[Updated 2:00 pm with Boeing comment] The chairman of the House subcommittee on strategic nuclear forces slammed the Obama Administration today for what he called its lackadaisical approach to missile defense in the face of rising threats from North Korea, Iran, and – implicitly – China. “We all know that the world is getting less… Keep reading →

A telling graphic from the International Institute for Strategic Studies’s newly released report on global military spending (click here for the original). The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has released its annual series of reports on international defense spending, The Military Balance 2012. The full text is subscriber-only, but a summary press release, detailed… Keep reading →

The Chinese National People’s Congress has announced its new defense budget, offering the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) yet another double-digit increase, with funding up 11.2 percent this time. Officially, this amounts to a $106 billion defense budget, although most observers believe that China’s real defense budget is probably twice that much, if not more. In… Keep reading →

Should the U.S. military focus on China as its potential enemy number one? That argument that erupted on the first day of the Marine Corps’ annual wargame, Expeditionary Warrior 2012. At a panel to prep wargame participants – not just Marines but military officers and civilians from 15 countries – experts ran through an alarming… Keep reading →

CORRECTED CAPITOL HILL: Debate over a little-known international maritime treaty is heating up on Capitol Hill in light of the Pentagon’s military buildup in the Western Pacific. Senate Armed Services Committee member Jim Inhofe said yesterday he plans to call formal hearings on the Senate’s decision not to ratify the so-called “Law of the Sea.”… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: A number of House Republicans are lining up against the Obama administration’s effort to extend reductions in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon and Mike Turner sent a letter to the White House today, opposing a new National Security Council study exploring plans to reducing the arsenal “up to… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: The U.S. relationship with China is not the top priority for the likely commander of Pacific Command. Instead, North Korea tops the list, followed by America’s ties with its Pacific allies. China, as a country, comes third. The listing of priorities clearly reflects the volatile nature of the North Korean regime, made only… Keep reading →

NATO HEADQUARTERS: The People’s Republic of China and NATO hold little known high-level consultations, usually twice a year. “We have had regular exchanges with the Chinese. They are not frequent,” James Appathurai, NATO’s deputy assistant secretary general for political affairs and security policy said yesterday. He mentioned the Chinese meetings in passing during a briefing… Keep reading →

The State and Defense departments scrambled to “correct misperceptions” on Capitol Hill, in foreign capitals and throughout the international space community about American intentions regarding an international space code of conduct. That’s the way a source familiar with the government’s discussions put it. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Defense Department spokesman George Little… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: In an important policy shift, the United States will not adopt a European Union code governing space activities, space debris and international data, a senior State Department official said today. At the tail end of a breakfast today with reporters, Ellen Tauscher,undersecretary of State for arms control and international security, said that the U.S.… Keep reading →