To end annual panic spending to use up the budget, HASC wants to let DoD keep 50% of unspent Operations & Maintenance funds – if the appropriators allow it. A floor flight looms.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Pentagon programs that claim they’re ‘agile’ rarely are, GAO data shows. But how well does a Silicon Valley software strategy translate to weapons programs?
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.If Amazon protests the Pentagon’s award of the $10 billion JEDI contract to rival Microsoft — and they almost certainly will — the president’s public feud with CEO Jeff Bezos will be central to their case.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.THE WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM, CA. 2025: “Where are the carriers?” “In the scrapyard, Mr. President. How about some submarines?” That’s a parody, not a projection. But this hypothetical future isn’t that far off from what experts from four top thinktanks — AEI, CNAS, CSBA, and CSIS — presented this morning as the “least unacceptable”…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: Turmoil, fear and a certain resolute grimness marked this week at the Pentagon and Capitol Hill. The military scrambled to cope with a range of new threats as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and the Pentagon leadership begin to grapple with the grim future posed by the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. Put it all…
By Colin ClarkDavid Berteau at the Center for Strategic and International Studies has penned a wise and pungent analysis of the fairly ridiculous defense budget unveiled today. He’s coined an excellent term to describe it — the Lost Year. Below you will find a somewhat shortened version of his piece, written with Ryan Crotty. Let’s hope Congress…
By David BerteauWASHINGTON: You think US defense spending is a mess? At least we’re not Europe. A study out Tuesday from the Center for Strategic and International Studies warned that a decade of shrinking forces and funding is likely to continue, threatening a European defense industrial base already burdened by inefficiencies, national rivalries, and governmental tendencies to…
By Otto KreisherWASHINGTON: Hey, you want Special Forces? The Army’s got your back. Want air defense Missile defense? Communications? Intelligence? Logistical support? Joint Task Force headquarters? Go Army! Just — just please, don’t cut our budget any more, okay? That was the subtext when Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno spoke this morning at the Center…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.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…
By Otto Kreisher