Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has told U.S. military officials to use "appropriate restraint" when transporting al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners from Afghanistan to a detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, he said today.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday approved a major restructuring of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization that includes a name change and creates a leaner process for developing and fielding the Defense Department's missile defense programs.
The Senate this afternoon approved by voice vote a $317 billion conference agreement on the fiscal year 2002 defense appropriations bill.
Following President George Bush's announcement this morning that the United States will withdraw from the 1972 ABM Treaty, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) will push to have the Senate consider legislation that restricts the administration's use of funds earmarked for missile defense tests that violate the treaty while the pact is still in effect.
Representatives of the Defense, State, Commerce and Energy departments told a Senate subcommittee today that a new interagency committee to coordinate nonproliferation efforts with Russia, called for in a Senate bill introduced earlier this year, is not needed because the Bush administration is already doing what the legislation mandates.
The House today approved a rule covering debate on the fiscal year 2002 defense appropriations bill and expects to vote on the bill this evening.
Senate democrats have cut in half a $15 billion homeland security package they drew up several weeks ago and will try to attach it in committee as part of the fiscal year 2002 defense appropriations bill, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) said today.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization will announce tomorrow whether it will hold a national missile defense intercept test on Nov. 29, an agency spokesman said today.
Several months may be needed to clear the network of caves and tunnels dug in Afghanistan's eastern mountains of remaining Taliban and al Qaeda forces and cut off re-supply routes from Pakistan, U.S. and Pakistani military officials told Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John Warner (R-VA) last week.
House and Senate conferees trying to reach agreement on a defense authorization bill are still hung up over whether to grant the administration's request for another round of military base closings, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed services Committee said today.
The Marine Corps has resumed issuing its common access card, a standard identification card that allows military personnel to enter secure buildings and access medical information, after several technical problems were cleaned up over the past three months.
The Defense Department has proposed a federal acquisition rule change that would allow for select exclusive teaming arrangements within the defense industry if they do not violate federal antitrust law.
Pentagon and Health and Human Services Department officials are fashioning a plan to save the Defense Department's anthrax vaccine program and give the sole vaccine producer, Lansing, MI-based Bioport, another crack at overcoming problems that have prevented the company from getting Food and Drug Administration approval to begin distributing new batches of the vaccine, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.
The Marine Corps has drafted a new order outlining steps the service is taking to shore up absentee voting procedures and to raise command-wide voting awareness.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson told a Senate committee today that the anthrax included in a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's (D-SD) office yesterday was "finely milled and highly potent."
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) today will offer up a bill to create a cabinet-level homeland security agency that makes no mention of the Defense Department's role, but Lieberman told InsideDefense.com that he would take a long look at how the National Guard fits within the proposed agency's domain.
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) and 10 other House members are calling for the creation of a joint United States-Russia task force on antiterrorism, part of a broader effort to improve relations between the two countries.
Senior Defense Department officials backed away from including force cut and management efficiency projections in the Quadrennial Defense Review in the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told a Senate committee today.
Army Secretary Thomas White, recently named the point man for Pentagon homeland security issues, will be replaced in that role as soon as the Defense Department firms up its plans for defending the United States, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said today.
Congress has approved about two-thirds of the Defense Department's $874 million fiscal year 2001 omnibus reprogramming request, according to a Sept. 28 "final implementation plan" issued by the Pentagon comptroller.