Inside the Pentagon highlights

Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Pentagon:

1. Congressional appropriators want to increase funding for the military's artificial intelligence pathfinder, even as Pentagon officials debate how to move forward after Google announced it would drop out of the project once its contract ends.

Full story: Appropriators add money to military AI pathfinder as Pentagon grapples with Google spurn

2. The White House strongly objects to several provisions in the Senate's fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill, especially a section that would ban the Defense Department from doing business with Chinese telecommunications company ZTE, but the administration is not threatening to veto the legislation, according to a statement of administration policy from the Office of Management and Budget.

Full story: Trump withholds veto threat on Senate defense bill, but opposes ZTE, missile defense provisions

3. Senate appropriators seek to direct nearly $4 billion in additional funding to key areas of weapon system innovation including hypersonics, artificial intelligence, cyber, space, microelectronics and directed energy.

Full story: Senate appropriators tap nearly $4B for additional weapon system innovation

4. A recent boost in the defense budget means the Pentagon should be able to make new investments in cutting-edge capabilities to regain technological momentum from China amid Beijing's military spending binge, according to Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva.

Full story: 'Enough money to go around' to offset China's rise, DOD's No. 2 military officer says