Why did the threat of defense cuts not perform the forcing function many expected by motivating Congress to avoid sequestration?
Monday, September 25, 2023
Monday, September 25, 2023
Why did the threat of defense cuts not perform the forcing function many expected by motivating Congress to avoid sequestration?
The Pentagon is keeping mum about how it will frame the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review after receiving a letter from former top defense officials who believe the Defense Department should eschew the traditional QDR process and emulate the 1993 Bottom-Up Review by conducting a comprehensive assessment of the U.S. defense posture.
The Defense Department's fiscal year 2014 budget request will propose a topline that exceeds the sequester cap by $50 billion to $55 billion, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale said today, a move that would put the request within several billion dollars of the topline DOD planned a year ago.
Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale said today that the Defense Department probably will have to create "a new strategy" to replace the Defense Strategic Guidance that was released by President Obama a year ago, but when pressed afterward he clarified that he believes officials will revise the 2012 guidance, not rewrite it from scratch.
The 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review should be steered by an up-front assessment of how diminishing resources might force the Obama administration to revise or rewrite its defense strategy, Maj. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the Marine Corps' lead officer for the QDR, said today.
The White House's Office of Management and Budget released a report on sequestration Friday evening, providing calculations of the amounts and percentages by which various budgetary resources are required to be reduced, and a listing of the reductions required for each non-exempt budget account.
The Defense Department is eying a multibillion-dollar reduction in its fiscal year 2014 spending plan that will likely be compounded by looming automatic cuts set to take effect this week, former Pentagon and government officials tracking the budget process tell InsideDefense.com.
On his first day on the job, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will meet privately with senior defense officials and speak publicly with service members and civilian employees at the Pentagon.
The Defense Department should not have decided to develop three distinct variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, former Chief of Naval Operations retired Adm. Gary Roughead said, because the Navy version could have been adapted to handle the Air Force mission.
Former Pentagon policy chief Michèle Flournoy today defended the department's decision to omit from the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance any discussion of greater risks it might accept in various potential budget-cutting scenarios.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will leave it to his expected successor, former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), to issue guidance for the Pentagon's 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, a sweeping assessment of defense priorities that comes amid a national fiscal crisis.
The Defense Department will work to avoid canceling contracts if sequestration takes effect on March 1, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale said today.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today released a message about the Pentagon's preparations for potential sequestration on March 1, as well as for furlough notifications.
President Obama today accepted Gen. John Allen's request to retire. In a statement, Obama cited "health issues" within Allen's family as the reason for the general's retirement.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee today predicted huge automatic budget cuts would be triggered March 1, but said the resulting public outcry ideally would pressure Congress to negotiate the end of sequestration within "weeks, not months."
Leaders of the Army, Marine Corps and U.S. Special Operations Command have formally agreed to develop a new concept for 21st century strategic landpower, but they remain undecided on Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno's proposal for a new landpower office.
GOP senators today delayed a vote on the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to be defense secretary.
The Defense Department is "getting close" to finalizing all of its resource management decisions for the fiscal year 2014 budget cycle, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale told InsideDefense.com today after testifying for hours before the House Armed Service Committee during a sequestration hearing.
The Defense Department will face cuts totaling $46 billion in fiscal year 2013 if sequestration is implemented, a bill so huge that it would not help much if Congress were to grant the Pentagon flexibility in how to allocate the reductions, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said today.
The Air Force failed to follow proper procedures when investigating a 2010 F-22 Raptor crash and blamed the crash on the pilot without ample evidence, the Defense Department’s inspector general concludes in a report released today.