WASHINGTON ― Defense hawks in Congress are pushing a contentious plan to give the Pentagon a stronger hand in crafting nuclear weapons budgets, but the Trump administration has been sending mixed messaging over recent weeks about whether the change is needed. The Senate-passed version of the annual defense policy bill would give the Pentagon-led Nuclear Weapons Council a say in the budget development of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy whose mission related to the stockpile’s safety, security, and effectiveness. However, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities Vic Mercado told reporters […]
jack reed
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WASHINGTON ― Congress went two-for-two swatting down measures to slash the national security budget by $74 billion, rejecting a proposal Wednesday from Sen. Bernie Sanders to redirect the money toward domestic needs. The Senate voted 23-77 against an amendment to its version of the $740.5 billion annual defense policy bill. Progressives floated the plan to use defense dollars (excluding salaries and health care of military personnel) to address the pandemic’s economic fallout. The amendment’s sponsors argued the social spending would better align with people’s needs and views and that national security should be redefined in the wake of the global pandemic. […]
WASHINGTON ― The Senate Armed Services Committee has set an open hearing July 30 for Anthony Tata, President Donald Trump’s embattled pick for the Pentagon’s top policy job ― but that won’t be the first time the committee gathers to hear from the nominee. Tata, a Fox News contributor, staunch ally of the president and a retired Army brigadier general, has had to walk back a series of conspiratorial and controversial tweets after they were first reported by CNN. Among them: calling President Barack Obama “a terrorist leader,” a history of Islamophobic comments and claiming that former CIA Director John Brennan […]
WASHINGTON ― Plans for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a new military fund to boost deterrence against China in the Pacific, is one step closer to becoming law. The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved nearly $6 billion for the fund in its version of the annual defense policy bill, the panel announced Thursday. It authorizes $1.4 billion in fiscal 2021, which would be $188.6 million above the administration’s budget request, and $5.5 billion for fiscal 2022―and it directs the defense secretary to create a spending plan for all of the funds. “The best way to protect U.S. security and prosperity in […]
The Pentagon has spent less than a quarter of the $10.6 billion Congress gave it in March to protect military personnel and marshal American industry to procure face masks, ventilators and other… Source link
New support for an Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative suggests it’s a lock for the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act. Source link
The U.S. State Department inspector general was investigating the Trump administration’s use of an emergency declaration to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia, according to the the chairman of the House… Source link
A bipartisan group of 30 senators are expected to send the Federal Communications Commission a letter urging it to reverse course on its decision to allow Ligado to deploy a nationwide mobile… Source link