• The secretary of defense nominee pledged to re-recruit troops discharged over COVID-19 vaccine refusal.
• Over 8,400 troops were separated due to the vaccine mandate, which has now been rescinded.
• Hegseth said discharged troops should receive back pay, restored ranks, and an apology.

President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, pledged Tuesday to re-recruit troops forced out of the military for refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and said they would receive back pay, restored ranks, and an apology.

"Service members who were kicked out because of the experimental vaccine," Hegseth told lawmakers, "they will be apologized to. They will be reinstituted with pay and rank."

Hegseth, if confirmed by the Senate, would build on the groundwork laid by Trump, who told supporters last summer he would "rehire every patriot who was fired from the military," because of the vaccine mandate.

Over 8,400 troops were separated from the services after refusing to receive the vaccine following a lawful order from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in 2021. The Pentagon argued that the vaccines, similar to over a dozen others servicemembers receive, were crucial to military readiness.

The Pentagon reversed course and dropped the vaccine mandate in 2023 following a decision by Congress. At that time, it stopped separating troops who had not received the shot. Roughly 99% of the active-duty Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force had been vaccinated and around 98% of the Army. Guard and Reserve rates were lower but over 90%.

Sen. Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana, asked if Hegseth Tuesday if he would commit to "recruit these folks back" with back pay.

"I will commit to this because the Commander in Chief has committed to this," Hegseth replied. "Not only will they be reinstated, they will receive an apology, back pay, and rank that they lost because they were forced out due to an experimental vaccine."

Top military brass considered the possibility of providing back pay to troops after the vaccine mandate was repealed in early 2023, but Hegseth's remarks Tuesday drive home the incoming administration's intent to re-recruit separated troops back into the military. It's the first such indication since Trump won re-election.

Such a change could affect the Marine Corps, the DoD's smallest service, the most — of the roughly 8,400 troops discharged, 3,717 were Marines. For the other services, 2,041 were discharged from the Navy, 1,841 from the Army, and 834 from the Air Force.

Republicans have long criticized these separations, arguing they were unnecessary and detrimental amid US military recruitment struggles. The military, however, maintained that the mandate was a lawful order essential to readiness and the well-being of the force.

• Mario Carbone is the chef behind the iconic Italian restaurant Carbone.
• He gave me the recipe for a Bolognese pasta that's perfect for chilly winter nights.
• The pappardelle covered in a comforting sauce was packed with tons of flavor.

Carbone is one of the hottest restaurants in New York City, and it's almost impossible to get a table.

But you don't need a reservation to whip up some of Mario Carbone's dishes at home.

I asked the chef to share some of his favorite recipes. And with winter in full swing, Carbone thought it'd be the perfect time to whip up his comforting Bolognese.

Here's how to make it.

Chef Mario Carbone's Bolognese has three different types of meat to get you through chilly temperatures.

To make Carbone's Bolognese for six, you'll need:

• ½ pound ground beef
• ½ pound ground pork or veal
• ½ pound Italian sausage (out of casing)

Carbone told me he likes to add Italian sausage for his spin on the classic dish to give his Bolognese a "big pop of added flavor."

The recipe also features plenty of veggies.

• 1 cup onion, diced
• ½ cup celery, diced
• ½ cup carrot, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 ½ jars Carbone marinara sauce
• ¾ cup red wine
• ½ cup chicken stock
• ½ cup milk
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 ½ tablespoons salt
• ½ tablespoon thyme (chopped)

Carbone's recipe was developed with Carbone Fine Food to pair with one of the restaurant's sauces, which you can buy online and in grocery stores. Carbone's Bolognese features the marinara, but you can also try the tomato basil, roasted garlic, or arrabbiata.

If you don't have Carbone's sauce on hand, you can always opt for a similar marinara or just make your own. His sauce is made with Italian tomatoes (whole peeled tomatoes, tomato purée, sea salt, basil), along with onions, olive oil, sea salt, garlic, basil, crushed red pepper flakes, and oregano.

Before I started cooking, I prepped my veggies.

I diced my onion, carrots, and celery and set them aside.

Then, I threw some olive oil into a Dutch oven and added the ground beef.

I seared the ground beef over high heat for about three minutes, then drained it in my colander over a large bowl.

I separately seared the pork, followed by the sausage, for around the same amount of time.

As with the ground beef, I drained the pork and sausage in the colander after they had browned in the Dutch oven.

After I seared and drained all three meats, I made sure to season them.

I added half a tablespoon of salt and gave the meat a quick mix.

I drained the excess fat from my Dutch oven before adding the chopped garlic and thyme.

I constantly stirred my garlic and thyme for around two minutes over medium-low heat.

Then, I added the chopped carrots, celery, and onion.

I seasoned my veggies with half a teaspoon of salt and cooked them over low heat for another 15 minutes, until they turned soft.

I covered the Dutch oven while everything cooked, making sure to stir the vegetables every few minutes.

Once the vegetables were ready, I added the tomato paste and red wine.

First, I added the tomato paste and increased my stove to medium heat. I stirred constantly for two minutes to lightly cook the tomato paste, making sure it had completely mixed with the veggies.

Then, I poured the red wine into the Dutch oven and let it reduce until there wasn't much liquid left. I continued to stir often to ensure I didn't burn the wine and vegetables.

Once the wine had reduced, I added the browned meat back into the Dutch oven.

I stirred everything together as delicious scents began to fill up my kitchen.

I threw in my Carbone marinara sauce, along with the chicken stock and bay leaf.

I continued to cook everything for about 40 minutes, stirring every few minutes to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Then, it was time for some milk.

I added the milk and mixed everything together, allowing the sauce to simmer for another 10 minutes.

As the sauce was finishing up, I threw my pasta into a pot of salted boiling water.

Carbone recommends using pappardelle for his bolognese recipe.

Once the sauce was ready, I took the Dutch oven off the heat.

I removed the bay leaf and added another half tablespoon of salt to season everything.

Not letting the Bolognese sauce simmer too long is part of Carbone's twist on the classic dish.

"Usually, this recipe cooks all day," he told me. "But my style — which I find to be more Italian-American than true Emilia-Romagna style — leaves the meat with more texture, which reminds me of my childhood."

Everything was ready! So, I threw my pasta into the Dutch oven and mixed it with the Bolognese sauce.

If you've made more sauce than you need for one dinner, Carbone said you can store the Bolognese in the fridge for up to five days.

You can also freeze it for longer, just make sure to use freezer-safe bags.

The golden ribbons of pappardelle looked beautiful sitting in that rich Bolognese.

There's just something about a heaping bowl of thick pasta noodles in an even thicker sauce on a cold night. I instantly felt soothed as I admired the big bowl of pasta in front of me.

The bolognese took more time than many of the pasta recipes I usually prepare, but it smelled absolutely glorious.

Carbone's delicious Bolognese sauce made for a perfect winter pasta dish.

Carbone's recipe has the deep richness you'd expect from a Bolognese but still tastes light despite featuring three different types of meat. The sauce has a lovely, mild sweetness that lifts the entire dish.

"The different flavors don't compete with each other; they build on each other," my mom said approvingly as she finished her plate.

"I could really seduce a man with this recipe," my sister added as she went for seconds.

Carbone's Bolognese was so comforting and soothing on a gloomy night. It's the perfect recipe to help us get through winter — plus, who doesn't love a good bowl of pasta?

• The Air Force and Space Force must grow over the next two decades to counter emerging threats.
• China's rapid military advancements pose a significant challenge.
• The US is boosting cyber defenses and AI, with "machine speed" being necessary for some decisions.

Winning wars 25 years from now will hinge on achieving an edge in artificial intelligence and the ability to make certain decisions at inhuman speeds, the US Air Force's top civilian official said Monday.

Future war will be "highly automated, highly autonomous, action at long range, precision," and space will be a "decisive theater," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said. "Response times to bring effects to bear are very short."

Advances in technology, including the proliferation of sensor technology and machine learning, have led to the ability to execute complex kill chains on faster timelines. Maintaining a competitive edge demands change and further innovation.

"We're going to be in a world," Kendall said, "where decisions will not be made at human speed; they're going to be made at machine speed." Meeting that challenge will mean transforming the Department of the Air Force through AI to shield troops from a range of threats and prepare for higher-level combat.

Kendall's remarks on Monday at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event looking at Air Force plans for the future align with Air Force leadership visions for 2050.

A December 2024 report titled The Department of the Air Force in 2050 says that the "areas of conflict that move at speeds vastly exceeding human decision time constants, such as cyber warfare and electronic warfare, are likely to be dominated by AI technologies that assess events happening at unimaginably fast speeds and unimaginably small dimensions."

"These technologies will be used to make crucial decisions with no possibility of human intervention," the report says. "Victory or defeat in the air or in space at the human scale is likely to be determined by which combatant has fielded the most advanced AI technology in the areas most crucial to achieving victory."

The Air Force secretary has previously said that he doesn't think people who say that AI is "going to determine who's the winner in the next battlefield" are "all that far off."

What Air Force leadership says is needed for future fights

"China is doing everything it can to exploit the opportunities that emerging technologies are providing to field forces designed to defeat the United States in the Western Pacific, especially in space and in the air," the Air Force plans for 2050 say.

The Air Force and Space Force have expressed concern over the pace at which China has been developing military space capabilities, including a network of hundreds of military satellites that may assist in targeting troops, among other challenges.

"The joint force will not be able to go anywhere and do anything unless we can protect it from targetings in space," Kendall explained Monday.

A more powerful Space Force is a must to combat China's growing abilities, Kendall said. "We have to go from having a merchant marine [force] to essentially having a Navy," the secretary said, comparing where the force is today and where it needs to eventually be to civilian cargo mariners and armed naval forces.

The Space Force was established during the first Trump administration and remains in the early stages of development. But strengthening US technological capabilities doesn't stop there.

The US needs to boost defense against cyber-attacks while also increasing offensive capabilities, Kendall said, adding that he expects more developments on both fronts this year. That sentiment comes on the heels of a recent alarming hack of US telecommunications systems and the US treasury, allegedly by Chinese hackers.

Autonomous vehicles and aircraft are also expected to become more prolific and play a greater role in future wars. "The only open questions about autonomy are how fast it will mature and what form it will take," the Air Force said in its report on 2050.

"The direction is quite clear at this point," it said. "By 2050, we can reasonably expect autonomous vehicle operation to be the norm, in all domains."

The Air Force has already begun experimenting with AI-assisted flight navigation for some of its jets in anticipation of a space attack that could cripple satellite-based GPS communication. It is also developing uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft and experimenting with AI-piloted fighter aircraft, key developments amid Beijing's investment in its own air forces, which is gradually eroding American air supremacy.

Autonomous military platforms and other variants of AI rely so heavily on chip technology, which the Biden Administration has put new restrictions on.

"To enhance US national security and economic strength, it is essential that we do not offshore this critical technology and that the world's AI runs on American rails," read the White House announcement.

But one of the hardest challenges in the decades to come will be how American troops and machines work together at war, Kendall said. "We're gonna have to figure out how to manage this in a way which is cost effective, which is consistent with our values, which is militarily competitive."

And, he said, "I think that's gonna be a tough problem to resolve."

• Microsoft is laying off employees on teams, including security, sales and gaming.
• The layoffs are separate from cuts targeting underperforming employees across the company.
• In 2024 Microsoft said security was its No. 1 priority.

Microsoft is laying off employees across organizations including security, experiences and devices, sales, and gaming, according to two people familiar with the matter.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the layoffs are small but did not specify a figure and unrelated to the job cuts Business Insider recently reported targeting underperforming employees across the company.

One of the people familiar with the matter said employees started receiving notifications Tuesday about layoffs in Microsoft's security unit. The group is run by Charlie Bell, a former top cloud executive at Amazon, who stunned the industry when he left for Microsoft in 2021 to lead a revamped cybersecurity effort.

Microsoft expanded its Secure Future Initiative last year, making security the top priority for every employee. The change followed years of security issues at Microsoft, including what the Department of Homeland Security called "a cascade of security failures" that allowed Chinese hackers to access emails from thousands of customers.

The company also made security a core priority on which employees are evaluated during performance reviews.

"If you're faced with the tradeoff between security and another priority, your answer is clear: Do security." Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in an email to Microsoft employees last year.

Are you a Microsoft employee, or do you have insight to share? Contact the reporter Ashley Stewart via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-425-344-8242) or email ([email protected]). Use a nonwork device.