Legislators are fighting over every single dollar in this year’s defense budget, although saving billions could be as simple as changing a few words in a contracting statute. And believe it — or not — the Pentagon is the good …
Congress
House Pushes for East Coast Missile Shield
The House has approved a $643 billion defense-spending bill for 2013 that’s $3.7 billion more than the Obama Administration, and its Pentagon, is seeking. That’s just about the same amount the Congressional Budget Office …
“Historic New Missions” That Aren’t New and Hardly Historic
Stop the presses! The Pentagon’s just-issued annual report on China says its military is expanding into “new historic missions” beyond its traditional role of self-defense. The press is already highlighting that alarming phrase.
Some are sure to see these as “new hysteric missions” and contend they require increased U.S. …
Don’t Watch This Video!
…if you’re interested in a calm and reasoned assessment of the threats facing the U.S. by Foreign Affairs’ Micah Zenko. But if you prefer threat inflation, switch over to C-Span to watch the House debate the 2013 defense budget. Turn it up real loud.
The Defense Build-Down is On, But Fantasies Remain
Marine General John Allen, commander of forces in Afghanistan, is planning for the end – the withdrawal of U.S. forces, expecting to leave behind a small training force, but saddling the U.S. taxpayers with at least $2 billion a year to pay for the Afghan security force. Better deal than we have now, at roughly $100 billion a year, …
Budget Brain Freeze
Having been away for the past week, it’s nice to come back and see nothing on the looming defense-budget battle front has gotten any better, despite the iceberg of sequestration looming ahead of the USS Pentagon. In fact, it has gotten worse:
— House Armed Services Committee chairman Howard McKeon sent a letter to Defense …
“If you give us force structure back, give us the money, too. Because the quickest way I know to a hollow force is to give us structure without money. Simple as that.”
Countdown to Sequestration: Eight Months to Go
We began Battleland’s countdown to sequestration a month ago. As of Wednesday, we’re 11% closer to the end of the Pentagon as we know it. That’s slated to happen, according to this provision of the so-called Budget Control Act:
Coming Soon to Your Town: Sequestration Road Tour
Americans will celebrate Memorial Day next month, and honor those who’ve died while serving to protect the rest of us. But some concerned members of Congress are going to skip their hometown barbeques so they can hit the road: …
Sky’s The Limit…
Now that we have West Coast missile defenses to protect us from ICBMs North Korea doesn’t have, the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee wants the Pentagon to consider building an East Coast shield to protect us from ICBMs Iran doesn’t have.
Here’s the language from its slice of the proposed 2013 …
$393,800
“…more people have the ability to harm us or restrict our freedom to act today than at any point in our lives.”
The Coming War With China
Is China a peaceful nation that only wants to turn out Apple iPads and iPhones? Or is the Middle Kingdom bent on attacking the U.S.? Beijing is the long, and strong, pole in the tent for the U.S. military – and they know it. China is the new Soviet Union, and perhaps it should be.
But is there a downside to view Beijing through such …