Thursday night, Donald Trump said he would select retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis to lead the Defense Department, filling a key role in the incoming administration.

Speaking to a crowd in Cincinnati where he celebrated his win in Ohio, Trump compared Mattis to World War II Gen. George S. Patton and said a formal announcement of his nomination would come Monday.

The retired general was one of the first ex-military officers to back Donald Trump. His brazen comments and partisan political work trouble some of his former colleagues.

As Iraqi forces move into Mosul, they face resistance from ISIS fighters. In Syria, local forces have started an operation to recapture Raqqa, the defacto capital of ISIS.

Members of Congress and veterans groups are outraged that the California National Guard is forcing thousands of veterans to pay back bonuses they might have been wrongfully paid during the Iraq War.

In Iraq, the battle for control of Mosul, the country's second largest city, has been raging for almost a week. There are differing narratives coming from the Pentagon and the front lines.

The Pentagon was expected Friday to announce the identity of an American service member killed in Iraq while helping to support the offensive against Mosul. NPR's Tom Bowman tells us more.

A U.S. official says the Navy has destroyed three radar locations in Yemen after missiles were fired at a U.S. destroyer off the Yemeni coast.

When a Pentagon official proposed flexible schedules at a town hall meeting, "They actually laughed at me," she says. But the schedules went into place. The military also now allows 1 to 3 years off.

The U.S. publicly accused Russia of being behind the hacking of the Democratic Party, electoral meddling and other cyber-mischief, reflecting a major decision to openly "name and blame" Moscow.

The attack on Saturday in eastern Syria, which had been targeting Islamic State militants, hit Syrian soldiers instead, according to the Russian military.

A U.S. airstrike on Syrian military forces aligned with Bashar Assad has challenged the already tenuous cease-fire in Syria.

Investigative documents reveal abuse of recruits at the Marine training center at Parris Island, S.C., including a drill sergeant accused of ordering a Muslim recruit into a clothes dryer, where he was burned. NPR takes a look at this incident and whether there is a pattern of abuse inside the Marines.

If the Syrian cease-fire holds for the next week, the U.S. and Russia will for the first time coordinate airstrikes against ISIS and the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the drone has become America's go-to weapon when it comes to tracking and killing extremists. But drones have raised many legal, moral and ethical issues.

Donald Trump unveiled some of his most detailed proposals yet for how he would tackle national security as president. He specified numbers of troops, numbers of ships and other goals. But his proposals would cost billions more than the Pentagon currently receives and require action by Congress to lift budget caps that today constrain spending.

Vice President Joe Biden is in Turkey for meetings with the country's president. It's the highest level U.S. visit to Turkey since a failed coup attempt there that led to a crisis in U.S. relations.