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.

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is preparing to release its first-ever audit as soon as this week, making it the last federal agency to complete a top-to-bottom scrubbing of its processes, business practices and finances. The fallout is likely to be messy. While expectations have built over the years that the audit will uncover large savings and… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: President Trump has just issued orders to cut the defense budget, and hasn’t tweeted for a while about his campaign pledge to build a bigger Navy, but the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee wants to get a 355-ship fleet back on the agenda. Jim Inhofe — who’s likely to retain the SASC chairmanship… Keep reading →

The heads of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees oppose proposed new rules changing how the Pentagon compensates contractors.

Rep. Mac Thornberry and Sen. Jim Inhofe sent a letter to Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Sept. 24.

  WASHINGTON: Most observers of President Trump’s North Korean diplomacy are understandably skeptical of whether the Hermit Kingdom is any closer to curbing expansion of its nuclear arsenal. But presumptive commander of UN Korean Forces did present evidence today to the Senate Armed Services Committee that the temperature of conflict on the Korean peninsula really… Keep reading →

As Jon Kyl, the new senator who brings a long track record of spending on missile defense and nukes returns to the Hill, Democrats in the House might have other ideas.

Thursday’s overwhelming Senate vote to pass the bill clears a major hurdle in getting the budget passed on time. But Not only do the House and Senate have little time to knock out final appropriations language and vote on it, but President Trump has signaled he wouldn’t be opposed to a government shutdown this fall, which would bring everything to a grinding halt.

A slew of new civilian officials are settling in at the Pentagon, adding muscle to promises of change in how the military develops and buys technology, and how fast it can put that gear in the field.

With the two-year budget relief ending in 2020, and a new Space Force to fund, the good times might not last long.

WASHINGTON: Under relentless grilling from Democratic senators, the four-star officer who heads both Cyber Command and the NSA said the US government is “not doing enough” to prevent Russia from meddling in the 2018 elections. Could the US keep the Russians from interfering again? asked Sen. Claire McCaskill. “Yes,” Adm. Michael Rogers said at once.… Keep reading →