Inside the Pentagon highlights

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

1. Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan said Oct. 26 the Pentagon is building two budgets: one that accounts for total defense spending of $733 billion and one for $700 billion, the amount President Trump has said the he will "probably" seek in fiscal year 2020.

Full story: Shanahan: DOD is building two budgets and one is $33B less than planned

2. Congress has given the military a new tool to sidestep traditional acquisition system requirements while rapidly prototyping and fielding promising technologies, but the Defense Department is still wrestling with how best to manage the new authority, according to a senior Pentagon official.

Full story: DOD working on new rapid prototyping oversight structure

3. The Washington defense community returned to work Oct. 29 after a weekend spent digesting the potential impact of a White House-directed $33 billion cut to the Pentagon's budget in fiscal year 2020, a reduction Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan confirmed the previous Friday.

Full story: Washington adjusting to new budget conversation after WH orders defense cuts

4. U.S. officials are touting the Defense Department's more "assertive" posture in cyberspace following the release of a new Pentagon cyber strategy and the repeal of an Obama-era directive governing military cyber operations.

Full story: U.S. officials tout Pentagon's more 'assertive' actions in cyberspace