ESSAY: When Everything is a Major Threat, is Anything a Major Threat?
Instability in Bangladesh, like this scene last year, made the US intel community’s list of top threats. (AFP photo via Getty Images) ESSAY: James Clapper has a list. It’s a threat list. The DNI admits...
View ArticleSchumer Headlines Lockheed Rally For USAF Helicopter Program
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, D, holds up a Save Combat Rescue hat at a Jan. 24 rally at Lockheed Martin’s Owego, N.Y., modification plant. (Handout) With the fate of the US Air Force’s Combat Rescue...
View ArticleIn a Rare Move for Today’s Washington, Senator Sticks to the Facts
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., did something very rare on Monday. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) A US lawmaker did something fascinating — and rare — on Monday afternoon. His office issued a statement critical...
View ArticleGroup Tries to Tie HASC Members, Republican Hawks to Tea Party
Tea Party protesters, with their signature “Don’t Tread On Me” flags. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) A left-leaning political organization has concluded several House defense hawks voted with the far-right...
View ArticleMcKeon & Turner’s Awkward Afternoon Kicks Off HASC Gavel Race
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., and panel member Mike Turner, R-Ohio, were involved in an awkward moment last week. (Image by Defense News staff) It was one of the most...
View ArticleObama and the NSA: Count the Code Words
US President Barack Obama winks after speaking about the National Security Agency (NSA) and US surveillance techniques on Friday. While signaling some changes, Obama mostly defended controversial NSA...
View ArticleLynn, Stavridis to Lead CNAS Strategy, Technology, Industry Task Force
Former Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn (left) and retired Adm. James Stavridis (right) will lead a Center for a New American Security task force on strategy, technology and the global defense...
View ArticleThe 2011 HAC-D Hearing That Pushed Gates Over the Edge
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates testifies at a House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing on March 2, 2011. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) A March 2011 fight with Congress over war...
View ArticleBudget Shows Lawmakers More Invested in Afghanistan Than Rhetoric Indicates
Soldiers from the Afghan National Army (ANA) march along a street during an exercise in Poll-e-Matack, north of Kabul on Tuesday. A US spending bill would send billions more to equip and train the...
View ArticleHighlights from Gates book “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War”
The cover of former Defense Secretary Robert Gates new book “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.” (Knopf) Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” is one...
View ArticleIs Harry Reid ‘The Dictator’ of the US Senate?
One senior Republican senator, signaling predictions of an end to Washington’s dysfunction might have been premature, on Tuesday called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., “the dictator.” (Alex...
View ArticleGOP Hawks Blame Fallujah’s Fall on Obama — But Oppose Inserting US Troops
The coffin of a man killed in fighting is carried for burial in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah, on Saturday. The Obama administration says it will not insert US troops to help take back the city....
View ArticleHere’s What Was Left on the NDAA Cutting Room Floor
Jail cells and a meeting area inside the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Lawmakers excluded several controversial provisions about the terrorist suspect detention facility from a Pentagon...
View ArticleUS to Send More Drones, Missiles to Iraq
As the Iraqi government struggles to contain the exploding violence that slaughtered more than 8,000 civilians in 2013—which the United Nations says is the highest level of violence since 2008—the...
View ArticleMRAP: From Symbol of Iraq War to Symbol of Washington ‘Waste’?
MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles operated by US Marines from 1st Battalion 7th Marines Regiment leave PB Fulod in Sangin, Afghanistan in June 2012. (ADEK BERRY/AFP/GettyImages) The...
View ArticleGOP Senator: ‘How Many People Really Want to Vote Against … the Troops?’
Republicans have had it with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Will those frustrations lead them to kill the annual Pentagon policy bill? (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Senate Republicans were mad when...
View ArticleFormer Pentagon “Drone” Lawyer Confirmed as New DHS Chief
On Thursday, the Senate overwhelmingly confirmed Jeh Johnson to be the fourth head of the Department of Homeland Security since its creation in 2002, by a vote of 78-16. President Obama’s nominee—who...
View ArticleWhy Two Senate Amigos’ Opposition to Ryan-Murray Budget Plan Matters
Two of the Senate’s “Three Amigos,” GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, announced Thursday evening they will oppose Congress’ first bipartisan budget plan...
View ArticleBudget Drama: Paul Ryan Subtly Calls Out Tea Party Republicans
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., walk past the Senate chamber on their way to a press conference to announce a bipartisan...
View ArticleRand Paul Says Passing Any Budget Deal ‘May Be Impossible’ (Video)
Click here to view the embedded video. “im·pos·si·ble adjective \(ˌ)im-ˈpä-sə-bəl\ : unable to be done or to happen : not possible” That’s according to Merriam-Webster, the dictionary folks. And it’s...
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