CAPITOL HILL: President Obama’s nominee to be Navy Undersecretary, Jo Ann Rooney, faced a stormy reception this morning, getting a bipartisan hammering by Senators John McCain and Kirsten Gillibrand. In her formal written responses to SASC’s pre-hearing questions, Rooney had demurred on whether the Navy Department could meet the statutory deadline of September 2014 to… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Senate Clears Stopgap Death Benefits Bill By Unanimous Consent at 12:48 PM Oct. 10. WASHINGTON: Every member of Congress should hang his or her head in shame this afternoon. The Fisher House Foundation has stepped into the breach of the federal government shutdown and agreed to pay the families of Americans who die fighting… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: This summer’s unpaid leave for federal workers was unpleasant enough. If the government shuts down October 1st, though, this fall’s furloughs are just going to be crazy. A patchwork of legal exceptions and grey areas will not only prevent most federal civilians from getting work done but, indirectly, keep many military servicemembers from getting… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: The rumor has been rife for weeks: Cyber Command is about to be elevated to a command equal to the powerful regional combatant commands such as Central and Pacific Commands. This would make what many observers regard as the natural maturation of the increasingly important command, as well as its separation from the… Keep reading →

SASC chairman Sen. Carl Levin will not run for reelection in 2014 – press release up soon @ http://1.usa.gov/ZjxiGM @SydneyFreedberg

[updated Tuesday, March 6 with Gen. Mattis’s remarks to the House Armed Services Committee] CAPITOL HILL: The US should keep 13,600 troops in Afghanistan to advise and assist the Afghan forces after American combat brigades withdraw in 2014, about a quarter of the current troop level, said Central Command chief Gen. James Mattis, giving his personal recommendation — not the Administration’s final decision — after prodding from the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday. Rumored figures have been significantly lower. “We have to send a message of commitment,” declared Mattis, who will soon retire. But with the Navy halving its aircraft carrier presence in the Gulf and all the services cutting corners in expectation of a continued budget crunch, it’s getting harder to project resolve.

“A perceived lack of an enduring US commitment” is the biggest danger to American interests in the Central Command region, which sprawls from Egypt to Pakistan, Mattis told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. While the drawdown in Afghanistan unnerves some allies, he said, “our budget ambiguity right now is probably the single greatest factor. I’m asked about it everywhere I go in the region.”

“Already, sequestration is having an operational impact in the CENTCOM area” with the indefinite postponement of the aircraft carrier USS Truman’s deployment to keep an eye on Iran, lamented SASC’s chairman, Carl Levin. Facing a funding shortfall from both the automatic cuts known as sequestration and the Continuing Resolution now funding the federal government I the absence of proper 2013 appropriations, Navy will keep Truman stateside, albeit ready for rapid deployment in a crisis.

UPDATED: With Obama Statement WASHINGTON: Regardless of how sequestration happens, Chuck Hagel will have the honor of serving as the Defense Secretary who presides over the beginning of the major drawdown that will be the single defining characteristic of the American military for much of the next decade. The Senate just approved Hagel by a… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: Senate Republicans have mounted a filibuster against former senator Chuck Hagel, the president’s nominee for Defense Secretary. That’s according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Senate’s top Democrat made an impassioned speech decrying the move, calling it “tragic” and noting this had never happened before. Initially, it looked as if a GOP… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: In one of the least salubrious displays of partisan rancor in a long time on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the defense policy panel sent Chuck Hagel’s nomination to the Senate floor on a straight party-line vote, 14-11. In a hearing that, at times, had faint echoes of the infamous anti-Communist witch hunt… Keep reading →

Sen. Levin praises #Hagel with vote soon for his support for Israel, stand on Iran. Sez #NorthKorean test etc bad time for no SecDef now @colinclarkaol