The Insider

President Trump has nominated Navy Adm. Phil Davidson to become head of U.S. Pacific Command and Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy to become the chief of U.S. Northern Command, the Defense Department announced late Tuesday afternoon.

Davidson has been serving as chief of U.S. Fleet Forces Command since December 2014, according to his official biography. Before that, he was head of the U.S. 6th Fleet. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in national security and strategic studies.

In addition to being head of NORTHCOM, O'Shaughnessy would also lead North American Aerospace Defense Command. He currently serves as commander of Pacific Air Forces; air component commander for PACOM; and executive director of the Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, HI.

Before that, O'Shaughnessy served as deputy chief of United Nations Command Korea and U.S. Forces Korea; head of Air Component Command, South Korea/U.S. Combined Forces Command as well as 7th Air Force, Pacific Air Forces, at Osan Air Base in South Korea, according to his bio.

O'Shaughnessy holds a bachelor's degree from the Air Force Academy and a master's degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has been selected to serve as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, succeeding former Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), who retired earlier this month.

Shelby, who was approved by the Senate Republican Conference, will also chair the defense subcommittee.

Shelby takes the helm following last month's passage of a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill, of which $700 billion went toward defense. Congress has agreed to fund defense at $716 billion in fiscal year 2019, but the deal could collapse if lawmakers seek to make additional cuts to non-defense spending. 

Meanwhile, new concerns have been raised about the skyrocketing federal deficit, which, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will exceed $1 trillion in the coming year.

“My colleagues have placed their trust in me to lead the Senate Appropriations Committee, and I am honored to serve our nation in this new capacity,” Shelby said in a statement.

Defense spending projections and much more highlight this Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Interest payments on the federal debt will be greater than total defense spending over the next five years, according to a new CBO report:

CBO projects defense spending will top $3.3 trillion over next five years

The United States is projected to spend $3.325 trillion on defense over the next five years -- and nearly $7 trillion over the next decade -- amid a period of historic deficit increases, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office.

Document: CBO report on the 2018-2028 budget and economic outlook

The Navy will have a marked increase in the number of 3D-printed parts by the end of this year:

NAVAIR projects 1,000 3D-printed parts approved for fleet by end of 2018

Naval Air Systems Command estimates it will have nearly 1,000 additively manufactured parts approved for printing and use across the fleet by the end of 2018, almost a tenfold increase from what is available today, according to a NAVAIR logistics officer.

The head of U.S. Transportation Command testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing this morning:

TRANSCOM chief says contractors not strong enough on cyber

The head of U.S. Transportation Command says his organization is pushing its contractors to increase their cybersecurity, but he is concerned pushing too fast and too hard will freeze some companies out.

Document: TRANSCOM chief's 2018 congressional testimony

The Navy could wind up taking over the battlefield command-and-control mission from the Air Force:

Navy willing to take over JSTARS mission from the Air Force

The Navy is preparing to take over the battlefield command-and-control mission from the Air Force if the latter service does not replace the current platform, according to a Navy official.

Army missile defense news from the recent AUSA Global Force Symposium:

Army AMD community pursues parallel efforts to bolster capability

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- The Army's phased approach to bolstering the short-range air defense capability of its maneuver forces in Europe is proceeding as planned, but service officials are adamant that M-SHORAD will be just one element of a layered approach to air and missile defense.

(For complete coverage of last week's AUSA Global Force Symposium, click here.)

Ingalls Shipbuilding will be the company that constructs the Navy's dock landing ship replacement:

Navy selects Ingalls Shipbuilding to build LX(R)

The Navy late last week quietly announced it has selected Ingalls Shipbuilding to build the dock landing ship replacement beginning with LPD-30.

Document: Navy presolicitation notice on LX(R)

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The Missile Defense Agency held a recent non-intercept exercise featuring two Army missile systems:

MDA conducts simulated exercise, THAAD upgrades cleared for operational fielding

The Defense Department demonstrated the ability to bolster its regional ballistic missile defense capability during a non-intercept flight test last week that showcased two Army-operated systems collaborating to track a short-range ballistic missile target, according to the Missile Defense Agency.

The Pentagon's chief technologist says restrictive immigration policies are hampering the United States from recruiting the best experts in artificial intelligence. 

Since all it takes is a computer to develop the algorithms behind machine learning and artificial intelligence, the Defense Department needs to attract top talent rather than merely outspend adversaries in the field, according to Mike Griffin, the under secretary of defense for research and engineering.

“It's nice to have compute power and all that stuff, but what we really need to do is to have a climate which wants to attract the best minds,” Griffin said during a panel discussion on AI held today in Washington. “Since 9/11, we have really clamped down on a number of different ways in which the United States used to be attractive to the best and brightest.”

Griffin's comments mirror those of Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet Inc. and current chair of the Defense Innovation Board. Last November, Schmidt noted “the military is not up to speed on AI” and highlighted how immigration policies prevent computer scientists from places like Iran from living and working in the United States.

“Let’s talk about immigration,” Schmidt said during the Nov. 1 event in Washington. “Shockingly, some of the very best people are in countries that we won’t let in to America. Would you rather have them building AI somewhere else or having them build it here?”

During the panel today, Griffin said he still thinks the United States attracts top technological talent from around the world, but said the government could do more.

“A country that has people clamoring to get here is a better arrangement than having a country where people are trying to get out,” Griffin said. “But we're not always doing, in regards to our immigration policies, the kinds of things that would cause people to want to come here, get a great education and stay here.”

Griffin did not reference specific policies. But his comments come not long after the Trump administration reportedly considered new regulations that would prevent extensions for H-1B visas, which are set aside for specialized and highly skilled foreign workers. The administration has since backed off the proposal after it was criticized by business and technology communities, McClatchy reported in January.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported last week the administration is likely to revoke an Obama-era program that distributed work permits to the spouses of H-1B visa holders.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is asking the Army about the feasibility of assigning a Security Force Assistance Brigade to U.S. Africa Command.

In a letter sent today to Army Secretary Mark Esper, Inhofe writes:

As you know, AFRICOM does not have any assigned forces, but must compete for allocated forces within the Department of Defense's global force management process. The Army has allocated a Brigade Combat Team to AFRICOM in the recent past as part of the Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) program. These operations were a success for our African nation partners and built strategic partnerships for the United States. However, they also negatively affected the allocated BCT's readiness, especially for core missions such as full-spectrum combat operations.

The new SFABs "are designed specifically for this type of mission and are manned appropriately, without the need to leave most of the BCT at home station and deploying only the senior leadership of the BCT," Inhofe continues. Assigning an SFAB to AFRICOM would also allow a BCT to "focus on its training and maintaining the highest levels of readiness to meet other [combatant command] requirements or operational plans."

Read the full letter here.

The Marine Corps and Sikorsky are confident they can meet the 2019 initial operational capability goal for the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter program, and estimate that 50 percent or more of previously reported issues have been fixed and retested, according to the program manager.

Inside the Navy previously reported that two Pentagon offices have found it unlikely the Marine Corps can meet that 2019 goal because of various issues being worked out. Asked about those reports, Col. Henry Vanderborght, H-53 program manager, told reporters today there is a lag time between those offices concluding their evaluations and publishing their work.

Those reports show data from "six to nine months ago. Probably about 50-plus percent of those [issues] have already been fixed and re-tested," he said.

"Our current metrics all show our current status to the 2019 [IOC]," Vanderborght said. He did concede that there is "still some work to do" but said most of those issues are being corrected.

Further, Vanderborght said there is still some "risk" left in the program in terms of meeting the IOC goal, but added the Marine Corps has not scheduled the CH-53K's first deployment until the 2023-2024 time frame. "That time beyond 2019 was always envisioned to be scheduled margin for the program," he said.

During the same briefing alongside Vanderborght, Michael Torok, vice president of Marine Corps systems and services at Sikorsky, added the program has completed its discovery testing where further issues would be found.