Inside the Pentagon highlights

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

1. President Obama's new plan to leave 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, which was not immediately accompanied by a plan to pay for them, drew harsh criticism from GOP defense hawks, including House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX), who demanded the president immediately submit a supplemental budget request to finance the new strategy.

Full story: Obama's new Afghanistan troop plan raises budget questions amid OCO fight

2. The Pentagon is seeking congressional permission to shift $2.6 billion between budget accounts as part of an annual reallocation of funds the U.S. military has in hand, launching five new-start projects, including a new machine-gun round for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, adding new capabilities to the Tomahawk cruise missile and an Army study for a new heavy equipment transporter.

Full story: DOD seeks blessing from lawmakers to shift $2.6 billion between accounts

3. The House Armed Services Committee's top Democrat has become a vocal opponent of the Pentagon's plans to modernize the nuclear triad, arguing that the United States needs to more smartly prioritize national security spending.

Full story: Smith argues for 'downsizing' national security ambitions, starting with nukes

4. As the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant begins to turn commercial drones into improvised explosive devices, the Pentagon wants congressional approval to move $20 million to the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Fund to help guard against this "critical" and "unanticipated" capability gap.

Full story: DOD: $20M needed to combat critical threat of ISIL turning drones into IEDs