Rajiv Chanrasekaran’s new book, Little America, is making a splash with a pair of lengthy excerpts in the Washington Post (first one here, second here), ForeignPolicy.com, and Slate.
Several reviewers, bloggers and tweets …
Pentagon
Countdown to Sequestration: Six Months to Go
This is our fourth monthly flag of the impending sequestration: if Congress and the President can’t agree on $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the coming decade, whack: automatic cuts begin January 2. Half that sum – about $600 billion – would come from national-security accounts.
The story line remains the same: the GOP …
Never Mind…
David Fulghum over at Aviation Week is one of the capital’s top-notch defense reporters, although the lede on his latest story might leave you scratching your flight helmet:
Evidence is mounting that the U.S. defense community and the Obama administration view 2013 as the likely window for a bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear and
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$11.6 billion
Afdanistan: After Action Report #1
“Watch this,” said my Irish Army friend “Seamus” as a stream of Afghan government officials left the International Security Assistance Force Headquarters building and walked through the Kabul night towards their armored Toyota Land Cruisers. They had just concluded a dinner meeting with International Security Assistance Force …
The Perfectly Ironic Chinese Foreign Direct Investment
Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal story of how Chinese state bank (China Development Bank) is pumping $1.7 billion into two long-stalled redevelopment projects in the San Francisco Bay area – namely, Hunter’s Point (a Navy base until …
Cop Shop
You hang around the Pentagon long enough, you stop seeing things in isolation. For example, take the military program that gives surplus gear — everything from armored vehicles to M-16s – to local police forces. Danger Room reported Tuesday that the Fairmount Police Department of Georgia, charged with protecting 7,000 folks, has …
The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang
Building Bridges in Afghanistan
Major James Palmer liked to think of himself as a bridge builder when he was in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011…most likely because, as an Army engineer, he is a bridge builder. Anyone who has had to live without a bridge in his …
CREW
It’s a Marine program designed to protect leathernecks from IEDS. It stands for the corps’ Counter Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare – CREW. OK, so they cheated a little bit. This CREW contract just got bumped up to a half-billion dollars: 16.8% of it to be spent in Charleston, S.C., 5.5% to be …
Insert Metaphor Headline Here
Mongers
Sequestration continues to loom. That’s the law Congress passed last year, duly signed by the President, that requires $1.2 trillion in automatic deficit-reduction cuts over the coming decade. They’d come from discretionary spending if lawmakers and the President can’t come up with a better idea by Jan. 2.
Half of those cuts …
Great Moments in Navy History
The USS Gerald R. Ford will be the first aircraft carrier ever built without urinals, the independent Navy Times reports in a story not yet on line. In a related move, the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima now boasts a beauty salon.