WASHINGTON: The parlor game of where ‘will the top staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee go’ can be declared over. Peter Levine will be heading over to the Pentagon, where almost all long-time Democratic staff have headed since the Obama administration took power. He may be taking the newly created post of chief management… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Flournoy Pulls Herself Out Of SecDef Running WASHINGTON: Beset by a drubbing at the polls, a wildly troubled world, doubts about his strategic abilities, and after one of the weakest and most troubling nomination hearings in post-World War II history, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is now on his way out the door. The White House… Keep reading →

  WASHINGTON: The enemy of my enemy is….who exactly? That is the question U.S. Central Command planners confronted recently when they targeted the Khorasan Group, a hardcore Al Qaeda cell in Syria suspected of planning terrorist attacks against the United States and Europe. Not surprisingly, the U.S. strikes also killed fighters from the Al-Nusra Front,… Keep reading →

REAGAN LIBRARY: Just two months ago, prominent pro-defense Republicans were telling me the best outcome for the military budget would be a GOP-controlled Senate. Now they’ve got it — but before the new Congress is even sworn in, several veteran legislators speaking here Saturday discounted the prospect of it doing anything to scrap the automatic budget cuts… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Every election sets off a round of musical chairs on Capitol Hill. This year’s GOP sweep will shake up the Senate in particular, and there’s one plausible scenario that should make the Pentagon and contractors especially nervous, because it would put two champion attack dogs of oversight at the helm of the Senate Armed… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: This is a story of ifs. If the GOP wins the Senate. If the GOP wins they still have to woo six Democrats to get important legislation passed. If the Obama administration decides to play hardball after the election. It’s a lot of ifs. But as of now, the New York Times electoral… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The best Fourth of July celebrations this year may happen in the evil empire we cast out, if the F-35B flies at the christening of the United Kingdom’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth. The final details are still being hammered out, and it may all fall apart, but the official announcement is expected… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: As F-35 program officials prepared to testify to the Senate Armed Services Committee, they announced they were keeping back some $25.7 million, or 5 percent, of payments for the F135 engine used in the Joint Strike Fighter. “Due to decertification of their Earned Value Management Process by the Defense Contract Management Agency, Pratt &… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: Sen. Carl Levin made very clear to his colleagues just what is at stake in the inevitable  shout-fest over benefits and compensation. It is the $31 billion saved in the proposed budget in reductions to the rate of pay growth, boosted Tricare payments, and consolidations in the healthcare program, the 5 percent reduction… Keep reading →

UPDATE: President Obama Warns Russia Against “Military Intervention” In Ukraine “There will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine,” Obama said in a rare unplanned appearance this evening in the White House press room. “We need strong American and European leadership now to forestall any further threats to international peace and stability. Russia’s leaders must… Keep reading →