Military Debates Who Should Pull The Trigger For A Cyber Attack

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA: The American military is intrigued by the offensive uses for cyber-warfare, but it is struggling to figure out how to do it. What impact can cyber weapons have on the battlefield? What organizations should take the lead? And who makes the decision to pull the trigger? “We’ve been thinking 90% defense, 10%…

Humans, Not Hardware, Will Get Military Through Tough Times: Dempsey

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA: In an era of shrinking budgets, the military’s future is less about buying new hardware than making better use of what it already has, the armed forces’ top officer said yesterday, and that kind of change requires focusing not on equipment but on people. “It’s the human dimension that will get us…

Panetta To House GOP: Quit Fattening The Defense Budget

PENTAGON: House Republicans will probably be seething after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta scolded them today for adding several billion dollars money to the defense budget. “If we’re prevented from retiring aging ships and aircraft that no longer fit strategic requirements, then Congress would be forcing us to look elsewhere for savings,” Panetta said at a…

Panetta, Dempsey Stage Unusual Joint Appeal For Law Of The Sea

WASHINGTON [updated at 3:10 pm with comment from Heritage Foundation’s Steven Groves] : The Defense Department made a big push to break three decades of stalemate on the Law of the Sea, with Secretary Leon Panetta and Chief of Joint Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey staging a rare joint appearance today to urge the Senate to…

SecDef Panetta & CJCS Dempsey Will Push For ‘Law Of The Sea’ Ratification

Panetta & Dempsey to push "Law of the Sea" ratification tomorrow @ACUS (http://bit.ly/K8Nl7O) — pros & cons of LOS @ http://bit.ly/IHWF2v SydneyFreedberg

The Dempsey Doctrine Unveiled: Never Use The Military Alone

WASHINGTON: He may come to regret it, but Gen. Martin Dempsey today offered what may come to define his tenure as the president’s top military advisor, a doctrine that the United States should never send the military to war by itself. Here’s the phrase Dempsey uttered: “The military instrument should never be wielded alone.” Before…

Obama Drops Two MRCs; Invests In ISR, Counter-Terror and Pacific

PENTAGON: The United States will police the globe, respond to disasters and shape the international environment much as it has –though our sharpest focus will be on China and the western Pacific — but it will do all that with a significantly smaller land force than it currently has. That was the essential message offered…

Russia Ramps Up New ‘Satan’ Nuke After U.S. Talks Breakdown

WASHINGTON: Russia is pressing ahead with a new nuclear missile which Moscow claims is a part of a renewed effort to bolster the country’s missile defense systems. This new intercontinental ballistic missile, nicknamed “Satan” by Western analysts, will sport a 100-ton warhead and replace the Voevoda-class missile in the Russian nuclear arsenal, according to recent…

Russia Can’t Be Trusted With U.S. Missile Tech, Senator Says

UPDATED WASHINGTON: The United States must not hand over sensitive missile defense technology to Russia even if it means abandoning White House plans for a European missile shield, a key GOP lawmaker says. There already have been numerous instances by Russia to obtain American military secrets even after the collapse of the Iron Curtain the…

Joint Chiefs Chair Says U.S. ‘Will Find Common Ground’ With Russia On Missile Defense

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is “committed” to resolving the stalemate with Russia on the White House’s European missile defense plan despite claims by Moscow the plan is dead on arrival, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said. “I personally believe we will find common ground with the Russian military on [EPAA] because…

EU Crisis Will ‘Clearly’ Hit JSF, Dempsey Says

WASHINGTON: The unfolding economic crisis threatening the European Union could ripple through the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s crucial international program, the Pentagon’s top military officer said today. Partner nation participation in the JSF program “will clearly [be] put at risk if all the predictions about an [European] economic collapse would occur,” Chairman of the Joint…

Dempsey Backs Off on F-35 Cost Criticism; Speaks Of Budget Juggle

WASHINGTON: The nation’s top military officer today insisted he did not oppose the expensive and controversial F-35, on which three of the four services he leads depend on for their future air capabilities. Asked about his recent congressional testimony that the nation “might not be able to afford” the three F-35 variants, Army Gen. Martin…

Joint Chiefs Chair Leaves F-35B Hanging

Washington: The new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff put Capitol Hill on notice today, telling lawmakers that DoD may not be able to afford all three versions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In his first appearance before House Armed Services Committee as chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey said that buying the Air Force,…

New Army Chief Warns On Deep Force Cuts

Washington: In his first speech as the Army’s new Chief of Staff, Gen Ray Odierno warned that large, rapid reductions to the service would put the nation at risk. Odierno officially took the reins from former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, who is replacing Adm. Mike Mullen as the Chairman of the Joint…