A failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to strike a $1.5 trillion budget cut deal, or a later decision by Congress to reject the plan, could lead to automatic and devastating consequences for the nation’s military and the defense industrial base, a Pentagon spokesman warned.
If either More…
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 But that hasn’t stopped Pentagon officials from placing what they consider to be outdated military programs in the budgetary icebox.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:
Speaking of cybersecurity, Naval blogger Galrahn has a fascinating take on last week’s big Wall Street Journal story about insurgents in Iraq using an off-the-shelf $26 hack to intercept video feeds from U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles. It’s actually an opportunity, he explains:
From a cyber warfare perspective, the
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…
A mysterious, and mysteriously detailed, email criticizing President Obama’s feckless decision-making during the Somalian pirate standoff has been making the rounds in the usual circles. But according to Louis Hansen, the email is probably bunk. It’s credited to retired Rear Adm. Lou Sarosdy, who says he didn’t write it. More…
Ironic as it may appear, Naval reformers think the successful rescue of Maersk Alabama captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates may have highlighted structural imbalances in the U.S. Navy’s ability to handle irregular warfare — just as difficulties experienced in Iraq and Afghanistan awakened the U.S. Army to counterinsurgency requirements.
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Don’t know who Ray Mabus is? I don’t blame you. He’s a former Mississippi governor whom President Obama nominated last week to become secretary of the Navy. If you can name the last four secretaries of the Navy, you … probably work for or serve in the Navy. Point being More…
The Pentagon’s report yesterday that the conditions at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp meet all the requirements of the Geneva Conventions, was, not surprisingly, met with a mixture of skepticism and downright hostility.
Adm. Patrick Walsh reported that based on more than 100 interviews over 13 days, inspections of More…
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