Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) hopes a small addition to fiscal 2021 defense legislation will make a big difference in how the Pentagon spends its money. The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee argues Congress should let the military roll over as much as ...
House appropriators are planning to offer the Pentagon $694.6 billion for operations, personnel, and procurement, plus another $10.5 billion for military construction, in fiscal 2021. The Defense Department funding proposal is $1.3 billion higher than DOD received in fiscal 2020, but nearly $4 billion lower ...
Lt. Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, currently the director of the Joint Staff, was nominated July 1 to take over as the next commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command. If confirmed, VanHerck will receive his fourth star and take over for ...
President Donald J. Trump has nominated Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark to be the next U.S. Air Force Academy superintendent. If confirmed, Clark will replace Lt. Gen. Jay B. Silveria, who graduated from the Academy in 1985 and has led the school since August 2017. ...
The House Armed Services Committee argued its way through its version of the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill on July 1, ultimately approving the annual legislation 56-0. The unanimous vote is a stark departure from the committee’s 33-24 vote last year, which largely fell along ...
Congress wants to pump the brakes on U.S. Special Operations Command’s effort to buy a new plane for armed overwatch in remote areas, after many lawmakers recently supported a similar Air Force program. Lawmakers call on Pentagon leadership to describe why SOCOM would need such ...
If Turkey sells the U.S. the advanced S-400 air defense system it bought from Russia, Ankara could resume its lucrative role in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, under provisions inserted in the Senate's version of the 2021 defense policy bill by Sen. John Thune ...
The head of the House Armed Services Committee calls himself an optimist. This year, he also has to be a realist. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), tried to pack Democratic priorities into his committee’s version of the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill—though not enough, according to ...
A bipartisan group of senators are attempting to block the White House’s effort to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Germany, saying such a step would be a “gift” to Russia. On June 29, a group of senators led by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) ...
Nuclear modernization concerns are again on the table for fiscal 2021 defense policy negotiations, as House lawmakers raise issues about staffing, program delays, and how to use the weapons themselves. The Air Force’s three major nuclear weapon upgrade programs—the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the Long-Range Standoff ...
Service members will be able to anonymously seek mental health treatment, without their chain of command being notified, under new proposed legislation. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) introduced the “Brandon Act,” which aims to protect service members from hazing, bullying, and any other issue if they ...
A year after the House Armed Services Committee passed its fiscal 2020 defense policy bill in an unusually partisan fashion, the panel appears to be taking a step back from major fireworks and aerospace programmatic shifts in its 2021 legislation. The full committee’s version of ...
