Inside the Pentagon highlights

Here are some must-reads from this week's edition of Inside the Pentagon:

1. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) said Wednesday he is confident Congress will honor a bipartisan budget commitment to spend $716 billion on defense in fiscal year 2019, but added that lawmakers will likely grapple over a variety of "adjustments" in funding to specific programs, like shipbuilding.

Full story: Thornberry: Congress set to make 'adjustments' to Trump's FY-19 defense budget

2. The Pentagon -- citing a need to "safeguard critical defense information" -- will no longer provide advance information about Ballistic Missile Defense System tests, a policy change that departs with a long-standing practice of routinely publishing both test schedules and test objectives.

Full story: DOD now treating missile defense flight test plans -- once public -- as classified

3. The Pentagon is moving too slowly in its pursuit of a space-based sensor system for missile defense, the head of U.S. Strategic Command argued today, as the Missile Defense Agency's latest budget forecasts plans to spend billions more on ground-based radars instead.

Full story: Hyten: DOD taking 'way too long' to develop space-based sensor