The INSIDER daily digest -- March 1, 2023

By John Liang / March 1, 2023 at 1:44 PM

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on oversight of U.S. weapon donations to Ukraine, a billion-dollar AWACS aircraft contract and more.

With all the billions of dollars' worth of weapons the U.S. is sending Ukraine, it might be worth setting up a watchdog agency similar to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction:

Afghanistan watchdog favors new special inspector general for Ukraine

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko, who recently released a report on the collapse of the Afghan military, said a special agency similar to SIGAR should be established to oversee the nearly $100 billion in U.S. security and humanitarian support flowing to Ukraine.

The E-7A Wedgetail aircraft, which Boeing this week won a billion-dollar contract to work on, will provide airborne moving target indication and battle management, command and control capabilities and multirole electronically scanned array radar:

Air Force awards contract to Boeing for E-7A Wedgetail

The Air Force awarded Boeing a $1.2 billion initial contract for the E-7A Wedgetail, which will replace the aging E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, the service announced Tuesday evening.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told the House Armed Services Committee this week that even "under the most expeditious timeline," it would take three to six years to provide Ukraine with new F-16s:

DOD balks at lawmakers' calls to send F-16s to Ukraine

The Defense Department's policy chief said the Biden administration is hesitant to send F-16 aircraft to Ukraine for several reasons, including timing and cost, despite new calls from Congress and requests from Kyiv to do so.

Document: House hearing on U.S. military support for Ukraine

Col. Candice Frost, commander of U.S. Cyber Command's Joint Intelligence Operations Center, spoke this week at a Billington Cybersecurity event:

CYBERCOM: Ongoing war in Ukraine informed Biden's new cyber strategy

The Biden administration's forthcoming national cybersecurity strategy will increase cooperation with new allies as U.S. Cyber Command monitors malign activity from Russia and China, according to a top CYBERCOM official.

The White House is looking to strengthen the U.S. defense supply chain:

Biden waives some statutory requirements for supply chain resilience

President Biden has signed a presidential waiver of some statutory requirements authorizing the use of the Defense Production Act to allow the Defense Department to more aggressively build the resiliency of the U.S. defense industrial base and secure its supply chains.

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