The two houses of Congress say they can get their differences squared away by the end of July, but there are some real differences to overcome, and a serious objection from the White House yet to come.

“This is an opportunity to hold their feet to the fire and see if North Korea is serious about this,” Rep. Thornberry said. “If they’re not serious, then it’s pretty easy to say those joint exercises that were scheduled for August are now going to happen in September or October.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is promoting what he says are unbeatable hypersonic weapons, and Capitol Hill is listening closely. The result is hundreds of millions in new funding lines.

Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum have sparked promises of quick and strong responses from America’s allies, are creating concern in the defense industrial base, and have free-trade Republicans worried.

The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) John Richardson made a major organizational announcement with major strategic implications when he announced the Navy would re-establish the Second Fleet, which covers the Atlantic. But that would, so far, only mean adding 250 people to the command. Without making larger strategic changes, that is not enough. To respond appropriately to Russian naval… Keep reading →

When House Armed Services Chairman Thornberry proposed eliminating seven agencies and reducing personnel by 25 percent, he faced strong opposition. In the HASC’s draft bill, he scaled the proposal back to eliminating just three agencies. But that didn’t work either. During the committee’s markup of the House defense policy bill, members still pushed back.

“That’ll be the uphill battle, getting this through conference,” a Senate staffer told me. “I told DoD (the Department of Defense), if you don’t like what’s in our mark, you know your strategy: Go talk to HASC (the House Armed Services Committee).

The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act came from freshman Congressman Jimmy Panetta, son of former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and a Navy Reserve veteran of Afghanistan.

House Armed Services Committee pushes through most of the Trump administration’s budget requests, absent some of the usual fights. But the return of sequester looms large in 2020.

The Pentagon’s Nuclear Posture Review remains the topic of debate on Capitol Hill, with Democrats and Republicans sparring over nuclear deterrence.