BattlelandBattleland
This is the Global Hawk, the super-high-flying spy drone that is supposed to replace the aging U-2. (Not the band, though Bono is aging.)
The New York Times had an interesting piece on the new $12 billion drone program this week. It notes that costs of the program have doubled in the past 10 years. Each one of these things, which …
BattlelandPentagon
The nation’s military can swallow the basic budget cuts in the new debt deal, but not the more drastic slashing that would take place if the “trigger” sets in, according to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
The debt deal calls for about $350 billion in Pentagon cuts over the next 10 years. But if by Thanksgiving a special congressional …
BattlelandNavy
A report by a defense panel in the British parliament explores the impact of upcoming budget cuts on the UK military. Among other shockers, there is an upcoming 10-year period where the Brits will have no — zero — aircraft carrier strike capability while old carriers are retired and new carriers are not in the ocean yet.
The …
BattlelandMilitary Benefits
The same day President Obama signed legislation that is likely to dictate future budget cuts at the Pentagon of an unknown, but potentially significant size, the White House nominated the guy who is likely to carry out some of that cutting. The White House announced that Obama intends to nominate Ashton Carter to be the new deputy …
BattlelandMilitary Benefits
The debt deal trigger that could impose a separate round future cuts at the Pentagon will gut the Defense Department budget, dramatically weaken the military, and place national security at risk. Or, the cuts are not that steep and are not that big of a deal, depending on who you ask.
The “trigger” or “enforcement mechanism” everyone …
BattlelandTerrorism
The New Yorker has the big page-turner we’ve all been waiting for on the bin Laden raid. For those who got obsessed with whether or not there was even the facade of a plan to capture the guy, the piece includes this graph:
A second SEAL stepped into the room and trained the infrared laser of his M4 on bin Laden’s chest. The Al Qaeda
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BattlelandMilitary Benefits
Michael Scherer has some interesting insight on this debt deal enforcement mechanism that will take a hatchet to the Pentagon budget starting in 2013 unless Congress gets serious about the deficit. Here is his post in a nutshell:
Both Democratic and Republicans leaders have realized that they don’t have enough political heft on their
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BattlelandMilitary
Earlier today I made a mistake in a post about how deep defense cuts could become under the budget deal. They are, in fact, deeper than I thought.
The way the deal works, a congressional committee by Thanksgiving is supposed to come up with $1.5 trillion in savings over ten years. If the committee fails, or if Congress fails to agree …
BattlelandMilitary Benefits
If you are a defense contractor and you make weapons or trucks or planes or whatever, beware the “enforcement mechanism” in the budget deal. Here is the summary from the White House.
- Immediately enacted 10-year discretionary spending caps generating nearly $1 trillion in deficit reduction; balanced between defense and non-defense
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BattlelandBattleland
If press reports are accurate, the young soldier arrested for allegedly planning to shoot troops near Fort Hood was inspired by Major Nidal Hasan, who slaughtered 13 people at Fort Hood in November 2009. Pfc. Naser Abo, 21, also had in his hotel room bombmaking materials and a copy of an article from Inspire, published by al-Qaeda’s …
BattlelandBattleland
News reports suggest the Army private arrested in Killeen Texas for allegedly planning an attack on Fort Hood troops had a stash of guns and bomb-making components. Fort Hood was the location of the shooting massacre in November 2009, by a guy who was basically a terrorist. Just what was motivating this kid, however, is hard to fathom …
BattlelandBattleland
The immediate reaction from a lot of people when news first broke that a soldier shot up the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood in November 2009 was surprise that this kind of thing had not happened earlier. Many folks (including me) first assumed that this was the act of a soldier suffering greatly from combat stress after repeated …
BattlelandIraq
One of the most common criticisms of the Obama administration you’ll hear in Washington is that the White House doesn’t do much planning, that they just are not fully engaged on a lot of issues. Stuff just sort of happens. I mostly follow national security issues, but whether it is the botched plans to close Guantanamo, or the …
