Ideas
OCO Must Go
Lawmakers should rally behind House appropriators' effort to eliminate a funding vehicle that allows the Pentagon to evade budget caps.
Business
We Need $10B to Pay Contractors’ Coronavirus Expenses, Pentagon Tells Congress
It’s the first time a defense official has put a specific price tag on DoD’s COVID relief efforts.
Ideas
Democrats, Be Bold on National Security
Even before the pandemic, it was clear that more money didn’t mean more real security.
Ideas
Does the Pentagon Understand What a Navy Is For?
Fleet-force planning has been seized by a Joint Staff and Defense Secretary who put budget-slicing before strategy.
Ideas
The NDAA Should Prompt a Rethinking of Costly U.S. Foreign Policy
The annual defense authorization bill offers a chance to end wars and programs that are not worth their price.
Policy
We Don’t Have Enough Cash to Build New Nuclear Weapons, Says Air Force Chief
Nukes or conventional weapons, “the current budget does not allow you to do both,” says Gen. Dave Goldfein, suggesting Congress create a separate account.
Ideas
Congress Has Less Than a Month to Ward Off Needless Harm to the US Military
The ranking member of the House’s Defense Appropriations panel lays out how it would hurt to start fiscal 2021 with a continuing resolution.
Ideas
Airpower Gets a Big Boost in the Senate’s Authorization Bill
Air Force leaders won’t be entirely happy with it, but the country should be.
Ideas
The Senate’s Defense Authorization Bill Ignores Our New Reality
The annual policy bill takes almost no notice of a pandemic that has already wrought more destruction than most of our country’s wars.
Business
The Pentagon Can’t Afford All of the Weapons It Wants, New Report Says
Based on projected funding levels, the military will be forced to choose winners and losers among its priority projects.
Business
US Defense Firms Hiring Thousands Amid Record Unemployment
Pentagon spending on missiles, satellites, and nuclear weapons fuels a production boom, as firms fight off commercial aerospace downturn.
Policy
Global Defense Spending Decline Expected As Nations Deal with Coronavirus
Experts see domestic projects taking priority over national security in the coming years.
Policy
Pentagon Delays Budget Deadline to Help Staff Work from Home
Service officials had complained that a June 1 deadline was preventing them from implementing coronavirus-related social-distancing guidelines.
Threats
Military Leaders Ask to Delay Budget Planning To Focus on Coronavirus, Let Staff Stay Home
But the Defense Department's No. 2 told Army, Navy, and Air Force budget planners to figure a different solution.
Policy
A New Nuclear Warhead? STRATCOM Chief Can’t Answer Yes or No
The W93 has been the focus of questions since it appeared in the 2021 budget proposal.
Policy
Lawmakers Fire Back at Trump’s Plan to Divert Military Funds to Border Wall
But the bipartisan team of Smith and Thornberry have attracted few other GOPers to the effort.
Ideas
Top 5 Things to Watch in Congress' 2021 Defense Budget Hearings
On Wednesday, military and civilian leaders of the Defense Department will testify before Congress on their $705 billion budget request for 2021.
Policy
Nothing’s ‘Irreversible,’ But the Pentagon’s New Bureaucracies Aim to Come Close
As budget hearing season gets underway, expect to hear a lot about "irreversible implementation" of changes toward great power competition.
Policy
Trump Targets Major Weapons Projects To Fund Wall
The funds will be drawn mainly from procurement for major programs like the F-35 fighter jet. $1.3 billion will come from the National Guard alone.
Ideas
DOD Civilians Would Get 1% Pay Raise Under 2021 Budget Proposal
That's more than the Trump administration's 2020 request, which would have frozen wages, but less than the 3.1% average pay increase enacted by Congress.
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