2018 Budget Battle Between Defense, Budget Hawks Begins; Nukes Top Priority

2018 Budget Battle Between Defense, Budget Hawks Begins; Nukes Top Priority
2018 Budget Battle Between Defense, Budget Hawks Begins; Nukes Top Priority

CAPITOL HILL: The Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee thinks President Trump’s 2018 spending plan is dead on arrival and has already gone to the Budget Committee to get a much bigger defense budget. Mac Thornberry also doesn’t want defense increases offset by steep cuts to the Coast Guard or State Department, as Trump proposed. Thornberry…

Randy Forbes Still Long Shot For SecNav; Mattis Not A Fan

Randy Forbes Still Long Shot For SecNav; Mattis Not A Fan
Randy Forbes Still Long Shot For SecNav; Mattis Not A Fan

CAPITOL HILL: Rep. Randy Forbes still has plenty of fans, but Sec. Jim Mattis apparently isn’t one of them, which makes Forbes a long shot for Secretary of the Navy. Yes, the withdrawal of Philip Bilden’s nomination for SecNav reopens Forbes’ path to the position, even triggering an endorsement from The Wall Street Journal. But it’s…

Thornberry Says HASC Would Oppose Year-Long CR

Thornberry Says HASC Would Oppose Year-Long CR
Thornberry Says HASC Would Oppose Year-Long CR

CAPITOL HILL: “I do not think a year-long CR will pass the House,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry told reporters this afternoon. Full-year CRs aren’t that common, but the last few years have usually seen Congress, incapable of passing timely appropriation bills — which is one of their most basic and important jobs — instead passing a…

With Trump, Congress Can Kill Sequester: Thornberry

With Trump, Congress Can Kill Sequester: Thornberry
With Trump, Congress Can Kill Sequester: Thornberry

CAPITOL HILL: Can Congress finally break the logjam of the Budget Control Act and increase spending on defense? Yes we can, said the cautiously optimistic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Why are the chances any better this year than for all the failures since 2011? Because, Rep. Mac Thornberry told reporters this morning,…

Mattis Orders Air Force One, F-35 Reviews As Trump Opens Door To $60B DoD Budget Boost

Mattis Orders Air Force One, F-35 Reviews As Trump Opens Door To $60B DoD Budget Boost
Mattis Orders Air Force One, F-35 Reviews As Trump Opens Door To $60B DoD Budget Boost

WASHINGTON: After weeks of uncertainty and mounting evidence that only larger deficits were the path to a significant boost to the US military, President Trump has signaled the fiscal spigots will be opened in the interests of a larger and more capable US military. “I think it’s significant in signaling this is a priority among the…

McCain Says Trump OMB Pick Pits ‘Debt Against Military’

McCain Says Trump OMB Pick Pits ‘Debt Against Military’
McCain Says Trump OMB Pick Pits ‘Debt Against Military’

WASHINGTON: It’s an intriguing scenario. Senate Democrats join with GOP defense lawmakers to derail the nomination of Rep. Mick Mulvaney to be the powerful director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. It felt possible today as Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pressed Mulvaney on whether he would…

Trump’s ‘Debt Bomb’: Deficit May Grow, Defense Budget May Not

Trump’s ‘Debt Bomb’: Deficit May Grow, Defense Budget May Not
Trump’s ‘Debt Bomb’: Deficit May Grow, Defense Budget May Not

WASHINGTON: “Trump is going to explode the debt,” GOP pundit Mackenzie Eaglen said. “What you’re going to see is a debt bomb.” While the new president wants to grow the military, rebuild infrastructure, and cut taxes, Eaglen said, his plan to fund all that that through steep domestic spending cuts “is complete fantasy” that will…

Best Of 2016: President Trump

Best Of 2016: President Trump
Best Of 2016: President Trump

The biggest shocker of the year was how Donald Trump’s candidacy for president evolved from marginal to “deplorable” to victorious. But what kind of president will Trump be? While Trump’s tendency to tweet from the hip has upset the defense industry and foreign allies alike, his statements on the campaign trail and, above all, his…

It’s Time to Take Donald Trump Seriously

It’s Time to Take Donald Trump Seriously
It’s Time to Take Donald Trump Seriously

Donald Trump is going to be president, notwithstanding the handwringing in the national security policy community about whether they should agree to serve in his administration (here, here, here, here, here).   Concerns are understandable given Trump’s unorthodox campaign and often extreme statements.  But there is an element of hubris in these commentaries and in discussions I…

Trouble For Trump: Fixing Sequester, DoD Budget May Be A ‘Bloodbath’

Trouble For Trump: Fixing Sequester, DoD Budget May Be A ‘Bloodbath’
Trouble For Trump: Fixing Sequester, DoD Budget May Be A ‘Bloodbath’

SIMI VALLEY, CALIF.: “I don’t how we buy it back without a real bloodbath,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham. “It” is the $500 billion, 10-year cut to defense spending imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011, popularly (mis)called sequestration. Graham, one of Donald Trump’s harshest critics in the GOP, is not alone in thinking the…

HASC Leaders Press To Keep House In Town Til NDAA Passes

HASC Leaders Press To Keep House In Town Til NDAA Passes
HASC Leaders Press To Keep House In Town Til NDAA Passes

UPDATED: Republicans Abandon Spending Bills; McCain Says “Madness Needs To End” WASHINGTON: The defense policy bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, is the crowning glory of Congress when it comes to the most fundamental function of the federal government: providing for the common defense. To that end, we understand a letter by Rep. Joe Wilson, chairman…

Wynne Mulled For DepSecDef; Trumpers Reject Ayotte

Wynne Mulled For DepSecDef; Trumpers Reject Ayotte
Wynne Mulled For DepSecDef; Trumpers Reject Ayotte

WASHINGTON: A top candidate for the Pentagon’s No. 2 position is Mike Wynne, the former Air Force Secretary who has been an advisor to Donald Trump for some time. We only have one source on this and can’t identify the source in any way, so put this one in the good rumor basket. Wynne was…

Trump Will Not Always Get What He Wants From GOP Congress

Trump Will Not Always Get What He Wants From GOP Congress
Trump Will Not Always Get What He Wants From GOP Congress

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump visited the White House this morning for the first time in an official capacity as the initial shock of his election as president of the United States began to wear off. You could tell it was wearing off because Congress already began to remind Trump of the limits of his power. At first, the Republicans…

Trump’s Pentagon, Trump’s World; Defense Stocks Soar

Trump’s Pentagon, Trump’s World; Defense Stocks Soar
Trump’s Pentagon, Trump’s World; Defense Stocks Soar

WASHINGTON: Hope for the best; prepare for the worst. It’s a standard military prescription for dealing with a sometimes hostile and usually unpredictable world. It’s also what an African-American chum told me this morning was his plan for life under President Trump. This guy is a fellow Chicagoan and Cubs fan, so he knows how to…