At her first opportunity to do so, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan banned military recruiters from campus during her tenure as dean of Harvard Law School, in protest over the Pentagon's policies on gays.

Ms. Kagan's defenders insist the nominee was simply following the law as it worked its way through the courts, but Ms. Kagan banned the recruiters as soon as an appeals court in 2004 struck down a law tying federal funding to allowing military recruiting on campus. She acted despite the court's order that the ruling not take effect until the Supreme Court reviewed the case...

The 7-foot-tall metal cross that has stood in California's Mojave Desert for 75 years and withstood a hard-fought battle in the Supreme Court was ripped down and stolen Sunday night, according to state officials.

"This is an outrage, akin to desecrating people's graves," said Kelly Shackelford, president of the Liberty Institute, which represents the caretakers of the Mojave Desert War Memorial. "It's a disgraceful attack on the selfless sacrifice of our veterans. We will not rest until this memorial is re-installed."

The National Park Service says someone cut the metal bolts holding the metal-pipe cross to the top of Sunrise Rock and made off with it Sunday night or before dawn on Monday...

As Elena Kagan's liberal stance has been noted among conservatives, the nation's largest public policy women's organization says President Obama's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court considers her own views more important than national security.

Concerned Women for America (CWA) expressed its concerns about Kagan even before President Obama announced her nomination to the high court Monday. CEO Penny Nance notes that rather than name someone who would unite opposing sides, the president chose an extreme leftist who is best known for banning military recruiters from the Harvard University campus when she was dean of the law school there...

(CNSNews.com) – Solicitor General Elena Kagan, nominated by President Obama to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, has called the military’s ban on homosexuals “a profound wrong” and “a moral injustice of the first order.”

Kagan made the comments while serving as dean of Harvard Law School during the 2005 controversy over whether Congress could withhold federal funding from universities that discriminate against the military. Kagan joined a friend-of-the-court brief opposing the government.

“I abhor the military’s discriminatory recruitment policy,” Kagan wrote in an email to Harvard Law students on October 6, 2003. “This [policy] is a profound wrong – a moral injustice of the first order. And it is a wrong that tears at the fabric of our own community, because some of our members cannot, while others can, devote their professional careers to their country”...

A law firm that defends and promotes Christian heritage and moral values is encouraging members of Congress to defend the current statute that denies homosexuals eligibility to serve in the military.

President Barack Obama has called for a repeal of the 1993 law, which has been often mislabeled as "don't ask, don't tell" but actually states that homosexuals are ineligible to serve in the military. Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), contends that there is no constitutional right to serve in the military...

(CNSNews.com) – While the Obama administration is pushing to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy regarding homosexuals in the military, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told CNSNews.com that he wants to hear from military commanders and not from politicians regarding the issue, and added that he will not make a “political decision” to “reward a political movement.”

On Capitol Hill, CNSNews.com asked Sen. Graham, ‘Will officially allowing gays in the military hurt recruitment, in your opinion, or will it help recruitment?”

Graham said, “Well, you know, that’s a question I’d like to hear from our military commanders. A couple of questions about changing the policy, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ – Is it coming from within the ranks or are the people in the military suggesting it be changed, or is it a political decision?”....

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. high-powered airborne laser weapon shot down a ballistic missile in the first successful test of a futuristic directed energy weapon, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on Friday.

The agency said in a statement the test took place at 8:44 p.m. PST (11:44 p.m. EST) on Thursday /0444 GMT on Friday) at Point Mugu's Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range off Ventura in central California.

"The Missile Defense Agency demonstrated the potential use of directed energy to defend against ballistic missiles when the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile" the agency said....

(CNSNews.com) – Two Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee told CNSNews.com that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy concerning homosexuals serving in the military has worked and should not be repealed at this time. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), however, said that his “intuition” told him that changing the policy would help military recruitment.

Under "don't ask, don't tell" the military does not ask new recruits (as it once did) to certify that they are not homosexual. However, it remains illegal and a cause for separation from the service to engage in homosexual activity while serving in the military.

At the U.S. Capitol last week, CNSNews.com asked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, “Will officially allowing gays in the military affect recruitment?”

McCain said, “I’m not sure. I do know that the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy has worked very well.

A conservative military watchdog is personally troubled about a recent Defense Department decision to allow military health facilities to stock the "morning-after pill."

The DoD announced that it will begin making the morning-after pill (Plan B) available at all of its hospitals and health clinics around the world. The Washington Post reports that the decision by the Obama administration reverses the policy of his predecessor. Pro-abortion advocates had long pushed the White House to allow the sale of the morning-after pill on military facilities.

Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, conveys her feelings on the matter. "My organization does not take a stand specifically on abortion, so I'm speaking of my personal view right now," she explains.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon will unveil steps next week that the military will take to lay the ground for a repeal of its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which permits gays to serve in uniform as long they hide their sexual orientation, officials said on Thursday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, will present an "implementation plan" to U.S.