Friday, October 11, 2024
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.
President Biden, last night calling for the United States to again become the "arsenal of democracy," is seeking more than $100 billion in emergency national security spending from Congress to mostly aid Ukraine and Israel, with the White House highlighting a $50 billion investment in the U.S. defense industrial base, including billions for new attack submarines.
The Defense Department is highlighting several “notable updates” to the annual China Military Power Report released today, including heightened focus on Beijing’s “growing nuclear and strategic capabilities” and the “possible development of conventionally armed intercontinental range missile systems.”
A bipartisan team of senators wants President Biden to share cost estimates for implementing the trilateral AUKUS submarine partnership the United States has entered into with Australia and the United Kingdom, noting that the Pentagon has said it does not intend to release the information until it submits its fiscal year 2025 budget request.
The Pentagon has plans to expand its monitoring of defense contractor mergers and acquisitions with an eye toward potential national security and innovation risks, according to a recent letter sent to the Government Accountability Office.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at several events around Washington this week.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is scheduled to travel to Israel tomorrow to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli troops move toward the border with Gaza for a possible ground invasion against Hamas.
A bipartisan congressional commission says the Defense Department must take urgent action to prepare to deter two nuclear adversaries at the same time -- China and Russia -- and commit to new investments, such as establishing a shipyard focused on nuclear-powered vessels, specifically submarines.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said today the United States and dozens of international partners have now agreed to establish several "capability coalitions" aimed at supplying Ukraine with various air, land and sea weapons in the coming years, including assistance to modernize network infrastructure.
President Biden said today that he will ask Congress -- half of which is destabilized due to the ousting of the former House speaker -- to approve an emergency security aid package for Israel in the coming days that will help the Defense Department continue to send ammunition and replenish Iron Dome interceptors needed to fend off Hamas rocket attacks.
The Association of the United States Army holds its annual conference in Washington this week, while Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is traveling to Brussels to meet with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
Though Congress, hobbled at the moment by House GOP intraparty dysfunction, remains divided over support for Ukraine, the Defense Department says it still intends to transfer billions of dollars in U.S. weapons to that country at a regular "cadence," despite the fact DOD is running low on the congressionally appropriated funds needed to replenish them.
The upcoming release of the Pentagon's annual China Military Power Report will state that Beijing has increasingly come to rely on its military -- the People's Liberation Army -- as a tool for coercion and "revisionist" aims in the Indo-Pacific amid the rapid modernization of its nuclear arsenal, according to a senior Defense Department official.
U.S. Central Command announced today it has transferred millions of rounds of ammunition to Ukraine previously seized from the Iranian military, a move that could help alleviate weapons shortages as the Pentagon warns it is running out of money to help Kyiv continue its fight against an ongoing Russian invasion.
The House voted 216-210 to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker, rendering the position vacant for the first time in more than a century in a stunning and historic event driven by revolt among Republican hardliners.
The Defense Department has exhausted all congressionally appropriated funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and is slowing down the process by which it replenishes U.S. weapons that have been transferred to Ukraine, according to a new memo from Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord.
A senior Pentagon official is scheduled to discuss China's military power this week.
The Defense Department is taking steps to prepare for a government shutdown slated for Sunday night that would furlough thousands of civilians and require military servicemembers to work without pay until Congress can pass a stopgap continuing resolution.
The GOP-led House, facing the increasing likelihood of a government shutdown on Oct. 1, narrowly passed an annual defense appropriations bill last night that has little-to-zero chance in the Democrat-led Senate and would be vetoed by President Biden over its inclusion of conservative policy riders and politically divisive amendments that would, among other things, strip military aid to Ukraine and cut Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s salary to $1.
Two Biden administration officials who have been nominated for senior acquisition and policy posts at the Pentagon said they are committed to streamlining the contracting process for Ukraine and pledged to address the growing backlog to obligate funds appropriated by Congress.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to advance the nominations of Adm. Lisa Franchetti to be chief of naval operations and Gen. David Allvin to be Air Force chief of staff, setting up confirmation votes that will need to be considered individually if they are to shirk the blanket hold put in place months ago by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).