HASC Finds $5 Billion Fix For Sequester Damage, But It Won’t Matter

HASC Finds $5 Billion Fix For Sequester Damage, But It Won’t Matter
HASC Finds $5 Billion Fix For Sequester Damage, But It Won’t Matter

CAPITOL HILL: Like water rushing downhill, flowing over or around or through every obstacle in its path, money in Washington will find a way. Today’s example is the newly released House Armed Services Committee’s “mark up” of the 2014 national defense authorization act. Striving to address shortfalls in military readiness created by this year’s hasty…

Bipartisan Defense Experts Urge Congress, Sec Def Hagel To Close Bases, Change DoD Pay

UPDATED THROUGHOUT WITH COMMENTS FROM CAPITOL HILL EVENT CAPITOL HILL: In an extraordinary letter to defense lawmakers and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, experts from nine Washington think tanks on the left and the right call for fundamental fixes to the defense budgets that, left undone, “threaten the health and long-term viability of America’s volunteer military.” The…

HASC Intel Panel Gently Reins In DoD Spy Service

CAPITOL HILL: Intent on ensuring the American taxpayers gets value for money and the Defense Department gets tactical intelligence it needs, Rep. Mac Thornberry wants to fence half of the money for the Pentagon’s new Defense Clandestine Service. “I think that DIA has made significant progress in developing and explaining the DCS,” Thornberry, chairman of…

HASC Seapower OKs New Carrier $, Boosts Oversight; CNO Replies

HASC Seapower OKs New Carrier $, Boosts Oversight; CNO Replies
HASC Seapower OKs New Carrier $, Boosts Oversight; CNO Replies

[updated with Adm. Greenert comment] House Armed Services seapower chairman Randy Forbes promised a “rebirth” of oversight in my interview with him last week, and he makes a down payment on that in his subcommittee’s markup of the defense bill. It includes a host of new reporting and certification requirements. Top of the deck comes the…

Rep. Forbes Pledges Tougher Oversight; Carrier Costs, LCS Mission, Size of Fleet

Rep. Forbes Pledges Tougher Oversight; Carrier Costs, LCS Mission, Size of Fleet
Rep. Forbes Pledges Tougher Oversight; Carrier Costs, LCS Mission, Size of Fleet

CAPITOL HILL: Yes, the defense budget is a mess. Continued uncertainty about whether sequestration will go away or is the new norm has thrown the annual budget process into even greater disarray than usual. But, Rep. Randy Forbes believes there’s a silver lining. Precisely because the president’s budget request is largely overtaken by events, Congress…

Here’s Your HASC Markup Handbook With Amendment Predictions

Here’s Your HASC Markup Handbook With Amendment Predictions
Here’s Your HASC Markup Handbook With Amendment Predictions

CAPITOL HILL: Tracking the winners and losers of this year’s House authorization markup — the draft bill produced by the House Armed Services Committee — is one of Washington’s most exhausitng pastimes. The final bill often does not appear until 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or even later in the morning the day…