The INSIDER daily digest -- Dec. 16, 2019

This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Defense Department's plans to redeploy troops to areas of "great power competition," plus the Army's latest Night Court budget review and more.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who spoke Friday at the Center for Foreign Relations in New York, said he wants to focus more on the Indo-Pacific and is specifically reviewing the U.S. troop presence in Africa:

Defense hawk anxiety ticks upward as DOD crafts new budget

Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who has promised major reforms and bold investments, recently said he will soon order U.S. troops be moved from locations of "low-intensity conflict" to areas of "great power competition" in line with the National Defense Strategy, which calls for pivoting away from the Middle East and toward China and Russia.

In a brief interview on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum earlier this month, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said the service has launched what is informally called Night Court 3:

McConville: 'Every single dollar counts' as Night Court 3 begins

SIMI VALLEY, CA -- Army leaders, for a third consecutive year, are commencing a top-down review of the service's entire spending plan to hunt for projects that can be canceled, reduced or delayed to bolster modernization projects in the fiscal year 2022 budget.

In a recent interview with Inside Defense, the head of one of the Navy's top shipbuilders said managing the defense industry's cybersecurity won't be an easy task:

Huntington Ingalls CEO says he supports CMMC approach

Mike Petters, the chief executive of Huntington Ingalls Industries, said he supports the Defense Department's effort to implement the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, but said that will be only one part of a "dynamic" effort to protect critical data and systems.

The Air Force's capability area strategy reviews (CASRs) are underway:

Air Force space enterprise conducting mission reviews to ensure strategy alignment

As the Air Force looks to ensure its space programs are aligned with its larger enterprise strategy, the Space and Missile Systems Center has initiated a mission-by-mission review process that could drive changes to future budgets and requirements.

Bill Brown told Inside Defense last week L3Harris is moving forward to divest parts of the company:

Brown: L3Harris is 'in the market on a couple different assets'

L3Harris Technologies is making "very good progress" on preparing parts of the company for divestiture, the company's chief executive told Inside Defense earlier this month.

Raytheon is working on what its next steps will be in the wake of losing a protest of the Navy's award for the Ship Self Defense System:

GAO denies Raytheon's Ship Self Defense System protest

The Government Accountability Office has denied Raytheon's bid protest of the Navy's award to Lockheed Martin for the Ship Self Defense System.

Northrop Grumman has submitted its offer to develop the system that's expected to replace the current Minuteman III ICBMs starting in the late 2020s -- the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent:

Northrop submits proposal to develop next ICBM system

Northrop Grumman has submitted its bid to develop the nation's next intercontinental ballistic missile system, a key nuclear deterrent program the Air Force is hoping to keep on a tight schedule amid concerns about the legacy ICBMs' deteriorating condition and upheaval in the competition for the prime contract.