Rerum Novarum // Intel, Breaking News, and Alerts 🇺🇸

🇺🇸⚡️- Maryland Gov. Wes Moore claimed a Bronze Star on his 2006 White House Fellowship application and let it stand for years. His superior says Moore did not receive it in Afghanistan, undercutting his “honest mistake” and lost paperwork defense. A ceremony photo shows Moore receiving an Army Commendation Medal instead. His supervisor, James Gottschling, says that award matched Moore’s service: half a deployment at brigade headquarters, mostly inside the wire, without commanding soldiers in combat. He says the role offered virtually nothing that could merit a Bronze Star. Moore’s mentor, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, first said he saw an approved award packet, then claimed verbal approval. Army awards require signed permanent orders, and none has surfaced. Moore knew before leaving Afghanistan that he had not received the medal, yet the claim went uncorrected for nearly two decades. Only after the controversy erupted did Moore receive a retroactive Bronze Star in 2024 through a process led by Fenzel.