Mr. Williams said the Pentagon had paid about $1.2 billion to the contractors.

The Pentagon paid tribute to their power when it kept journalists away from the human beings at the other end of its bomb sights.

In June of last year, Congress told the Pentagon to pay the men what they were owed.

Congress sought to overcome that opposition by ordering the Pentagon to pay the men last year.

The Pentagon has always paid for most artificial-intelligence research.

The Pentagon is also paying more attention to other parts of Africa.

The Pentagon is counting on the more than $6 billion in annual savings to buy new weapons, pay salaries and insure proper training.

The Pentagon paid the airlines 8.5 cents a seat for each mile flown, a spokesman said.

With a budget that is holding steady at around $290 billion, the Pentagon can't pay for all the new weapons it is currently financing.

The Pentagon has at least paid lip service to the notion that reliability is a top priority.