President Obama announced in his State of the Union address that national security programs would not be subject to his proposed spending freeze. But that hasn’t stopped Pentagon officials from placing what they consider to be outdated military programs in the budgetary icebox.
In its master planning document for More…
President Obama signed the 2010 defense appropriations bill into law this morning, following a brief bit of legislative theater by Republicans who wanted to hold it hostage to delay health reform. Tom Ricks goes through the bill and finds it only marginally relevant to national security:
Josh Rogin finds this video of Gen. David Petraeus, at a security conference last week in Bahrain, publicly speculating about an airpower confrontation between the United Arab Emirates and Iran. I am not exactly sure why he’s doing this, nor do I know what the context is, so I’ll More…
Wow.
Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes’ systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet —
Another aspect of the Obama administration’s Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy that went unacknowledged over the past three days’ worth of congressional hearings is the role of unmanned missile-equipped drones used ostensibly on militants in Pakistan. Those drones, a highly sensitive intelligence program, never had any hope of being discussed in open More…
Don’t miss this mammoth USA Today investigation into retired generals and admirals receiving heaps of Pentagon cash for occasional “mentoring” work to their previous service branches — usually while they’re receiving not only their duly-earned pensions, but also generous military contractor dollars. Tom Ricks, who thinks the piece ought More…
Two senior military officers from the shadowy world of Special Operations are playing a large and previously unreported role in shaping the Obama administration’s Afghanistan and Pakistan strategy, a move that underscores that the internal debate has moved past a rigid choice between expansive missions to provide security for Afghan More…
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.)’s amendment to strip funding for the F-22 fighter jet passed five minutes ago on the Senate floor. Levin’s office recorded the vote as 58 in favor and 40 against. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has just won his first major legislative fight over More…
The F-22 fight notwithstanding, David Axe reports that a recent Air Force document on the future of the service’s investment in unmanned aircraft entertains the possibility of pilotless drones to replace all piloted planes by mid-century. As David writes, the document doesn’t say that such More…
In this corner: President Obama, Defense Secretary Bob Gates, (reluctantly) the service secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force, this very smart Air Force captain, Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), and the current threat environment the U.S. faces. In that corner: Rep. More…
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