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.
cclark@breakingmedia.com
BUCKLEY AFB: Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work told reporters today that ISIL is under tremendous pressure from the United States — “from every single direction, the north, the east, the west and the south” — and the terrorist group has lost every engagement with allied forces over the last six months. That apparently includes in cyberspace.…
COLORADO SPRINGS: Declaring the words in the headline, a junior congressman from Oklahoma who has stepped into a void of space leadership in the House, Rep. James Bridenstine, boldly told a jaded audience of senior space officials, diplomats, enthusiasts and the aerospace industry today that America “must forever be the preeminent spacefaring nation.” Bridenstine unveiled his American…
Ash Carter’s bold step of opening the Pentagon’s unclassified websites to hacker attacks –HackerOne — deserves coverage. We held off on reporting about the Pentagon’s new effort to encourage hackers to help the US military until we got an assessment from someone whose judgment we trust, with experience in the darkest corners of the cyber world.…
WASHINGTON: After more than 15 years of discussion, sharpened recently by the grim realities of complex wars and terror threats, the Pentagon and Congress are poised to remake the laws and policies that govern the U.S. military, known as Title X and Goldwater-Nichols. Donald Rumsfeld and Congress were poised to start that process when a…
One of the Capitol’s top defense lawmakers, Rep. Randy Forbes, will write an exclusive monthly opinion piece for Breaking Defense. What topics will he cover, Pentagon and industry leaders may want to know? Well, Forbes chairs the House Armed Services seapower and power projection subcommittee. That puts him smack in the middle of the debate…
CAPITOL HILL: The experiments underway by the Air Force, the National Reconnaissance Office and the rest of the space-centric Intelligence Community under the auspices of the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center (JICSPOC) are clearly demonstrating how much space warriors need to change the way they do business. That was the unspoken but logical conclusion of…
WASHINGTON: The senior leadership of the US military knows that genetically modified humans — stronger, faster, or better at altitude — and intelligent machines that could kill without remorse and with enormous efficiency, are two of the thorniest policy nettles they must grasp. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work firmly grasped that nettle today, saying the United…
PENTAGON: The United States and its allies have turned the tables on Daesh and the battle for Mosul is joined. While the battle will be grim and long, those opposed to the nihilists, murderers, rapists and apostates also known as ISIL now possess the momentum that had for so long been with the other side.…
PENTAGON: If you want to know how impassioned the head of the largest conventional weapons program in the world can get, then you should have been in the conference room here with reporters today. Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, who has wrestled the F-35 program back from the brink when it was a target of fury and ridicule, told reporters…
CORRECTED: Model of the F-18. It’s an A. CAPITOL HILL: House defense Republicans really do seem worried that US weapons are so old, new gear so rare and training dollars so short that US troops may soon begin paying the ultimate price for the military’s creaky state after 15 years of war. As with every problem, you need…
WASHINGTON: China, which continues to militarize the fake islands it’s creating in the South China Sea, may get uninvited to RIMPAC, the biggest naval exercise in the world. Rep. Mark Takai of Hawaii told Defense Secretary Ash Carter during yesterday’s House Armed Services Committee posture hearing that he will introduce language into the House version of…
It is with trepidation — and a stubbornly persistent sense of hope — that we report that a group of California venture capitalists have bought my alma mater, Defense News, as well as Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps Times and Federal Times. They also laid off several top people there. Vago Muradian, host of Defense News…
CAPITOL HILL: Rep. Mac Thornberrry’s proposed legislation to help fix Pentagon procurement was unveiled with a background press briefing by staff members, who touted its benefits of “transparency” and “accountability.” But some staff believe the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s legislation may not be as exciting or as fundamental as was said in the briefing.…
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…
One of the Capitol’s top defense lawmakers, Rep. Randy Forbes, will write an exclusive monthly opinion piece for Breaking Defense. What topics will he cover, Pentagon and industry leaders may want to know? Well, Forbes chairs the House Armed Services seapower and power projection subcommittee. That puts him smack in the middle of the debate…
By Colin Clark