Policy

US Military Leaders Keep Quiet on Saudi Arabia Amid Khashoggi Outrage

The Pentagon has long accepted Saudi abuses as the price of friendship. The latest won’t change that.

Ideas

Microsoft, Amazon CEOs Vow to Continue Defense Work After Google Bails on JEDI

The leaders of two contenders for the Pentagon’s massive cloud contract sounded off on Google’s decision not to bid.

Business

L3, Harris CEOs: Merger Will Help Compete Against Top Contractors

L3 expects to depart its Manhattan headquarters and join Harris in Florida.

Ideas

The Pentagon’s Push to Program Soldiers’ Brains

DARPA’s developing capabilities still hover at or near a proof-of-concept stage. But that’s close enough to have drawn investment from some of the world’s richest corporations.

Science & Tech

IBM Files Bid Protest Against Pentagon’s JEDI Contract

IBM becomes the second company to file a pre-award bid protest against the Pentagon’s multibillion cloud contract.

Threats

Scientists: Pentagon’s Plant-Virus Research Could Endanger World’s Food Supply

But DOD responds that new ways are needed to harden crops against coming natural and manmade threats.

Business

Trump Wants Chinese Parts Out of American Weapons

The White House will call for targeted investments in domestic manufacturing in an industrial-base report to be unveiled Friday.

Policy

‘It’s Complete Folly’: Hagel Says Trump Administration Can’t Threaten Iran Out of Syria

“I don't know what our foreign policy objective is in the Middle East or almost anywhere else,” says former defense secretary at Defense One interview.

Policy

Trump Officials Target Iran, Raising Question of US Military’s Role in Mideast

Some fear the strategy opens the door to strikes on Iranian forces inside Syria — and direct armed conflict with Tehran.

Ideas

Two Reasons Not to Build Fort Trump in Today’s Poland

Even as it exacerbated Russian fears, a permanent U.S. force would burnish Warsaw’s dangerous turn.

Science & Tech

DARPA-Funded Work May Help Troops See Around Corners

By setting up multiple sensors, researchers have learned to “see” what’s out of sight.

Threats

Pentagon Declares War on Scooters

After seven rental scooters were abandoned at the Pentagon following this year’s September 11 remembrances, police say they will begin impounding the unauthorized rides. Bikes, too.

Policy

Air Force Pushes Back on Pentagon’s First Blueprints for Trump’s Space Force

In a pointed memo, Heather Wilson counters several Space Force proposals championed by Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

Science & Tech

DARPA Wants to Find Botnets Before They Attack

The defense agency awarded a contract to develop a tool that scours the internet for dormant online armies.

Science & Tech

Inside the Pentagon's Plan to Make Computers ‘Collaborative Partners’

DARPA’s latest artificial intelligence project aims to bridge the gap between a machine that learns from data and one that adds new insights.

Policy

McCain’s Likely SASC Successor Is No GOP Maverick

Sen. Jim Inhofe’s record suggests his Armed Services Committee will hew even more closely to Trump.

Science & Tech

Defense Department Seeks ‘Rapid Cloud Migration’ Ideas for MilCloud

MilCloud 2.0 is about to host a lot more data, and the Defense Department wants ideas for how to get it there faster.

Policy

Downplaying Ghazni, Mattis Defends Trump’s Afghanistan Strategy

The Taliban’s apparent willingness to negotiate is the more important signal of progress in America’s longest war, the defense secretary said Tuesday.

Policy

Mattis: US Troops Can’t Leave Syria Until UN Peace Talks Advance

They’re still fighting ISIS remnants, holding ground, and waiting for a political solution.