Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Jason Sherman is a reporter for Inside Defense. For more than three decades -- including stints with Defense News and Armed Forces Journal -- he has covered the Pentagon, defense industry, the military budget, weapon system acquisition and defense policy formulation as well as reporting on technology, business, and global arms trade. Jason has traveled to more than 40 countries, studied medieval history at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and lives in Brooklyn.
The price tag of the Bush Administration's so-called troop surge into Iraq is poised to balloon in the wake of a recent Pentagon determination that the $5.6 billion requested last month to pay for the addition of 21,500 ground forces and additional warships in the Persian Gulf is inadequate.
The Pentagon's No. 2 official has directed the sprawling U.S. military bureaucracy, the federal government's largest single energy consumer, to refine its plans to reduce oil consumption and increase reliance on renewable and alternate energy sources to fulfill a recent presidential directive highlighting the importance of energy efficiency.
The Pentagon is considering shipping non-lethal ray guns to Iraq to assist Marines in guarding posts, countering insurgent snipers and protecting convoys in Al Anbar, the restive Sunni province west of Baghdad, according to documents and defense officials.
The Defense Department and the intelligence community are exploring the feasibility of developing a radically new array of sensors capable of detecting odors, DNA samples shed by individuals and acoustic emissions, all of which could be useful in identifying and locating enemy personnel.
The Defense Department is seeking permission from Congress to establish new organizations focused on human rights that would provide a means for the U.S. military to cooperate with foreign armed forces and nongovernmental organizations on matters like human trafficking.
The Army National Guard has detailed $24 billion in shortfalls across the Pentagon's new six-year spending plan, including $13.1 billion in additional funds needed to procure trucks, helicopters and other equipment it says is essential to supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as homeland defense missions.
The Pentagon's No. 2 official has formally directed the Air Force to prepare to contribute one C-17 aircraft to a new initiative designed to give European nations and the NATO alliance an independent strategic airlift capability.
The leaders of the military services have tallied up a record $35.9 billion in unfunded requirements for weapon systems, force protection equipment and construction projects that are not paid for in the Pentagon's fiscal year 2008 budget request or the supplemental spending bills that fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Air Force has detailed nearly $17 billion in programs that are not fully funded in fiscal year 2008, a list that includes $2.6 billion for new combat aircraft.
The Pentagon acquisition czar is moving to assert oversight of a fast-moving and potentially big-ticket Army and Marine Corps effort to field thousands of armored vehicles that promise improved protection against roadside bombs.
The Defense Department is seeking congressional permission to add as many as three deputy chiefs of staff to the Army staff.
The Army and Marine Corps are $5 billion short of what they require in fiscal year 2008 to acquire a fleet of armored vehicles designed to provide better protection against roadside bombs -- the scourge of U.S. forces in Iraq -- than the current fleet of humvees.
U.S. Special Operations Command has identified $391 million in needs for new weapons and technology research that require funding in fiscal year 2008 beyond resources requested by the Pentagon, funding that would provide commandos with improved ability to operate at night and funds to replace an advanced heavy lift helicopter lost in a crash last year.
The Marine Corps has spelled out $3.2 billion in requirements for fiscal year 2008 beyond programs funded in the Pentagon's FY-08 budget request, including $2.8 billion to rapidly field to Iraq a fleet of wheeled vehicles with better protection against roadside bombs than the current fleet of humvees.
The Army has identified more than $10 billion in requirements that are not funded in the president's fiscal year 2008 budget request, including $8.2 billion for combat vehicles that offer improved protection against roadside bombs, tactical trucks, ammunition and other equipment key to forces operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Pentagon comptroller has directed the Army and Navy to pony up $68.5 million to fund missile research and development in an account that could be used to revive the Joint Common Missile -- or something like it -- more than two years after the Office of the Secretary of Defense moved to terminate the program.
The Defense Department is packing a six-year spending plan with $1.8 billion in new and enhanced programs designed to train and equip foreign forces to assist the U.S. military in counterterrorism operations, according to internal budget documents.
The Defense Department's new spending proposal slashes $500 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- the U.S. military's flagship research and development shop -- and includes $300 million for a controversial program to modernize the U.S. military's nuclear weapons arsenal, according to internal budget documents.
The Pentagon has fully funded the system development and demonstration phase of the Joint High Speed Vessel, directing the Army to reinstate hundreds of millions of dollars between fiscal years 2008 and 2011 for the new ship, according to internal budget documents.
The Defense Department is steering tens of millions of dollars toward new homeland defense missions and initiatives that include a fledgling U.S.-Canadian effort to protect against maritime threats, funding a Joint Task Force-Alaska, and preparing a national Homeland Security Plan.