Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Tony Bertuca is chief editor of Inside the Pentagon, the flagship publication of InsideDefense, where he focuses on defense budget and acquisition policy. He previously worked for the Sun-Times News Group in his hometown of Chicago, IL, and at the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, NH. Tony has also served as managing editor of Inside the Army. He has a master's degree in journalism from Boston University.
The Defense Department has $1 billion remaining to replenish U.S. weapons transferred to Ukraine and has been shrinking its military packages, while Congress remains at odds over President Biden's request for an emergency security spending package.
The Defense Innovation Unit, in coordination with the Indian Ministry of Defence, will be establishing a monthly series of meetings between government officials and the private sector to discuss potential business and technology investment opportunities, according to the Pentagon.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks called on the Senate today to work quickly to override Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) monthslong military nomination blockade, which is now impacting 452 nominees.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak around the Washington area and elsewhere this week.
The Pentagon today announced a $425 million military aid package for Ukraine, with $125 million accounting for immediate weapons transfers from U.S. stocks and the remaining $300 million exhausting what is left of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative meant for long-term defense needs.
Despite the Senate's recent moves to fill the final vacancies remaining on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks yesterday said the blanket hold on nearly 370 other military confirmations and promotions still in place from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is hurting military readiness.
The House has passed a $14.3 billion Israeli military aid bill that would cut funding from the Internal Revenue Service, despite drawing a veto threat from President Biden and Democrats saying the legislation is dead-on-arrival in the Senate.
Newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said today that among Republican lawmakers there is growing recognition Congress needs to pass another stopgap funding patch to avert a government shutdown in two weeks, adding the GOP is considering a "laddered" continuing resolution that would involve individual appropriations bills.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) has announced that she will not run for reelection in 2024.
President Biden intends to veto the House GOP's standalone bill to aid Israel in the unlikely event Congress passes it because it doesn't include funds for Ukraine and is contingent upon cutting the Internal Revenue Service, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Senate appropriators today that approving the $106 billion national security spending package sought by President Biden would pour significant funding into the U.S. defense industrial base, resulting in not just the support of key allies Ukraine and Israel, but also a surge in American jobs.
House Republicans have put forth a standalone bill that would provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel in its war against Hamas by cutting the Internal Revenue Service, something Democrats have said they will oppose.
The Defense Department's fiscal year 2023 military intelligence program budget was nearly $28 billion, according to a Pentagon announcement.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at several events this week, including a key appropriations hearing on Capitol Hill.
The Defense Department has plans to send two U.S.-based Iron Dome air defense batteries to Israel, along with additional missile interceptors, according to Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's chief spokesman.
The Defense Department today announced it would transfer $150 million in weapons to Ukraine that will need to be replenished by U.S. defense contractors, highlighting the positive impact the move will have on American jobs as some in Congress, especially the GOP-led House, remain opposed to further spending that would aid Kyiv.
Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante, a key official behind the Biden administration's effort to again make the United States an "arsenal of democracy," said today a forthcoming National Defense Industrial Base Strategy will underscore ongoing work to surge global weapons production as a means of deterring U.S. adversaries.
Republicans, after weeks of intraparty acrimony and derailed nominees, pulled together today to elect Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) to be the next House speaker, replacing the ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
The Defense Department says shipments of 155mm artillery shells that were withdrawn from U.S. stocks in Israel and slated to shore up Army weapons reserves in Europe that have been depleted by ongoing aid to Ukraine have now been diverted back to Israel as that country amps up its attacks on Hamas and Hezbollah.
Senior Pentagon officials are scheduled to speak at several public events this week.