Friday, April 19, 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.
House and Senate authorizers took the initiative this week to influence their appropriations committee counterparts by releasing their vision for implementing a $5 billion cut to the fiscal year 2016 national defense budget.
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work praised Congress for reaching a deal to give the federal government two years of budgetary certainty, but he remains concerned over the $14 billion decrease the Pentagon will have to make to its planned fiscal year 2017 request.
President Obama has signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, locking in the terms of the two-year budget deal Congress hammered out last week that would raise the debt ceiling and lift sequestration spending caps by $80 billion.
The Pentagon’s special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction is blasting the Defense Department for continuing to disavow all knowledge of a business task force alleged to have wasted $800 million.
The week ahead promises exhaustive Inside Defense coverage of a conference featuring many Pentagon officials, several congressional hearings and President Obama's expected signature of the proposed 2015 Bipartisan Budget Agreement.
The Defense Department disclosed that its fiscal year 2015 appropriated budget for military intelligence programs is $16.5 billion, including both base and overseas contingency operations accounts.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said today the United States will soon deploy “less than 50” U.S. special operations personnel on the ground in Syria to train and advise anti-government rebels to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The Senate early this morning voted 64-35 to send the bipartisan two-year budget deal to the White House for President Obama's signature.
Highlights from this week's edition of Inside the Pentagon.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, bemoaning the lack of “risk tolerance” in technological development, is directing the service to send him recommendations to increase funding for fleet experimentation in fiscal year 2016 and beyond, according to a recent memo.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) was elected today to succeed Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) as House speaker.
George Duchak, director of the new Defense Innovation Unit Experimental in Silicon Valley, said he and his team were given a mandate by Defense Secretary Ash Carter to "hot-wire" the Pentagon's infamously slow acquisition system to make it more friendly to technology sector companies reluctant to do business with the military.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) supports the terms of the potential budget deal before Congress that would provide $5 billion less in national defense spending than requested by the Obama administration, but he wants it known that it won't be easy to find the savings.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today that the United States has a new strategy to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that will include more ground raids with U.S. special forces personnel and increased airstrikes.
The Air Force will announce the winner of the Long-Range Strike Bomber contract today at 5:15 p.m., according to a Pentagon statement.
Congressional leaders have agreed to a potential bipartisan budget deal that would raise the debt ceiling and lift sequestration spending caps by $80 billion for the next two fiscal years, with the Obama administration poised to receive $33 billion of the $38 billion national defense spending increase it has sought for fiscal year 2016, according to official documents and sources familiar with the still-emerging details.
Though several media reports have surfaced today indicating that Democrats and Republicans are close to an accord that would lift the debt ceiling and fund the federal government for the next two fiscal years, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stressed that a deal has yet to be inked.
Congressional hearings this week are scheduled to feature Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford, and several defense acquisition experts.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today he hopes President Obama's recent veto of the defense authorization bill will drive Congress to compromise on a multiyear budget deal for the federal government.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter is scheduled to brief the Pentagon press corps today at 1:45 p.m., according to a Defense Department announcement.