Monday Night Fever: Why HASC Will Host Mattis At 7 PM

Monday Night Fever: Why HASC Will Host Mattis At 7 PM
Monday Night Fever: Why HASC Will Host Mattis At 7 PM

WASHINGTON: When it comes to Congress, Jim Mattis is making up for lost time — even if it means testifying at strange times. In an unprecedented sprint to make up for a delayed roll-out of the 2018 budget, the defense secretary and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Joseph Dunford, will appear before all…

Congress Must Act On Huge Saudi Arms Sales

Congress Must Act On Huge Saudi Arms Sales
Congress Must Act On Huge Saudi Arms Sales

Congress should use its considerable power under U.S. law to compel Trump administration officials to answer a basic question about the $110 billion package of arms sales to Saudi Arabia: Does it serve the U.S. national security interest at this specific time? If the answer is no, then Congress should oppose it. While many may…

NGA To Offer Data To Industry For Partnerships

NGA To Offer Data To Industry For Partnerships
NGA To Offer Data To Industry For Partnerships

GEOINT: It all began over very old old Scotch at New York’s famed Explorer Club. The top two leaders of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Robert Cardillo and Susan Gordon, met with Anthony Vinci, now NGA’s director of plans and programs, to discuss ways to get more value from the agency’s incredibly valuable pools of…

No 350-Ship Navy From This Trump Budget

No 350-Ship Navy From This Trump Budget
No 350-Ship Navy From This Trump Budget

WASHINGTON: All hands, brace for disappointment. The president’s promised naval buildup won’t begin in the 2018 budget out next week — or maybe ever. Sure, before the election, candidate Donald Trump promised a 350-ship Navy. Sure, just this morning, House Speaker Paul Ryan repeated the 350 figure. Sure, this week the Chief of Naval Operations…

Thornberry Reform Bill Directs Pentagon to Just Buy Commercial Products Online

Thornberry Reform Bill Directs Pentagon to Just Buy Commercial Products Online
Thornberry Reform Bill Directs Pentagon to Just Buy Commercial Products Online

CAPITOL HILL: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry’s third attempt to improve how the Pentagon buys weapons aims to simplify defense procurement and cut down on waste by using commercial buying methods. It directs the Pentagon to use online marketplaces such as Grainger, OfficeMax or Staples to buy items that currently are acquired…

DoD Wastes Billions On Outdated Technology, 809 Panel Tells HASC

DoD Wastes Billions On Outdated Technology, 809 Panel Tells HASC
DoD Wastes Billions On Outdated Technology, 809 Panel Tells HASC

The Pentagon acquisition system has gotten so bad that it is undermining the nation’s military and literally obstructing modernization efforts, a panel of independent advisers told the House Armed Services Committee today. Representatives of the congressionally-mandated “809 panel” painted an alarming picture of the state of defense procurement. The panel delivered an interim report to the…

Beyond LCS: Navy Looks To Foreign Frigates, National Security Cutter

Beyond LCS: Navy Looks To Foreign Frigates, National Security Cutter
Beyond LCS: Navy Looks To Foreign Frigates, National Security Cutter

[UPDATED with Sec. Stackley comments] WASHINGTON: The Navy is seriously considering derivatives of foreign designs and the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter for its new frigate, after three years pursuing an upgraded version of its current Littoral Combat Ship. The shift has shaken up the industry, panicking some players, while others quietly reposition: Wisconsin’s Marinette Marine,…

Deadlock: Mattis Vs. White House On Pentagon Nominees

Deadlock: Mattis Vs. White House On Pentagon Nominees
Deadlock: Mattis Vs. White House On Pentagon Nominees

WASHINGTON: Chronic conflict between Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the Trump White House has hobbled the nomination process for top Pentagon posts, a source familiar with the Trump personnel team tells Breaking Defense. In several cases, the source said, the Trump team recommended nominees with extensive experience and bipartisan respect — Rep. Randy Forbes, Sen. Jim Talent…

LCS: HASC Seapower Chair Praises Frigate Delay

LCS: HASC Seapower Chair Praises Frigate Delay
LCS: HASC Seapower Chair Praises Frigate Delay

CAPITOL HILL: The Navy’s decision to slow down its LCS frigate program is “reassuring,” the chairman of the House seapower subcommittee said yesterday evening. Delaying contract award from 2019 to 2020 gives the service more time to do “due diligence” on the designs, Rep. Rob Wittman told reporters after a hearing on the Littoral Combat…

Hill Intel Committees Order DNI, NSA/CyberCom Review

Hill Intel Committees Order DNI, NSA/CyberCom Review
Hill Intel Committees Order DNI, NSA/CyberCom Review

Ever since the day of its creation, critics have slammed the Office of Director of National Intelligence as an expensive and unnecessary bureaucracy, a threat to the longtime primacy of the Director of Central Intelligence and a toothless tiger. Much of that changed during the joint tenures of DNI Mike McConnell and SecDef Bob Gates…

Key SAC-D, SASC Senators Push More LCS

Key SAC-D, SASC Senators Push More LCS
Key SAC-D, SASC Senators Push More LCS

WASHINGTON: Eight senators sent a letter Friday to Defense Secretary James Mattis, urging him to request all three Littoral Combat Ships originally planned for the 2018 budget. While eight percent of the Senate may seem small, the bipartisan co-signers — four Republicans, four Democrats — include five members of the appropriating and authorizing and  committees for…

Trump Taps HASC Staffers For Intel & Europe Jobs

Trump Taps HASC Staffers For Intel & Europe Jobs
Trump Taps HASC Staffers For Intel & Europe Jobs

WASHINGTON: While reports that he may have violated the law swirl around disgraced former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn today, the White House moved to fill a few more of the very large number of empty offices of senior Pentagon officials. For our readers, the key appointment is of Kari Bingen, who apparently was nominated to…

GAO Nitpicks Marine Amphibious Combat Vehicle: A 4-Month Delay?

GAO Nitpicks Marine Amphibious Combat Vehicle: A 4-Month Delay?
GAO Nitpicks Marine Amphibious Combat Vehicle: A 4-Month Delay?

UPDATED: Adds GAO rebuttal WASHINGTON: The latest GAO report on the Amphibious Combat Vehicle may reveal more problems with GAO’s approach than with the Marine Corps program. While the Government Accountability Office does its usual solid work on the numbers, when it recommends delaying production by four months to do additional testing, it’s acting from an excess…

LCS Frigate: Delay A Year To Study Bigger Missiles?

LCS Frigate: Delay A Year To Study Bigger Missiles?
LCS Frigate: Delay A Year To Study Bigger Missiles?

UPDATED with Clark comment on shipyards WASHINGTON: The Navy needs to delay a year before awarding the roughly $9 billion contract for the upgraded frigate version of the Littoral Combat Ship, because it needs more time to thrash out cost estimates and detailed designs, says congressional watchdog GAO. The Government Accountability Office has said this before,…