The U.S. Navy said it had recovered eight of 11 passengers aboard a Navy transport plane that crashed into the western Pacific Ocean on Wednesday afternoon. The Navy in a tweet said the eight rescued people, who are in good condition, are on board the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier as the search for the three others missing continues. The C-2 twin-propeller plane was bringing passengers and cargo from Japan to the USS Ronald Reagan, operating in the Philippine Sea during a joint U.S.-Japan naval exercise.

A military judge decided Bowe Bergdahl should serve no prison time for abandoning his post in Afghanistan, which led to his capture by the Taliban. The judge gave Bergdahl a dishonorable discharge, reduced his rank to private, and ordered him to forfeit pay equal to $1,000 per month for 10 months. Bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy and faced up to life in prison. Prosecutors sought stiff punishment because some service members were wounded in the search for Bergdahl after he disappeared in 2009.

WASHINGTON—Top Trump administration officials warned lawmakers Monday night against repealing the longstanding use of military force authorizations. There is growing bipartisan momentum to strike down the measures passed by Congress in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and in 2002 before the start of the Iraq War. Lawmakers want to replace those with a new authorization specifically targeting terror groups. But Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the old authorizations still hold merit.

A federal court in Washington on Monday blocked President Donald Trump from changing the military’s policy on transgender service members. In August, Trump ordered a ban on any new transgender enlistments but left it up to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to set policy for current personnel. Mattis has directed top military leaders to allow transgender people to reenlist and continue to serve for now. U.S.

WASHINGTON—Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, promised on Monday to provide more details about the Oct. 4 attack in Niger that left four U.S. service members dead. But during an afternoon news conference he offered little new information about what he called a “complex” situation. “We owe the families and the American people transparency and we intend to deliver just that,” Dunford said. At least 800 U.S. soldiers are in Niger supporting a French-led mission to defeat regional terror groups Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram.

WASHINGTON—While President Donald Trump and the widow of a U.S. soldier who died in Niger continue their public feud, lawmakers are raising questions about how and why the military operation that killed Sgt. La David Johnson went wrong. Johnson was one of four soldiers killed Oct. 4 in an ambush in Niger. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told MSNBC on Sunday he wasn’t aware the United States had 1,000 soldiers stationed in Niger until the attack.

UPDATE: President Donald Trump’s comments this week about contacting families of fallen soldiers continues to elicit reactions from some involved. Cowanda Jones-Johnson, the mother of fallen soldier Sgt. La David Johnson, came to the defense of her daughter-in-law on Wednesday, saying she was in the car with her son’s widow when the president called on Tuesday and overheard Trump saying that Sgt. Johnson “knew what he signed up for.” Trump continues to deny the report.