The Defense Department must "act with dispatch" to improve its ability to conduct post-conflict stability operations, a high-level advisory panel to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has recommended.
Friday, March 21, 2025
Friday, March 21, 2025
Jason Sherman is a reporter for Inside Defense. For more than two 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 Defense Department must "act with dispatch" to improve its ability to conduct post-conflict stability operations, a high-level advisory panel to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has recommended.
The Army, struggling to contend with one major insurgency in Iraq, is studying a theoretical world in which irregular warfare has spread across the globe, trying to determine what it would mean for service war plans, capabilities, and operations.
An influential advisory panel to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is recommending the Pentagon "keep open the option to acquire additional C-17" cargo aircraft beyond the 180 planes the Air Force plans to buy, a move that could require the Defense Department in coming weeks to commit more money to the cargo plane program in order keep the production line open.
Just weeks after delaying a purchase of new F-16 fighter aircraft in order to divert resources to deal with a devastating earthquake, Pakistan is eyeing the near-term acquisition of as many as 25 used fighters while waiting on the rest of the F-16 package, according to officials familiar with the country's plans.
An Army-commissioned tool has been developed to assist the service with one of the most vexing challenges facing war planners preparing for post-conflict and stability operations: determining how many troops are needed.
A long-awaited reassessment of the U.S. military's mobility requirements concludes that the current inventory of cargo ships and aircraft dedicated to hauling equipment is adequate to support the National Military Strategy, according to Pentagon and congressional sources.
The Defense Department is weighing $32 billion in cuts to major weapon systems and Army force structure over the next six years, reductions that may represent only a down payment on the total bill facing the Pentagon as federal budget pressures mount.
Senior Navy officials are considering a new proposal for a 313-ship fleet, which would require greater investments in shipbuilding accounts and an accelerated pace of ship construction to build the fleet up from its current size, according to sources familiar with the effort.
The Army's need for linguists to assist soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan is steadily increasing, climbing nearly 15 percent for Arabic speakers and 35 percent for Pashtu and Dari in the last year and driving a reallocation of resources to pay for interpreters, according to Pentagon officials and documents.
Gordon England, the acting deputy defense secretary, this week established a new Defense Department task force to support the White House-led review of the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.
Tokyo's decision to allow a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier to homeport in Japan could expedite U.S. Navy plans to retire its conventionally powered aircraft carriers and trim its carrier fleet to 11, according to Defense Department officials and analysts.
The next few weeks could bring significant changes to the shape and size of the Air Force, as senior Joint Staff and Office of the Secretary of Defense officials finalize decisions in the ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review.
The Defense Department should fundamentally overhaul its military psychological operations apparatus by providing an infusion of cash and new technology, while developing a streamlined process for approving messages for dissemination.
Navy leaders last week launched work on the service's new outyear spending plan to ensure the sea service is well positioned to defend the homeland and contribute to the global war on terrorism, an effort that today is dominated by ground forces, according to Pentagon documents.
Gordon England, the acting deputy defense secretary, has expanded the responsibilities of a key Pentagon acquisition office, giving it the power to assist in determining what military technologies are appropriate for sharing with friendly nations.
The Pentagon has told the services to slash $8 billion from their fiscal year 2007 budgets and warned them that even larger cuts may be coming soon, as bills from the White House are handed down and Quadrennial Defense Review recommendations take shape, according to Defense Department officials.
The Defense Department is conducting a follow-on assessment to the 2005 Mobility Capability Study, a review that could influence major investments in new ships and cargo aircraft, according to Pentagon officials.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld plans to summon combatant commanders from around the world back to Washington next month for an unprecedented fourth meeting this year of top civilian and military brass to discuss the final shape of the Quadrennial Defense Review, according to Pentagon officials.
The Pentagon has issued its first-ever comprehensive policy for the employment of contractors on the battlefield, a document designed to clarify key issues that have frustrated both military commanders in Iraq and the private firms supporting them.
The Pentagon has established an agency to oversee its transformation of the defense bureaucracy's business practices and improve administrative operations, an effort that military leaders say is essential to improving the nation's ability to fight in the future.