Eleanor Watson

New: The USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier will deploy to U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility, the major combatant command overseeing American military operations against Iran, sources told @JimLaPorta @ellee_watson and me. @CBSNews

NEW -- Hegseth drops two Black and two female Army officers from promotion list to be a general, prompting allegations of racial and gender bias w/@GregJaffe, @helenecooper, @Adamentous nytimes.com/2026/03/27/us/…

Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs @MBA_AlThani_ Meets US War Secretary @SecWar Washington | March 26, 2026 HE Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani has held talks with HE United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to discuss strategic cooperation between the two countries. The meeting took place in Washington on Thursday and focused on ways to support and develop defense and security collaboration amid regional challenges. Both sides stressed the importance of continued coordination and consultation on regional issues to promote security and stability locally and internationally. #MOFAQatar

The Army confirms the helicopter involved is from the CA Air National Guard, telling our @ellee_watson: “The Army is aware of the incident involving a Black Hawk from the CA NG and is coordinating with the FAA to gather more details.”

WHCA Creates New Scholarship Honoring The Late Mark Knoller @nyuniversity, his alma mater. @CBSNews whca.press/2026/03/26/whc…

Per @ellee_watson U.S. Southern Command targeted an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean today, killing four individuals. This brings the total number of killed to at least 163 in at least 47 strikes since September. x.com/Southcom/statu…

READ: Several questions to President Trump today in the Oval Office, mostly about Iran. ED O'KEEFE Q: On Iran, Can you give us any more sense of who exactly in Iran, either you or Witkoff, are speaking with? TRUMP: I hate to say this in front of these young people. (Looks at Markwayne Mullin) They're not children. I spoke to most of them, they sound like adults to me, even though they are sort of children, right? They'll always be your children. But I hate to say it, but we killed all their leadership. And then they met to choose new leaders, and we killed all of them, and now we have a new group. And we can easily do that, but let's see how they turn out. It'--- we have really, regime change. You know, this is a change in the regime. Because the leaders are all very different than the ones that we started off with, that created all those problems. So this was, I think we can say, Jason, this is regime change. ED Q: What makes you trust them? TRUMP: I don't trust anybody. I don't trust you. That's only because I know you, but if I didn't know you, I'd probably have more trust. But I don't trust that. Why do you-- why do you say that? Why do you say what makes you-- do you think I trust them? I don't trust them. ED Q: Well then why bother talking to them? TRUMP: *shrugs* Because they're gonna make a deal. They're gonna make a deal. They did something yesterday, that was amazing actually, they gave us a present, and the present arrived today. It was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money, and I'm not going to tell you what that present is. But it was a very significant prize, and they gave it to us, and they said they were going to give going to give it. So that meant one thing to me, we're dealing with the right people. ED Q: Was it nuclear related? TRUMP: It wasn't nuclear related, it was oil and gas related, and it was a very nice thing they did. But what it showed me is that we're dealing with the right people. Because, you know, you don't know, because the leadership was killed, all gone, Khamenei, all gone, as the expression goes the past, supreme leader. And then the new Supreme Leader was racked up, at a minimum, racked up pretty good. And everyone else was gone. And then many of the people in the third tier are gone, but we're dealing with a group of people that I think turned out. And the present, the gift they made to us, was very significant, and they said they were going to do it and it happened. And they're the only ones that could have done it. @JenniferJJacobs Q: Was it related to the Strait of Hormuz? TRUMP: Yeah, it was related to the flow, to the Strait. Jennifer Q: Are you negotiating on who is going to control the strait from now on? TRUMP: No, we're going to-- we'll have control of anything we want. Look, if we can end this without more lives being done, without knocking out $10 billion electric plants that are brand new, the apple of their eye, I'd like to be able to do this, yeah. But we-- they can't have certain things. I mean, you know the things, I'll have to go over the list. But again, it starts with no nuclear weapons, and they've agreed to that. There won't be any nuclear weapons. and they're not going to have enrichment, any of those things. But look, I hate to say that we're in a very good bargaining position. I position until that last missile is fired, little power, but we are in about the best bargaining position. We're way ahead of schedule. And again, they have no navy, they have no air force, and they have no missile protection, and most of their missiles are gone, most of their launches. We've killed, we've killed about 82% of their launches. So even if they had a missile, they can't launch it. We've been very fat. We have the greatest military in the world. Nobody even comes close. We have the best military equipment in the world

AP: Hundreds of designers, clerks and technicians went on strike Monday in Maine at one of the U.S. Navy’s largest shipbuilding contractors. apnews.com/article/navy-s…

🚨🚨NEW: @realBobWoodward tells me that because some LONGTIME TOP SOURCES have died, he can reveal surprising new stories in his long-awaited memoir, "Secrets," out 9/29 Woodward told me: "Some of the best sources are deceased, and I can tell those stories now" 👇More backstory

New from @JenniferJJacobs and me at @CBSNews - Amid Iran talks, Strait of Hormuz dotted with about a dozen Iranian mines, U.S. officials say. Specifically, Iranian-made Maham 3 and Maham 7 Limpet Mines. cbsnews.com/news/strait-of…

As the war with Iran enters its fourth week, much of its stockpile of enriched uranium is believed to be inside an underground complex near the city of Isfahan, deep beneath mountains. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin talks with physicist David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, about the risks involved if the U.S. tries to seize this near-weapons grade material. cbsn.ws/3NmvBhg

Married to one woman for nearly 60 years, Mueller was a U.S. Marine Corps officer for three years during the Vietnam War. During his service, he led a rifle platoon and was awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and two Navy Commendation Medals.

🧵@pkcapitol is a legendary Congress watcher, one of the best to ever do it. Honored for my @BPC_Bipartisan work on Congress's tipping point w/ J.D. Rackey to be cited in his final WaPo column. 🔗⬇️

I am genuinely curious, has there been a case in history where a country has removed sanctions on the country it is actively bombing? reuters.com/business/energ…

A federal judge has struck down some of the Defense Department's strict controls on how journalists with access to the Pentagon are allowed to report — ending a policy that caused many news outlets to leave the Pentagon. @CBSNews cbsnews.com/news/judge-str…

Pentagon's restrictions on press violate the first and fifth Amendment, a federal judge rules.

Shipbuilding in the United States has been in shambles due to decades of shortsighted policies and neglect. Today, the U.S. rolls out about three large cargo ships a year while China does around 1,000. The Trump administration has called this a national security crisis. Sunday.

NEWS: Pentagon officials have made detailed preparations for deploying U.S. ground forces into Iran, multiple sources told @CBSNews. @ellee_watson @JimLaPorta and me cbsnews.com/news/trump-adm…

I am sadly among the layoffs at CBS News today. Many wonderful journalists have influenced my 3+ years here, & I'll miss them dearly. Working logistics on the DC desk and with national security & justice teams, I'll be looking for my next space. My email is nick.kurtz27@gmail.com

I'm among those laid off by CBS News today. This is a tough business, but I'm proud of the work these last few years covering campaigns, elections and Congress. Will be looking for what's next, email is reporterwoodall@gmail.com