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: Sequestration and other Pentagon budget woes have been complicated by “neo-isolationists on the far left and far right, and members who are out of touch with what is going on in the world,” Sen. John McCain told several hundred journalists and defense industry officials today. America needs lawmakers “who understand we live in a […]
SAC makes 671 cuts to “unnecessary or under-performing programs” for DoD; FY 2013 OCO and base = $604.9 billion in their CR, out tonight. @ColinClarkAOL
The GPS network continues to prove its unmatched reliability, and it’s only getting stronger.
In a shift with potentially enormous strategic implications, China recently surpassed the US as the world’s largest net oil importer, as the US produces more and consumes less while Chinese demand steadily increases. US net oil imports have fallen from a peak of 13 million barrels per day in October 2006 to under 6 mmb/d […]
CAPITOL HILL: If there’s one command — a very important one — that must worry about the short term impact of sequestration, it’s Strategic Command, those who command three of the most important weapon systems we deploy — nuclear weapons, cyber and space. Roughly 60 percent of STRATCOM’s headquarters staff do not wear uniforms. And, […]
WASHINGTON: The entire F-35 fleet has been cleared to resume flying only one week after being grounded for the second time this year. In vintage Pentagonese, this is how the return to flight was announced today to Capitol Hill: “Upon completion and compliance with the immediate action Time Compliant Technical Directive (TCTD) issued this week […]
UPDATED: With Obama Statement WASHINGTON: Regardless of how sequestration happens, Chuck Hagel will have the honor of serving as the Defense Secretary who presides over the beginning of the major drawdown that will be the single defining characteristic of the American military for much of the next decade. The Senate just approved Hagel by a […]
Why edge and endpoint security can’t be an afterthought.
UPDATED: Adds NAVAIR Letter And JSF JPO, Lockheed Statements AFA Winter, Orlando: What happens when all the top brass of the Air Force are attending a top conference on a Friday afternoon? Their biggest program, the Joint Strike Fighter, gets its entire fleet grounded because of a crack in a turbine blade. Details began trickling […]
AFA Winter, ORLANDO: The latest looming casualty to the congressional budget mess is Boeing’s KC-46 tanker contract, which is in peril unless Congress approves roughly $1 billion in funding. If you want some idea of just how much uncertainty and confusion sequestration and the Continuing Resolution are generating, this latest mess is a good example. […]
UPDATED: Added Capitol Hill Reaction AFA Winter, Orlando: Imagine if someone told you 70 percent of all American combat aircraft would not be ready to fly in time of war by July. That’s just what Air Force Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh told some 600 people attending the Air Force Associations’s annual […]
WASHINGTON: The People’s Liberation Army regularly outsources its hacking, encouraging and co-opting young Chinese programmers to hack and steal information for the greater glory of China’s ruling elite and the state, Breaking Defense has learned. While very few people will discuss details of the operations, three sources with direct knowledge of the Chinese attacks say […]
Reducing cognitive overload on warfighters while improving “time to trust” for autonomous systems is a matter of design.
CAPITOL HILL: Senate Republicans have mounted a filibuster against former senator Chuck Hagel, the president’s nominee for Defense Secretary. That’s according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Senate’s top Democrat made an impassioned speech decrying the move, calling it “tragic” and noting this had never happened before. Initially, it looked as if a GOP […]
CAPITOL HILL: In one of the least salubrious displays of partisan rancor in a long time on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the defense policy panel sent Chuck Hagel’s nomination to the Senate floor on a straight party-line vote, 14-11. In a hearing that, at times, had faint echoes of the infamous anti-Communist witch hunt […]
Sen. Levin praises #Hagel with vote soon for his support for Israel, stand on Iran. Sez #NorthKorean test etc bad time for no SecDef now @colinclarkaol
Chuck #Hagelnomination will come to vote tomorrow @ 2:30pm. Sen. Carl Levin, #SASC chairman, intends to hold vote right after. @colinclarkaol