‘Last Bill That Works:’ End Of An Era For National Defense Authorization Act?

‘Last Bill That Works:’ End Of An Era For National Defense Authorization Act?
‘Last Bill That Works:’ End Of An Era For National Defense Authorization Act?

Bill Greenwalt played a major role in crafting the defense policy bill — the National Defense Authorization Act — each year for almost a decade, helping to squire the bill through the personalities and politics of the ever-fractious Senate. Now the muzzle is off — he’s a defense expert at the American Enterprise Institute —…

Can Dems, Pro-Defense GOP & Tea Party Come Together At Reagan’s Tomb?

Can Dems, Pro-Defense GOP & Tea Party Come Together At Reagan’s Tomb?
Can Dems, Pro-Defense GOP & Tea Party Come Together At Reagan’s Tomb?

Less than three weeks from today, a four-star-studded convoy of Obama administration appointees will head west to the modern GOP’s most hallowed ground, the Ronald Reagan Library – and burial site – in Simi Valley, Calif. The one-day conference is a rare attempt to build a national consensus on defense both between the parties and,…

Sequestration Cuts Leave Army With Only 2 Brigades Ready To Fight: CSA Odierno

Sequestration Cuts Leave Army With Only 2 Brigades Ready To Fight: CSA Odierno
Sequestration Cuts Leave Army With Only 2 Brigades Ready To Fight: CSA Odierno

UPDATE: Odierno Clarifies. It May Be Three Brigades WASHINGTON: The Army has had to cancel so much training that only two of its 42 combat brigades are ready for combat, Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno told reporters at the Association of the US Army conference here today. It’ll take until June to get a…

GOP HASC Leaders Press Hagel To End DoD Civvie Furloughs

WASHINGTON: If the shutdown of the federal government could get more depressing today, it did. Senior House Republicans, clearly worried about angry constituents, began to press Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and — by extension — the Obama administration to end the furloughs of the 400,000 civilian defense workers. Rep. Buck McKeon, chair of the House…

Kerry Sez US Won’t Wait Long For Russians On Syrian Chemical Weapons

Kerry Sez US Won’t Wait Long For Russians On Syrian Chemical Weapons
Kerry Sez US Won’t Wait Long For Russians On Syrian Chemical Weapons

CAPITOL HILL: At an often combative hearing about the US use of force after Syria’s killing 1,400 of its citizens with chemical weapons, Secretary of State John Kerry said America “will not wait for long” to hear details of Russia’s proposal to put the weapons under international control. “We are waiting for word on the…

A ‘Limited Strike’ On Syria? Considerations For Congressional Debate

A ‘Limited Strike’ On Syria? Considerations For Congressional Debate
A ‘Limited Strike’ On Syria? Considerations For Congressional Debate

President Obama has made it clear that Syria crossed a “red line” by using chemical weapons against its own people. The proposed remedy is to execute a limited strike to change the behavior of the Assad government, but without putting troops on the ground, without regime change or without an international stamp of approval. Congress…

White House Sez ‘High Confidence’ Syria Used Chemical Weapons — Nerve Agent

White House Sez ‘High Confidence’ Syria Used Chemical Weapons — Nerve Agent
White House Sez ‘High Confidence’ Syria Used Chemical Weapons — Nerve Agent

  UPDATES WITH OBAMA WHITE HOUSE COMMENTS, HASC REACT TO KERRY REMARKS WASHINGTON: One hour before House Armed Services Committee members were to receive a White House briefing on last week’s Syrian massacre of more than 1,400 civilians, the White House released an unclassified summary of intelligence about the attack concluding with “high confidence” that…

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…

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…

BRAC Is Back & Sequester’s Here To Stay: Understanding Hagel & HASC

WASHINGTON: Congress seems increasingly resigned to sequestration cuts and base closures, ideas which once met fierce rejection on Capitol Hill. That’s the counterintuitive takeaway from Chuck Hagel’s first hearing as Defense Secretary on the 2014 budget request, one largely overtaken by events. The weary notes that legislators struck on the budget probably had something to…

2014 Budget: Three Reasons Why Pentagon’s Request Is Irrelevant

2014 Budget: Three Reasons Why Pentagon’s Request Is Irrelevant
2014 Budget: Three Reasons Why Pentagon’s Request Is Irrelevant

[updated 2:30 pm with Hagel, Hale, & Ramsey briefings; Republican responses; and Sharp analysis] PENTAGON: “NOTE: These program descriptions and dollar values do not reflect potential sequester impacts.” That disclaimer — in boldface italic type and a different color of ink, just to make sure you can’t possibly miss it — blazes across the top…

Sequestration: Buck McKeon’s 3-Front War Will Fail — But At Least CR May End

WASHINGTON: As House Speaker John Boehner went to the White House for fruitless talks on sequestration, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon convened reporters to tell both the President and his own party leadership, “we are done cutting our defense.” But the very fact that McKeon had to send this message via the media…

GOP To AOL D: Our Stop-Sequestration Plan Is NOT Last Year’s; Navy Delays Carrier Deployment

[UPDATED with details on carriers] THE CAPITOL: With the Obama Pentagon excoriating federal lawmakers for their apparent inability to avoid sequestration or to pass a defense spending bill, and the Navy going down to one carrier in the Persian Gulf for lack of funds, GOP lawmakers today defended the latest Republican proposal to stop the…

Air Guard Cut, More Ships OKd, Satellite Exports Eased In Defense Policy Bill

[Updated Friday 12/21] CAPITOL HILL: It looks like the country’s getting a defense bill for Christmas, with provisions on everything from boosting cybersecurity to sanctioning Iran to loosening export controls on satellites. In what passes for high efficiency in Congress these days, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees completed their conference on the National…