PENTAGON: House Republicans will probably be seething after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta scolded them today for adding several billion dollars money to the defense budget. “If we’re prevented from retiring aging ships and aircraft that no longer fit strategic requirements, then Congress would be forcing us to look elsewhere for savings,” Panetta said at a… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON [updated at 3:10 pm with comment from Heritage Foundation’s Steven Groves] : The Defense Department made a big push to break three decades of stalemate on the Law of the Sea, with Secretary Leon Panetta and Chief of Joint Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey staging a rare joint appearance today to urge the Senate to… Keep reading →

Panetta & Dempsey to push "Law of the Sea" ratification tomorrow @ACUS (http://bit.ly/K8Nl7O) — pros & cons of LOS @ http://bit.ly/IHWF2v SydneyFreedberg

WASHINGTON: He may come to regret it, but Gen. Martin Dempsey today offered what may come to define his tenure as the president’s top military advisor, a doctrine that the United States should never send the military to war by itself. Here’s the phrase Dempsey uttered: “The military instrument should never be wielded alone.” Before… Keep reading →

PENTAGON: The United States will police the globe, respond to disasters and shape the international environment much as it has –though our sharpest focus will be on China and the western Pacific — but it will do all that with a significantly smaller land force than it currently has. That was the essential message offered… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Russia is pressing ahead with a new nuclear missile which Moscow claims is a part of a renewed effort to bolster the country’s missile defense systems. This new intercontinental ballistic missile, nicknamed “Satan” by Western analysts, will sport a 100-ton warhead and replace the Voevoda-class missile in the Russian nuclear arsenal, according to recent… Keep reading →

UPDATED WASHINGTON: The United States must not hand over sensitive missile defense technology to Russia even if it means abandoning White House plans for a European missile shield, a key GOP lawmaker says. There already have been numerous instances by Russia to obtain American military secrets even after the collapse of the Iron Curtain the… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is “committed” to resolving the stalemate with Russia on the White House’s European missile defense plan despite claims by Moscow the plan is dead on arrival, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said. “I personally believe we will find common ground with the Russian military on [EPAA] because… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The unfolding economic crisis threatening the European Union could ripple through the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s crucial international program, the Pentagon’s top military officer said today. Partner nation participation in the JSF program “will clearly [be] put at risk if all the predictions about an [European] economic collapse would occur,” Chairman of the Joint… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The nation’s top military officer today insisted he did not oppose the expensive and controversial F-35, on which three of the four services he leads depend on for their future air capabilities. Asked about his recent congressional testimony that the nation “might not be able to afford” the three F-35 variants, Army Gen. Martin… Keep reading →