Fiscal year 2026 posture is in full swing on Capitol Hill and senior leaders are scheduled to speak at numerous congressional hearings. The Navy League is also hosting its annual Sea Air Space Conference.
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Wednesday, November 12, 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.
Fiscal year 2026 posture is in full swing on Capitol Hill and senior leaders are scheduled to speak at numerous congressional hearings. The Navy League is also hosting its annual Sea Air Space Conference.
The Pentagon inspector general’s office has sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth notifying him that an investigation has begun into the so-called "Signalgate" controversy at the behest of two senior senators.
Senate Republicans have proposed a budget reconciliation package that would pump $150 billion into the U.S. defense topline in the coming years, with one senior GOP chairman laying out an ambitious vision for new spending and reform that he says would mirror the Reagan and Eisenhower eras.
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Caine, nominated to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators today he believes the burgeoning Golden Dome missile defense architecture has all the characteristics of major defense systems that are managed by the Pentagon as joint programs.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to advance the nomination of Elbridge Colby to be under secretary of defense policy.
Senior Pentagon officials have until April 11 to submit new proposals to cut, consolidate and restructure the Defense Department, including U.S. combatant commands, according to a new memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at several events this week.
Michael Duffey, nominated to be under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that he believes wars of the future will be “won on the factory floor” just as much as on the battlefield.
The Republican and Democrat leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee have sent a letter to the Defense Department inspector general asking for an investigation in the Signal group chat controversy that has ensnared senior Trump administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The Defense Department has paused the work of its advisory boards pending a 45-day review, though a committee dedicated to military diversity, equity and inclusion has already been terminated, according to a new memo from Joe Kasper, chief of staff to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on April 1 to consider the nomination of retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, whom President Trump has picked to return to service as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) want the Pentagon’s inspector general to conduct an expedited investigation of the Signal group text in which senior Trump administration officials inadvertently shared plans related to an airstrike against Houthi militants with a journalist.
Congress has approved a Defense Department request to reprogram funding to purchase four anti-drone weapon systems mounted to shipping containers for U.S. Central Command.
An annual threat assessment from the U.S. government's top spies has identified criminal drug cartels as the Trump administration's No. 1 concern, followed by the individual and collective threats posed by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, though a hearing meant to discuss the report today mostly spotlighted the growing controversy surrounding senior officials' mistaken sharing of secret war plans against Houthi militants in Yemen with a journalist.
Senior Trump administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, are under fire today for allegedly disclosing highly classified U.S. plans to launch airstrikes against Yemen's Houthi militants on an encrypted commercial messaging service text chain that included a journalist.
The Association of the United States Army hosts its annual conference in Huntsville, AL, this week. Meanwhile, senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at several events around Washington.
The Senate Armed Services Committee is slated to hold a hearing next week to consider nominees for several top Pentagon jobs.
Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees have sent a blueprint to the Defense Department for how they would like to see funding spent in fiscal year 2025, though the Pentagon, which is operating under a yearlong continuing resolution, is in uncharted territory, according to documents obtained by Inside Defense.
The Defense Department is just beginning to wrestle with the challenges associated with the "Golden Dome" missile defense initiative ordered by President Trump, including who will lead it, according to a senior Pentagon official.
Because of recent litigation, the Defense Department has had to pause its effort to terminate around 5,400 probationary civilian employees, but senior officials said today the Pentagon still plans to cut between 5% and 8% of its total civilian workforce one way or another.