The week ahead features several key congressional hearings and public appearances by defense officials, including some of the Pentagon's top European security experts and the chief of the Strategic Capabilities Office.
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Sunday, June 15, 2025
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 week ahead features several key congressional hearings and public appearances by defense officials, including some of the Pentagon's top European security experts and the chief of the Strategic Capabilities Office.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter is ordering 560 more troops to Iraq in preparation for retaking Mosul from the control of the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant, according to a Pentagon statement.
The House has named the conferees to negotiate a final fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill with the Senate.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter says his department could request additional overseas contingency operations money to pay for President Obama's new plan to keep 8,400 U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan, rather than the 5,500 that were initially budgeted for fiscal year 2017.
Senate Democrats blocked a procedural vote to consider the fiscal year 2017 defense appropriations bill late last night in a 50-44 vote that puts Congress on a path to pass a continuing resolution in September.
Continued provocation by North Korea has led the U.S. and South Korean governments to decide to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to the Korean Peninsula.
Welcome to Throwback Thursday, Inside Defense's occasional look back at what was happening on or around this day in years past.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) wants to meet with his Senate counterparts to discuss as many items as possible in their respective fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bills, while leaving the biggest impediment -- an $18 billion gap between the bills -- on hold until September.
The Congressional Budget Office is working to analyze why the Defense Department's operations and maintenance budget continues to grow, despite a concurrent decrease in the size of the U.S. military force structure.
The House Armed Services Committee's top Democrat has become a vocal opponent of the Pentagon's plans to modernize the nuclear triad, arguing that the United States needs to more smartly prioritize national security spending.
President Obama's new plan to leave 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, which was not immediately accompanied by a plan to pay for them, drew harsh criticism from GOP defense hawks, including House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX), who demanded the president immediately submit a supplemental budget request to finance the new strategy.
The Pentagon has alerted Congress that U.S. Special Operations Command has an urgent need to replenish its stock of Lethal Miniature Aerial Missile Systems, often called "suicide drones" because they are essentially small, flying warheads that can be steered by operators with the aid of an onboard camera.
President Obama is ordering 8,400 U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan through the end of 2016, a departure from plans to draw down to 5,500 driven by a resurgence of Taliban forces.
The week ahead features several House Armed Services Committee hearings on military readiness and Pentagon reform, while committee leaders are scheduled to make public appearances to discuss the fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill.
A letter has been drafted by a team of anti-war and anti-debt advocacy organizations from across the political spectrum encouraging members of Congress to oppose a controversial funding maneuver in the fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter today announced that transgender people will now be able to openly serve in the U.S. military.
A few must-reads from this week's edition of Inside the Pentagon.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter called Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık today to express condolences following the attack on the Istanbul Ataturk Airport that killed 41 people and injured more than 200.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) sought to defend his effort to alter the Pentagon's management structure to include more "cross-functional teams" during a Tuesday hearing with a panel of management experts, including retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill this week on proposed reforms the Defense Department, while retired Gen. Phillip Breedlove, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, is scheduled to speak at a think tank panel on the value of U.S. alliances in wake of the British vote to exit the European Union.