National Security/Pentagon Reporter with The Associated Press in D.C.; Granite State/Lakes Region native; Proud Michigan State Spartan; Go Sox! Go Pats!
Washington, D.C.
Joined January 2010
- Tweets3.6K
- Following234
- Followers12.4K
- Likes372
Trump’s Name Must Stay Off Kennedy Center, Judge Rules nytimes.com/2026/09/15/arts/… via @NYTimes
Lolita Baldor retweeted
Le nom du lac Ontario tire son origine du mot wendat « Ontari’io », qui signifie « le lac est beau, le lac est grand ».
Ce nom remonte à plus de 400 ans, bien avant la Confédération canadienne et la Déclaration d’indépendance des États-Unis d’Amérique.
Nous savons que les États-Unis sont en train de changer. Leurs relations commerciales, leur politique étrangère, leurs monuments nationaux, leurs hydronymes.
Les Canadiennes et les Canadiens savent aussi qu’il faut appeler les choses par leur nom, et ce lac se nomme Lac Ontario – aujourd’hui et pour toujours.
Lolita Baldor retweeted
Scoop! - Reuters has seen the terms of reference for the Pentagon's troop review in NATO, which aims to decide how many forces will remain in Europe and where. Here are some key takeaways:
1) Moving fast: Hegseth will get at least four sets of options by Nov. 6. Options will include things like variations in the number of forces, locations of forces, speed of adjustments and the cost of adjustments.
2) By Sept. 18, Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby will get a key decision briefing from EUCOM's Gen. Grynkewich where they'll go over options for development.
3) The terms of reference says the review seeks to guarantee reliable U.S. access, basing and overflight rights, called ABO, in allied NATO nations. But they also they examine space, cyber and "intelligence architectures and infrastructure that enable U.S. global power projection," the document says.
4) The document says the Pentagon will seek to determine whether allies have a credible path to meet their NATO spending pledges and fill in gaps to NATO crisis forces — known as the NATO Force Model — after U.S. reductions were announced earlier this year.
And there's more....
Lolita Baldor retweeted
President Trump is playing right into Kim Jong-Un's hands. Our alliance with South Korea is critical to U.S. security and announcing a decision to unilaterally scale back joint exercises, over social media, all while touting a "very good relationship" with Kim, is a gross miscalculation.
Trump is rewarding a regime that sends weapons and troops to fight for Russia and has a long history of cooperation with Iran. Undermining our allies while making concessions to our adversaries is not a show of strength—it only emboldens those who threaten us.
Lolita Baldor retweeted
BREAKING - (Reuters) - Trump says he has instructed the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea in a social media post that also mentions Seoul's refusal to take part in actions against Iran.
U.S. to Withdraw Subpoenas Issued to New York Times Journalists nytimes.com/2026/07/23/busin… via @NYTimes
Lolita Baldor retweeted
Hegseth strikes 7 from promotion list:
Rear Adm. Amy Bauernschmidt, the first woman to command one of the Navy’s 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, was pulled off the list.
nytimes.com/2026/07/14/us/he…
Lolita Baldor retweeted
Hegseth Strikes Female and Black Navy Officers From Promotion List. The result: a slate of 22 new one-star admiral nominees that bears little resemblance to the force these officers will help lead.
Of special note: The list has no women. w/ @katekelly
nytimes.com/2026/06/01/us/po…
Lolita Baldor retweeted
This is the first meeting in memory by a #SOUTHCOM commander and a Cuban military delegation at the edge of Gitmo.
Lolita Baldor retweeted
In December, President Trump called for me to be investigated, arrested, and hanged over a 90-second video that restated existing law.
My lawyer's advice was straightforward: go quiet. Keep your head down. This will blow over.
But in this administration, the reality is that keeping your head down does not keep you safe. Staying quiet when power comes after you does not make the threat go away. It just teaches the people making the threat that it works.
When a president can call for the arrest and execution of a sitting senator for quoting the law, and the expected response is silence, that's a problem that goes way beyond me. That affects every American who works in government, every journalist, every ordinary citizen who might speak up.
A grand jury of ordinary Americans looked at this situation and said no. They understood what was at stake, and I think most Americans do.
We refuse to accept that this is the new normal.
This moment isn't really about me. When the administration is willing to go after a senator this way, it sends a message to every American who might speak up. That should concern people in both parties.
Lolita Baldor retweeted
Breaking: The New York Times has filed a second lawsuit against the Defense Department, this time challenging the escort requirement for journalists covering the Pentagon.
Lolita Baldor retweeted
I stand with David (AKA "Ed") Sanger. @SangerNYT
ALT “Reporting isn’t treason. It’s foundational to a free press and the work that America’s founders wrote the First Amendment to protect. That includes making clear when the claims of government officials and the reality of their actions don’t line up. Our reporters, in this case, have been working carefully to provide the public with the fullest possible understanding of the reality of the military action in Iran. We will continue this important, constitutionally protected work.” — Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesperson for The New York Times
Lolita Baldor retweeted
We had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it would take “years” to replenish some of these stockpiles. That’s not classified, it’s a quote from you. This war is coming at a serious cost and you and the president still haven’t explained to the American people what the goal is.
“Captain” Mark Kelly strikes again.
Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received.
Did he violate his oath…again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review.
Lolita Baldor retweeted
WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - Two out of three Americans think President Trump has not clearly explained why the country has gone to war with Iran, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday.
Lolita Baldor retweeted
“The Court cannot conclude this Opinion without noting once again what this case is really about: the attempt by the Secretary of Defense to dictate the information received by the American people, to control the message so that the public hears and sees only what the Secretary and the Trump Administration want them to hear and see. The Constitution demands better. The American public demands better, too.”
reuters.com/world/us-judge-o…
Lolita Baldor retweeted
Breaking news: A judge found that the Defense Department’s revised “interim” policy unconstitutionally sidestepped his earlier ruling. That ruling found that the department’s press policy violated the rights of the New York Times and one of its reporters.
wapo.st/4cxJnam
Lolita Baldor retweeted
I was far, far from perfect in either job I held at OSD PA. But at least I never had a federal judge rule that one of my memos violated the First Amendment.
So I got that goin’ for me. washingtonpost.com/business/…
Hegseth loses again in court —. Federal judge finds Pentagon is violating court order to restore access to reporters
apnews.com/article/pentagon-…
Lolita Baldor retweeted
@SenatorSlotkin is a former top Pentagon official who the Trump administration tried and failed to indict for urging troops not to knowingly follow illegal orders.
The President of the United States is taking his threats against the Iranian people to new extremes. Targeting civilians en masse would be a clear violation of the law of armed conflict as laid out in the Geneva Conventions, as well as the Pentagon's Law of War Manual.
This kind of focus on civilians is exactly what we accuse our adversaries of doing and what our military trains to avoid. It’s built into the rigorous drilling and routines that our military are trained on from their first weeks. If they are today or have been asked to do things that violate the law and their training, it puts them in very real legal jeopardy.
I know that our service members up and down the chain of command know their duty and the law to refuse illegal orders. Even as the Commander-in-Chief tells the world otherwise. It’s moments like these that are why we made the video to service members last year. And I hope and believe our troops — especially those in command — will have the moral clarity to push back if they are given clearly illegal orders.
