When Army General John Shalikashvili’s became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993, even his staff didn’t know how to say his name. “I’m saying it the way the other people on my staff are saying it: shah-lee-KASH-villy, with the emphasis on the KASH,” said Maj. Nino Fabiano, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs. “But let me …
Defense Contractors Block Auditor Access to Records, Insiders Say
Last week, POGO revealed that the Pentagon failed to act on a 2009 legislative proposal from the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) for enhanced power to compel contractors to turn over internal records.
While few inside DCAA would quibble with the desire for greater subpoena power, there is a debate internally about how aggressive …
Defense Cuts in the Name of Debt Reduction But Really for Food Stamps, Basic Research & Student Loans
The defense spending “debate” seems to be devolving into a race to the bottom. With trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see—and a collision with the debt ceiling scheduled in less than two weeks—panicky politicians are coalescing around a simple yet dangerous idea: doubling-down—perhaps even tripling-down—on …
Balloon Goes Up In Budget Battle
Sure, there have been skirmishes over defense spending in recent weeks, but now they’re shifting from small arms and irregular warfare to a combined arms campaign featuring the big guns and close-air support. As Nick Schwellenbach noted Thursday, a pair of do-gooder groups — Taxpayers for Common Sense and his own Project on …
60 Days and Counting
Thursday evening I had a series of emails sent directly to my phone. I was out with some of the members of my squadron who do not know I’m gay, so as usual I held my phone in a way that didn’t allow the screen to be read by others. The emails all said certification of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was expected to occur on Friday,
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The Shrinking Enemies List
General Ray Odierno appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday for his confirmation hearing to become the Army’s 38th top officer. In his prepared opening statement, after thanking his family for its support, he turned to the threats the country faces today:
We face a multitude of security challenges, such as
…
$56 Billion to Rebuild Afghanistan (So Far): The Whole Kit & Kabul-Dole
Remember how you doled out allowances to your kids, trying to teach them the value of a quarter before moving on to a dollar? (OK — I was cheap.) Check out this chart from a Thursday report from the Government Accountability Office: direct payments to Afghanistan from Washington more than tripled between 2009 and 2010 with …
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” History in 60 Days
Charlie Moskos, the nation’s most pre-eminent military sociologist and the architect of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” is dead. So is Les Aspin, who as a defensive defense secretary battling the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” official Pentagon policy in 1994. Friday, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will join those two men – …
More National Security-Related Deficit Cut Proposals
The prospect of deeper cuts at the Defense Department and other parts of the national security-related budget is getting closer to reality. On Monday, Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma proposed $1 trillion in cuts at the Defense Department over ten years. The so-called ‘Gang of Six’ bipartisan group of Senators have recommended …
Afghan VIPs Steal $10 Million From You Every Day, in Cash
Afghan government VIPs stuff your tax dollars into suitcases and fly the money out of the Kabul airport to parts unknown, possibly at the rate of about $10 million bucks a day. That’s one of the startling conclusions in the latest report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released on Wednesday.
It says …
How Crazy are North Korea’s Leaders?
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..apparently deranged enough to airlift McDonald’s hamburgers from China to the elite in Pyongyang.
Afghanistan: “Can Do!” or “Can We Do?”
Marine Lieut. General John Allen told the Senate Armed Services Committee three weeks ago that he was “cautiously optimistic” about the future of Afghanistan as he readied to take over for Army General Dave Petraeus (the change of command happened Monday).
A new State Department inspector general’s report — Sensitive But …
Batten Down the Hatches!
The Washington Post chimes in Thursday morning with the news — well, not to Battleland readers, mind you — that the big ax in the sky is getting ready to fall on the Pentagon.
