Colin Clark, the founding editor of Breaking Defense, is now our Indo-Pacific Bureau Chief, based in Sydney, Australia. In addition to his foundational efforts at Breaking Defense, Colin also started DoDBuzz.com, the world’s first all-online defense news website. He’s covered Congress, intelligence and regulatory affairs for Space News; founded and edited the Washington Aerospace Briefing, a newsletter for the space industry; covered national security issues for Congressional Quarterly; and was editor of Defense News. Colin is an avid fisherman, grill genius and wine drinker, all of which are only part of the reason he relishes the opportunity to live in Australia.
WASHINGTON: The American Civil Liberties Union, those card-carrying folks, have come straight out in opposition to CISPA, the House cybersecurity bill. The ACLU cited the Obama administration’s “veto threat” in its statement, released soon after the 288-127 bipartisan vote in favor of the bill. But the administration’s veto threat is pretty squishy, if past Obama […]
CAPITOL HILL: The rumor has been rife for weeks: Cyber Command is about to be elevated to a command equal to the powerful regional combatant commands such as Central and Pacific Commands. This would make what many observers regard as the natural maturation of the increasingly important command, as well as its separation from the […]
The GPS network continues to prove its unmatched reliability, and it’s only getting stronger.
Envelope that tested positiver for Ricin sent to Sen. Roger Wicker, Mississippi Republican, AP reports. Sigh. Let’s hope there’s only one. @colinclarkaol
CAPITOL HILL: Readers won’t often read about Reductions In Force in Breaking Defense because they usually aren’t strategically significant, but the latest Air Force announcement that 1,000 civilians face lower pay, new jobs or may lose their jobs is indicative of the service’s dire budget straits — before sequestration. Congress, which has been hearing rumors […]
CAPITOL HILL: There’s a new chairman in town on the HASC’s powerful tactical air and land forces subcommittee, the sometimes fiery Michael Turner of Ohio, and he’s got his sights set on right on the Army and the Defense Department’s industrial base practices. Turner, best known as a vigorous advocate for missile defense and his […]
DIA has moderate confidence North Korea “has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles, however reliability will be low” @colinclarkaol
Reducing cognitive overload on warfighters while improving “time to trust” for autonomous systems is a matter of design.
UPDATED: Air Force General Praises CHIRP, Hosted Payloads COLORADO SPRINGS, NATIONAL SPACE SYMPOSIUM: After almost a decade of discussion, hope and frustration, the time appears to finally be ripe for what the space industry calls hosted payloads, the Remora fish of satellites. The Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, which has long been wary […]
Last year’s MIP funding — including OCO dough — was $19.2B. Today’s figure of $14.6 billion huge drop from 2010 figure of $27 billion. @colinclarkaol
Military Intelligence Program budget for FY14 is $14.9 billion, DoD says. Does not include OCO money for DoD intel, department says. @colinclarkaol
Bell Helicopter has unveiled what may become what everyone hoped the V-22 Osprey would be, a tiltrotor able to operate at high altitudes for long ranges and with easily managed downwash. The new aircraft, to be known as the V-280 Valor, is the company’s offering for the Army’s Future Vertical Lift technology demonstration program. FVL […]
Knowing when to build on commercial systems and when to develop something new can be the difference between parity and information dominance.
COLORADO SPRINGS, NATIONAL SPACE SYMPOSIUM: Spend $5 million to help track possible threats like North Korean missile launches by leaving an Alaskan radar site on at full power. Turn off East Coast radar receivers that provide data about satellites and space debris. Gen. William Shelton, head of Air Force Space Command, has cut Space Fence […]
COLORADO SPRINGS, NATIONAL SPACE SYMPOSIUM: Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee, met recently with China’s equivalent of the NSA director. The head of the PLA’s General Staff Department’s Third Department told the congressman — in whose district the NSA’s headquarters sit — he wanted to cooperate with the United […]
COLORADO SPRINGS, NATIONAL SPACE SYMPOSIUM: The Boeing Company, better known for building big satellites in clean rooms and charging big prices for them, has spotted what it thinks may be a sweet spot in the satellite market and plans to build prototypes of three small satellites to show the market what it can do. The […]
Seoul on alert. Pyongyang declares “state of war” w South, “has blocked access to Kaesong and threatened a nuclear attack on America: FT sez @colinclarkaol