Friday, April 26, 2024
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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.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said this week he would back the Pentagon if it submitted a budget requesting a massively inflated warfighting account intended to skirt statutory spending caps, but his Democratic counterpart Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) opposes the move on the grounds that it is a "dramatic retreat . . . from common sense and good government."
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said today he has talked with President Trump about nominating a new defense secretary to succeed Jim Mattis, voicing concern that acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan lacks the "humility" of his predecessor and is unable to muster the full force of his office because of his "temporary" status.
Lawmakers must work this week to avert another partial government shutdown when a stopgap continuing resolution expires on Friday. Meanwhile, senior Pentagon officials are scheduled to speak around the Washington area.
The Defense Department is preparing to ask Congress for an increase of more than $100 billion in its controversial warfighting account to skirt a mandatory budget cap, but some government officials are worried it will only further the account's appearance as a slush fund.
The Defense Department is preparing to ask Congress for an increase of more than $100 billion in its controversial warfighting account to skirt a mandatory budget cap, but some government officials are worried it will only further the account's appearance as a slush fund.
One day after the top American commander in the Middle East told Congress he was not consulted before President Trump announced his decision to begin pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, the Pentagon's top civilian in charge of special operations has told lawmakers that former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was right to oppose Trump's planned withdrawal.
President Trump during his State of the Union address tonight announced new efforts to conclude U.S. military operations in the Middle East, but provided few details.
Gen. Joseph Votel, chief of U.S. Central Command, told senators today he was "not consulted" prior to President Trump's announcement that American troops would begin exiting Syria.
The Pentagon expects to submit its fiscal year 2020 budget to Congress in March, more than a month later than previously planned because of delays driven by the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history, according to two government officials.
The fiscal year 2020 budget request planned for this week has been delayed, but senior Pentagon officials are scheduled to discuss funding plans at congressional hearings and think tank events. Meanwhile, President Trump is slated to deliver his State of the Union address.
The Pentagon is in discussions with the White House Office of Management and Budget on whether the upcoming defense budget will request money for a southern border wall in fiscal year 2020, Inside Defense has learned.
The Pentagon is in discussions with the White House Office of Management and Budget on whether the upcoming defense budget will request money for a southern border wall in fiscal year 2020 and information is beginning to leak to Washington think tankers and other insiders.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) says he is "deeply troubled" that Defense Department officials did not mention the planned deployment of additional troops to the southern border when they appeared at a hearing Tuesday, while across the river at the Pentagon, Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan told reporters he expected "a few thousand" more to be deployed soon.
Top Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee are demanding the Defense Department submit a revised report on the effects of climate change, citing the omission of key assessments required by law.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have introduced a bill by which it would become U.S. policy to not use nuclear weapons first in a potential conflict.
The White House will not be submitting its federal budget request next week, according to a senior official from the Office of Management and Budget.
The Defense Department stands ready to transfer billions in spoken-for military construction funds should President Trump declare a national emergency and order the building of a wall on the southern border, though doing so would mean canceling or deferring existing projects prized in both red and blue congressional districts.
The Government Accountability Office has outlined a number of paths the Defense Department could take to reform its controversial warfighting budget -- the Overseas Contingency Operations account -- but says the Pentagon has yet to decide a course of action as it finalizes its fiscal year 2020 budget amid the renewed onset of statutory budget caps and expected Capitol Hill gridlock.
President Trump and Congress have agreed to re-open closed government agencies until Feb. 15. Meanwhile, senior Pentagon officials are scheduled to speak around the Washington area this week and a host of defense companies will have earnings calls.
President Trump said today he would support an agreement to re-open unfunded government agencies for three weeks to strike a final deal for a southern border wall, but pledged to declare a national emergency if such an agreement cannot be reached.