The Gray Rhino in space: US must update military requirements for satellite cyber defense

The Gray Rhino in space: US must update military requirements for satellite cyber defense
The Gray Rhino in space: US must update military requirements for satellite cyber defense

In this op-ed, former vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Sandy Winnefeld and former Air Force Materiel Command head Ellen Pawlikowski call for greater, more flexible cybersecurity options for space systems.

Smart Mines, A Smaller Army, & The Trump Buildup That Won’t Happen: Winnefeld

Smart Mines, A Smaller Army, & The Trump Buildup That Won’t Happen: Winnefeld
Smart Mines, A Smaller Army, & The Trump Buildup That Won’t Happen: Winnefeld

SAN DIEGO: Trump’s promised defense budget boost probably won’t materialize, the former Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said today, so we can’t afford to grow a larger military. Instead of more ships and troops, retired Adm. James Winnefeld said in a rare public appearance, the military should prioritize investment in new ideas. His own service,…

HASC Mulls Nunn-McCurdys For Operations & Support Costs

HASC Mulls Nunn-McCurdys For Operations & Support Costs
HASC Mulls Nunn-McCurdys For Operations & Support Costs

CAPITOL HILL: Nunn-McCurdy notifications to Congress of gross cost growth in a weapons system’s costs strike fear in the hearts of top Pentagon acquisition officials, and something like them may become law for a new set of costs — operations and support. “They should be the next frontier for acquisition reform,” former DoD Comptroller Bob…

Joint Staff Studies New Options For Missile Defense

Joint Staff Studies New Options For Missile Defense
Joint Staff Studies New Options For Missile Defense

CAPITOL HILL: Minds are changing inside the Pentagon when it comes to the best ways to stop missile attacks, the Army’s top missile defender said this morning. It’s not just that the Joint Staff is conducting a major study of the subject, due out next month, said Lt Gen. David Mann. It’s that a “holistic” array…

Hill, CSIS Seek New Defenses For ‘A New Missile Age’

Hill, CSIS Seek New Defenses For ‘A New Missile Age’
Hill, CSIS Seek New Defenses For ‘A New Missile Age’

WASHINGTON: With new missile threats proliferating worldwide, both the House and Senate versions of the annual defense policy bill push new approaches to missile defense such as laser weapons and “boost phase” defenses that shoot down missiles just after launch. That’s also why one of Washington’s foremost thinktanks has launched a new program on the problem.…

Work Elevates Electronic Warfare, Eye On Missile Defense

Work Elevates Electronic Warfare, Eye On Missile Defense
Work Elevates Electronic Warfare, Eye On Missile Defense

UPDATED: Kendall & Kaminski Comments On EW Spending, New EW Council WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is creating a new high-level council to direct all Pentagon electronic warfare programs, Deputy Secretary Robert Work said this morning. The Pentagon’s top weapons buyer and the Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will lead the group, which will make permanent a top-level focus…

The Phantom 2016 Budget: What Will Congress Grant?

The Phantom 2016 Budget: What Will Congress Grant?
The Phantom 2016 Budget: What Will Congress Grant?

UPDATED: Adds HASC Chair And Ranking Reactions; Quotes Deputy Secretary Bob Work On Congress, Budget, Strategy PENTAGON: The Obama administration wants to increase the money spent on weapons in 2016 by $14.1 billion over what Congress approved in December. It’s a rare move by an administration to increase procurement so vigorously. In fact, the two largest…

Nuclear Woes Drive $7.5B Increase; DepSecDef Work Takes On Nuke Oversight

Nuclear Woes Drive $7.5B Increase; DepSecDef Work Takes On Nuke Oversight
Nuclear Woes Drive $7.5B Increase; DepSecDef Work Takes On Nuke Oversight

PENTAGON: It isn’t official but Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work hinted today that the United States will undertake a fundamental reordering of its national security budget by paying for new nuclear submarines, new nuclear bombers and new ICBMs in new accounts set aside just for them. “This is something we have discussed in the department,” Work…

HASC Hammers DepSecDef Over OCO Counter-Terror Fund

HASC Hammers DepSecDef Over OCO Counter-Terror Fund
HASC Hammers DepSecDef Over OCO Counter-Terror Fund

CAPITOL HILL: It was a bad day to be Bob Work. At his first public hearing before Congress as Deputy Secretary of Defense, Work received a bipartisan battering from a House Armed Services Committee deeply dissatisfied with the administration’s $58.6 billion request for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding. At issue was not the $53.7 billion…

Trust, Not Tech, Big Problem Building Missile Defenses Vs. Iran, North Korea

Trust, Not Tech, Big Problem Building Missile Defenses Vs. Iran, North Korea
Trust, Not Tech, Big Problem Building Missile Defenses Vs. Iran, North Korea

WASHINGTON: Missile defense is notoriously technically challenging, but sometimes the biggest problem isn’t tech, but trust. Even the most advanced systems can’t stop Iranian or North Korean missiles if America’s allies can’t cooperate to integrate those systems into a regional defense, because ballistic missiles can move too fast and far for a single country to…

The Army’s Plan For Cyber, One Bright Spot In Its Budget

The Army’s Plan For Cyber, One Bright Spot In Its Budget
The Army’s Plan For Cyber, One Bright Spot In Its Budget

WASHINGTON: In an Army budget outlook that’s otherwise as grim as television tuned to a dead channel, there is one bright spot: cyberspace. “You know, we say that ‘flat is the new growth’ in DoD,” Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. James “Sandy” Winnefeld, said at yesterday’s Bloomberg conference. “[Even] special operations forces”…

Can DoD Bust Sequester Caps? Rep. Smith Skeptical, Rep. Forbes Hopeful

Can DoD Bust Sequester Caps? Rep. Smith Skeptical, Rep. Forbes Hopeful
Can DoD Bust Sequester Caps? Rep. Smith Skeptical, Rep. Forbes Hopeful

WASHINGTON: The administration has spent the last 48 hours insisting they would not in good conscience submit a Pentagon budget that kept under current spending caps, that national security simply needs more money. This afternoon, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, said more money almost certainly isn’t coming. (Note:…

The Army’s Mission For 2014: Holding Its Ground

The Army’s Mission For 2014: Holding Its Ground
The Army’s Mission For 2014: Holding Its Ground

Yesterday’s Senate passage of the budget deal took $20 billion worth of pressure off the Pentagon. But for the Army the deal just dials the pain back down from “agonizing” to “acute.” The largest service has more to lose in the post-war drawdown (which happens to have begun before the war is actually over). In…

VCJCS Winnefeld Tells Army: Forget Long Land Wars

VCJCS Winnefeld Tells Army: Forget Long Land Wars
VCJCS Winnefeld Tells Army: Forget Long Land Wars

ARLINGTON: A candid Vice-Chairman of the Joint Staff delivered some tough messages to the Army yesterday and got in a few swipes at Congress and “the political leadership” in general. Adm. James “Sandy” Winnefeld’s  raised the most hackles among the serving and retired officers gathered at the headquarters of the powerful Association of the US Army…