Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen are scheduled to go before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the morning of Feb. 17 to present the details of the Pentagon’s $553 billion budget request for Fiscal 2012. It’s the first budget hearing that any of the Congressional defense oversight panels have announced so far to receive testimony on the Obama Administration’s Fiscal 2012 budget proposal and corresponding five-year spending plan. The White House has said it will submit the budget to lawmakers during the week of Feb. 14 before the hearings begin.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.