Colin Clark
Indo-Pacific Bureau Chief
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. [email protected]Stories by Colin Clark
Omaha: What if you crafted an international nuclear arms agreement and didn’t get all the major nuclear powers to sign on? That’s sort of the position the United States finds itself in as it pursues an international code of conduct designed to encourage international space cooperation to limit space debris and encourage information sharing about…
By Colin Clark
Omaha: The White House plan to cut the size of the Ohio-class replacement submarine fleet just doesn’t hold water, according to a senior defense official and several Navy officers. The Office of Management and Budget wants the SSBN-X purchase to shrink from 12 to 10 boats. To compensate in part for the reduced number of…
By Colin Clark
Omaha: The head of both NSA and Cyber Command called today for more authorities to protect and defend America’s cyber networks, presumably an indication the Pentagon feels the need for the right to engage in offensive cyber operations. “We have to have more authority to defend ourselves in cyberspace,” Gen. Keith Alexander told roughly 1,000…
By Colin Clark
Capitol Hill: If you were to boil down a letter from Rep. Randy Forbes to Defense Secretary Leon about AirSea Battle, you might put in three words: Where’s the money? In a very polite Nov. 7 letter, Forbes asks Panetta how he planned to “make Congress part of” the process of implementing AirSea Battle. “More…
By Colin Clark
Dear Readers, Your informed views are one of the key tools you and we have in driving the debate about what America’s military should look like, what our strategy should be and what weapons we need — and don’t need. To ensure you get the best shot at offering your views and protecting your identity…
By Colin Clark
Pentagon: If you ever wanted to be left nonplussed, you would have been well advised to attend the press conference about Air-Sea Battle. We were told yesterday afternoon by three clearly intelligent defense officials that their new office — staffed by 15 people — would be a “focusing lens” for the services. Exactly what they…
By Colin Clark
UPDATED WITH PENTAGON RESPONSE Capitol Hill: Faced with a torrent of counterfeit parts that pose a serious risk to the lives of American servicemen and to the performance of sophisticated weapons, Sen. Carl Levin pledged today to push for new laws and policies to help curb the problem. Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services…
By Colin Clark
Washington: The White House Office of Management and Budget wants the Navy to reduce the number of SSBN-X submarines it buys from 12 to 10 boats but also to boost the number of missile launching tubes from 16 to 20. On the face of it, this might save the Pentagon $7 billion over the 15-year…
By Colin Clark
UPDATED: Washington: Northrop Grumman knows the Defense Weather Satellite System neck is stretched out beneath the Pentagon budget cutters ax. Advocates like defense consultant Loren Thompson are rushing out to defend it. The Air Force is getting ready to kill the satellite program, which is a stepchild of the late unlamented (except by Northrop) NPOESS…
By Colin Clark
AFP just published a very interesting account of secret NATO teams guarding Gaddafi’s weapons of mass destruction depots with bombs that were able to take out a car while leaving the occupants unhurt. Before Tripoli fell, NATO guarded his known chemical weapons depots from the air, maintaining near constant surveillance from them and ready to…
By Colin Clark
Boeing and Lockheed are locked in an enduring struggle over the sale of advanced fighters to the U.S. Navy and to other countries. The cost increases and schedule delays that have beset the Joint Strike Fighter program offered Boeing an appealing opening and they have leapt in. The F-18, they argue is a combat-proven aircraft…
By Colin Clark
Capitol Hill: If the Super Committee fails to make the budget cuts required by law — something almost everyone here now believes is likely — that will be really, really bad for the U.S. military. And it will probably open the door for a burgeoning China to fill the void of what might well become…
By Colin Clark
The Defense Information Systems Agency has certified the first secure mobile device running on the Android operating system. The Dell Streak 5 smart phone/small tablet computer is the first handheld device using the Android 2.2 operating system to be certified for use in the Defense Department’s secure but unclassified communications, said John Marinho, director of…
By Colin Clark
Washington: If the Super Committee or anybody else in America wants to know how important keeping faith with the troops is to Buck McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, all they need do is watch the webcast of today’s readiness hearing. They will see a fairly rare occurrence: one of the top defense…
By Colin Clark
Omaha: What if you crafted an international nuclear arms agreement and didn’t get all the major nuclear powers to sign on? That’s sort of the position the United States finds itself in as it pursues an international code of conduct designed to encourage international space cooperation to limit space debris and encourage information sharing about…
By Colin ClarkOmaha: The White House plan to cut the size of the Ohio-class replacement submarine fleet just doesn’t hold water, according to a senior defense official and several Navy officers. The Office of Management and Budget wants the SSBN-X purchase to shrink from 12 to 10 boats. To compensate in part for the reduced number of…
By Colin ClarkOmaha: The head of both NSA and Cyber Command called today for more authorities to protect and defend America’s cyber networks, presumably an indication the Pentagon feels the need for the right to engage in offensive cyber operations. “We have to have more authority to defend ourselves in cyberspace,” Gen. Keith Alexander told roughly 1,000…
By Colin ClarkCapitol Hill: If you were to boil down a letter from Rep. Randy Forbes to Defense Secretary Leon about AirSea Battle, you might put in three words: Where’s the money? In a very polite Nov. 7 letter, Forbes asks Panetta how he planned to “make Congress part of” the process of implementing AirSea Battle. “More…
By Colin ClarkDear Readers, Your informed views are one of the key tools you and we have in driving the debate about what America’s military should look like, what our strategy should be and what weapons we need — and don’t need. To ensure you get the best shot at offering your views and protecting your identity…
By Colin ClarkPentagon: If you ever wanted to be left nonplussed, you would have been well advised to attend the press conference about Air-Sea Battle. We were told yesterday afternoon by three clearly intelligent defense officials that their new office — staffed by 15 people — would be a “focusing lens” for the services. Exactly what they…
By Colin ClarkUPDATED WITH PENTAGON RESPONSE Capitol Hill: Faced with a torrent of counterfeit parts that pose a serious risk to the lives of American servicemen and to the performance of sophisticated weapons, Sen. Carl Levin pledged today to push for new laws and policies to help curb the problem. Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services…
By Colin ClarkWashington: The White House Office of Management and Budget wants the Navy to reduce the number of SSBN-X submarines it buys from 12 to 10 boats but also to boost the number of missile launching tubes from 16 to 20. On the face of it, this might save the Pentagon $7 billion over the 15-year…
By Colin ClarkUPDATED: Washington: Northrop Grumman knows the Defense Weather Satellite System neck is stretched out beneath the Pentagon budget cutters ax. Advocates like defense consultant Loren Thompson are rushing out to defend it. The Air Force is getting ready to kill the satellite program, which is a stepchild of the late unlamented (except by Northrop) NPOESS…
By Colin ClarkAFP just published a very interesting account of secret NATO teams guarding Gaddafi’s weapons of mass destruction depots with bombs that were able to take out a car while leaving the occupants unhurt. Before Tripoli fell, NATO guarded his known chemical weapons depots from the air, maintaining near constant surveillance from them and ready to…
By Colin ClarkBoeing and Lockheed are locked in an enduring struggle over the sale of advanced fighters to the U.S. Navy and to other countries. The cost increases and schedule delays that have beset the Joint Strike Fighter program offered Boeing an appealing opening and they have leapt in. The F-18, they argue is a combat-proven aircraft…
By Colin ClarkCapitol Hill: If the Super Committee fails to make the budget cuts required by law — something almost everyone here now believes is likely — that will be really, really bad for the U.S. military. And it will probably open the door for a burgeoning China to fill the void of what might well become…
By Colin ClarkThe Defense Information Systems Agency has certified the first secure mobile device running on the Android operating system. The Dell Streak 5 smart phone/small tablet computer is the first handheld device using the Android 2.2 operating system to be certified for use in the Defense Department’s secure but unclassified communications, said John Marinho, director of…
By Colin ClarkWashington: If the Super Committee or anybody else in America wants to know how important keeping faith with the troops is to Buck McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, all they need do is watch the webcast of today’s readiness hearing. They will see a fairly rare occurrence: one of the top defense…
By Colin Clark
