Washington: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has moved to gag communications between the Pentagon and Congress on the highly sensitive issue of the congressional Super Committee. In an Aug. 18 memo to all senior officials, Panetta ordered them to “coordinate any contact with the ‘Super Committee’ through his assistant secretary for legislative affairs, Elizabeth King. We… Keep reading →

UPDATED Washington: Former congressman and long-time House Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton is heading to the Democrat’s designated military thinktank, the Center for A New American Security. Skelton, along with former senior State Department officials Anne-Marie Slaughter and Richard Verma are joining the Center for A New American Security’s board of directors. Skelton’s appointment… Keep reading →

UPDATED Washington: Few things seem certain at this point from the budget deal struck yesterday. One point that three Hill sources agree on is that the Defense Department budget may well be frozen at or near 2011 levels. That means, a professional Hill staffer says, that the House Appropriations Committee will need to find another… Keep reading →

Washington: The armed services are tired, broke and running near empty. And if Capitol Hill looks to the Pentagon to shoulder any more of the debt burden, those forces will break, according to the vice chiefs of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and the Air Force. During today’s hearing of the House Armed Services Readiness… Keep reading →

Washington: The Pentagon faces a lot of threats, but according to the incoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the national deficit isn’t the biggest one. White House nominee Gen. Martin Dempsey told members of Senate Armed Services Committee today that the growing fiscal hole in the nation’s economy was not the biggest national security threat… Keep reading →

Washington: The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee today rejected the Senate’s Gang of Six budget plan, saying it cut far too much from the Pentagon’s budget. “Based on what we’ve read the proposal would result in $886 Billion in security cuts over 10 years. Due to a firewall in the proposal between security… Keep reading →

Over the next 25 years or so, the United States plans to recapitalize its triad of submarines, bombers, and missiles that deliver strategic nuclear weapons, building new versions of these weapons to extend a 50-year-old force structure for another half century. Yet today’s strategic environment is not that of the 1960s, and tomorrow’s may differ… Keep reading →