The release of the 2020 defense budget is still over a month away, and it’s already been a wild ride. A look at what has happened, and what might happen next.

“It’s not going to be just about , ’how do we get a lot of data?’” deputy undersecretary Lisa Porter told the House subcommittee. “It’s going to be about, how do we develop algorithms that don’t need as much data? How do we develop algorithms that we trust?”

WASHINGTON: The presumptive House Armed Services chairman, Adam Smith outlined his agenda for reporters this morning in a wide-ranging discussion laced with his trademark tactical snark. While many of his stances were unsurprising — he wants equal treatment for transgender troops, less spending on new nuclear ICBMs, and zero border-wall funding carved out of the… Keep reading →

After five years of talks and a wall of Russian denials, NATO and Washington call Putin’s bluff and say they’re ready to do something about Russian violations of a 31 year-old arms control treaty. But Europe is worried.

  Few espionage experts speak publicly. Even fewer experts in Chinese espionage do. I first met Nick Eftimiades at the airport when he was a top space intelligence expert. I was en route to my first Space Symposium and knew very little. Nick taught me a bit and was very tolerant of this new space puppy who didn’t know… Keep reading →

Republicans Sen. James Inhofe and Rep. Mac Thornberry say to the White House and to the congressional budget hawks: Yes, budget deficits matter, but defense matters more — because of the degradation in readiness and lack of modernization the armed forces have suffered for more than a decade.

After waiting almost three decades to audit itself, the Pentagon still failed miserably in its first attempt. Despite top officials brushing the failure off an an expected learning experience, real questions remain over whether it can fix itself.

“We failed the audit. We never expected to pass it,” Pat Shanahan said. But at least the Space Force will cost less than half of the Air Force’s estimate.

Rep. Adam Smith called into question the decades-old backbone of US nuclear policy, while calling for a “total redo” of the Nuclear Posture Review the Pentagon released earlier this year.

WASHINGTON: The Democrats’ recapturing the House means three major impacts on the Defense Department: The odds are that controversial Trump priorities like new nuclear weapons and a Space Force will go nowhere, defense budgets will go down, and oversight will go up, up, up. Program winners and losers The most likely losers are nuclear modernization… Keep reading →