These are huge strategic challenges — and Ryan McCarthy is emphasizing them more than any of his predecessors in at least a decade.

“The US is doing far more than its allies in coming to grips with causing civilian harm,” a human rights NGO representative who has met with Pentagon leaders said. Still, the gap between government estimates and those from groups on the ground is often wide. 

This day remains a special marker for all Americans, our friends, allies and our adversaries. It stands on its own, emblazoned in our minds.

Ground robots still lag drones, but the Army thinks both technologies are ready to field to frontline units, just at different levels.

The Pentagon’s new Special Ops leader is looking to the defense industry for help in meeting peer adversaries, but he also has a bone to pick.

The Army can cope with regional dangers like Iran even as it refocuses on Russia and China, the secretary said. In fact, he said, the Army’s controversial modernization program will help with both sets of threats.

The Army wants to keep its options open on upgrading its heaviest cargo helicopter. Boeing is worried the window of opportunity — and its factory — will close before the Army makes up its mind.

The Army’s rebuilding to face China and Russia. That may leave programs designed over the past decade for COIN operations in the dust.

No Army vice-chief has won the top job since Eric Shinseki. But Gen. McConville brings some unique credentials.

Shanahan spent much of his first formal (albeit off-camera) Pentagon pressroom briefing as SecDef emphasizing continuity with his ousted predecessor, Gen. Jim Mattis. He made a point of praising Mattis’s National Defense Strategy, America’s allies, and even the press – not exactly favorites of President Donald Trump.