WASHINGTON: Turmoil, fear and a certain resolute grimness marked this week at the Pentagon and Capitol Hill. The military scrambled to cope with a range of new threats as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and the Pentagon leadership begin to grapple with the grim future posed by the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. Put it all…
By Colin ClarkCAPITOL HILL: The best case for sequester is still a disaster – but we’re not going to get the best case. That’s the common denominator from a range of budget options rolled out today by an extraordinary alliance of four thinktanks. Their consensus recommendations to cut military readiness, Army brigades, Navy carriers, Air Force ICBMs,…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: The future of Special Operations Forces may look less like Zero Dark Thirty and more like Lawrence of Arabia or Rudyard Kipling’s Kim – with just a dash of 007. It’s a future that builds on the last ten years of raids and advisor missions, then adds solo operators in foreign lands, proxy wars…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: What homemade roadside bombs could do to Army and Marine ground vehicles was the ugly surprise of the last decade. What sophisticated long-range missiles could do to Navy aircraft carriers could be the ugly surprise of the next. “I think it would almost follow like the night to the day,” Rep. Randy Forbes told…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: With the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration set to start taking effect March 1st, we’re going to see a lot of interesting last-minute plays to stop them. It’s almost certain none of them will work. But Rep. Randy Forbes’s bill introduced this morning, H.R. 773, at least offers the virtue of simplicity: At…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.[UPDATED and CORRECTED Jan. 31 at 3:45 pm Shipbuilders’ Council Says Job Loss Numbers Are Estimates And Not Official Council Numbers] WASHINGTON: For anyone who believed those who have claimed that defense cuts don’t affect “real” jobs or the economy, today appears to be a sobering day. At Tuesday’s general meeting of the Shipbuilders’ Council…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: While the House has voted to extend the debt limit to May, the automatic federal spending cuts called sequestration still loom $90 billion large, half that bill for the Pentagon alone. Yet, as fourth quarter earnings calls begin, the defense industry and its stock values remain remarkably resilient. What gives? Or rather, what isn’t…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: A year ago, the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration looked like the nightmare scenario. Today, amidst deepening gridlock and the threat of the first federal default in US history, they’re starting to look like the lesser evil. “The debt ceiling is clearly the priority,” said the city’s leading independent budget analyst, Todd Harrison…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.[UPDATED 3:30 pm on 1/8/2013 with revised CSBA estimates] WASHINGTON: The battle of the fiscal cliff is over, but the war to stop sequestration rages on – and President Obama’s decision that his new Secretary of Defense should be former Sen. Chuck Hagel, the Republican other Republicans love to hate, makes it even harder to…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
[Updated] WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA: Happy New Year, America. To start 2013 off wrong, we have a deal to fix the “fiscal cliff” that actually only solves a third of it. This is where four decades of Congressional reform have gotten us. The corrupt old boys’ club of the past would have done better. Where exactly do…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.