Hicks Is Biden’s Pick For Pentagon Deputy; Kahl For Policy

Hicks Is Biden’s Pick For Pentagon Deputy; Kahl For Policy
Hicks Is Biden’s Pick For Pentagon Deputy; Kahl For Policy

With over two decades in the Pentagon under Clinton, Bush, and Obama, Kathleen Hicks brings the civilian bureaucratic experience that retired Gen. Lloyd Austin sorely lacks. Neither has the political clout of a Jim Mattis or a Bob Gates.

NSC Staff Too Big, Too Activist: Top Former Generals, Officials

WASHINGTON: The Senate and House Armed Services committees’ push to review the foundational law underpinning today’s US military, known as Goldwater-Nichols, was given a boost today by a group of top former generals and mostly Democratic Pentagon officials. Their biggest takeaway: the National Security Council is too big and takes activist positions on military operations instead…

‘First, Do No Harm:’ SASC Begins Goldwater-Nichols Review

‘First, Do No Harm:’ SASC Begins Goldwater-Nichols Review
‘First, Do No Harm:’ SASC Begins Goldwater-Nichols Review

WASHINGTON: If there’s one congressional topic that makes the senior leaders of the US military really nervous, it’s when lawmakers start talking about reapportioning power and authorities among those same top leaders. Both Armed Services committee chairmen, Sen. John McCain and Rep. Mac Thornberry, have voiced concerns about how well the last major reforms, known as…

Pentagon Moves to Modernize Creaky Clearance & Security System – Again

Pentagon Moves to Modernize Creaky Clearance & Security System – Again
Pentagon Moves to Modernize Creaky Clearance & Security System – Again

WASHINGTON:  Spurred by the Navy Yard shootings, the Pentagon has effectively gone back to 1999 and is again considering slashing the number of people who get Secret and Top Secret clearances. The Defense Department also may engage in persistent monitoring of all cleared employees to make it harder for those with family or money troubles,…

LCS Lives! Mabus, Hamre Argue Littoral Combat Ship Will Survive Cuts

LCS Lives! Mabus, Hamre Argue Littoral Combat Ship Will Survive Cuts
LCS Lives! Mabus, Hamre Argue Littoral Combat Ship Will Survive Cuts

WASHINGTON: The LCS is dead, long live the LCS? The Navy’s controversial Littoral Combat Ship program is in good shape despite a 38 percent cut in the number of vessels the Pentagon plans to buy, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus insisted this morning at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. And he may be right.…

Obama’s Pacific Tilt Comes Under Fire

The Obama administration’s highly touted “rebalancing” of U.S. military forces to the Asia-Pacific region attracted a barrage of flak during a briefing at an influential Washington think tank Monday. A group of former senior defense and State Department officials criticized the Pacific tilt at the Center for Strategic and International Studies saying the U.S. lacked…

Former CNO, DepSecDef Fight To Stop Cuts To Navy’s Humanitarian Mission

WASHINGTON: Disaster relief, medical assistance, and other humanitarian missions can provide a low-cost way for the military to build US influence in Asia and elsewhere, a key part of the administration’s new national security strategy, but this “soft power” approach is complicated both by civilian aid groups’ suspicion of the military and by looming budget…

DepSecDef Lynn Going; Navy Sec Mabus Rises as Likely Pick

Washington: Few people doubted that Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn might go when Leon Panetta was announced as the Pentagon’s new leader. Then Lynn stayed for a bit and word went out that he would be with us for at least a while. Then an official announcement went out today suddenly announcing Lynn’s pending departure,…