Sunday, October 19, 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 Defense Department has released a new Arctic strategy, cautioning that "insufficient investment" in early warning air defense sensors and other military readiness could imperil national security as the region becomes increasingly challenging for the U.S. military due to rising cooperation between Russia and China as well as the effects of climate change.
The Defense Department is working with five unnamed Indo-Pacific nations to establish a new "Regional Sustainment Framework" to maintain, repair and overhaul U.S. military equipment without sending it back to U.S. shipyards or depots, according to a senior Pentagon official.
The Senate Armed Services Committee wants the Pentagon to establish a new advisory panel that would help reform the requirements process used to procure U.S. weapon systems, including a "clean-sheet approach."
Senate appropriators are preparing to mark up a defense spending bill that exceeds the caps mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act by adding $21 billion through "emergency funding."
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) and Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) filed the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill today.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, released a statement today saying President Biden should end his candidacy for a second term, though the congressman added that he intends to "back him one hundred percent and without reservation" should Biden continue as the nominee.
The Defense Department recognizes it must "correct for years of underinvestment in the industrial base," Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante wrote in an interim National Defense Industrial Base Strategy implementation report released today.
The Defense Department has announced a new $2.3 billion military aid package for Ukraine, mostly funding a large purchase of air defense interceptors.
The Pentagon's Office of Defense Pricing and Contracting (DPC) will now be known as the Office of Defense Pricing, Contracting and Acquisition Policy (DPCAP), according to a new departmental memo.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin today announced a new $2.3 billion military aid package for Ukraine that includes additional artillery, air defense interceptors and an "accelerated" delivery timeline by the "re-sequencing" of some weapon sales to other U.S. allies.
Senior defense officials are slated to speak in public this holiday week.
The House voted 217-198 today to pass the fiscal year 2025 defense appropriations bill amid opposition from Democrats and a veto threat from the White House.
The Defense Department intends to host a meeting of national armaments directors in the Indo-Pacific in September, following a similar format of meetings held with European allies to promote the co-production of weapon systems and the bolstering of critical supply chains, according to a senior Pentagon official.
The House Appropriations Committee has advanced a defense spending bill that adopts practically none of the sweeping changes sought by a bipartisan commission tasked with recommending reforms to the Pentagon’s 1960’s-era budgeting process.
The GOP-led House Rules Committee voted 9-4 to advance the fiscal year 2025 defense appropriations bill, including 61 amendments that will receive votes on the House floor.
President Biden would veto the GOP-led House's version of the fiscal year 2025 defense appropriations bill if it were to pass in its current form, according to a new statement of administration policy from the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Derek Chollet, whose nomination for under secretary of defense for policy remains stalled amid GOP opposition, has now been named as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's new chief of staff, according to a Pentagon announcement.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at several events around Washington this week.
The United States intends to pause a host of foreign military sales for air defense munitions over the next 16 months and redirect them toward Ukraine as the latter continues to be pounded by Russian attacks.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at several events around Washington this week.