Under the proposal, the defense secretary would decide how the No. 3 civilian job is replaced. The panel approved Ranking Member Mac Thornberry’s amendment during its markup of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday. It was approved by an unanimous voice vote as part of a package of amendments. “I have come to the conclusion that Congress is largely responsible for making this an impossible job, and we need to figure out something different,” Thornberry, of Texas, said on a conference call with reporters. The matter wasn’t discussed at the markup. Under the HASC-approved plan, the defense secretary would […]
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WASHINGTON ― Lawmakers took another apparent jab at Ligado Networks on Wednesday as the House Armed Services Committee passed a ban on the Pentagon awarding contracts to firms that interfere with Global Positioning System signals. The panel adopted an amendment from House Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner to bar the Department of Defense from contracting with an entity that engages in commercial terrestrial operations using certain frequency ranges ― unless the defense secretary certifies the operations do not cause harmful interference to a the military’s GPS devices. Ligado is not specifically named. However, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved the […]
The panel adopted an amendment from House Strategic Forces subcommittee Chairman Rep. Michael Turner to bar the Defense Department from entering, renewing or extending contracts an entity that engages in commercial terrestrial operations using certain frequency ranges―unless the defense secretary has certifies to the Congress the operations do not cause harmful interference to a the military’s GPS devices. Ligado is not specifically named. However, the FCC unanimously approved the plan from Ligado networks to use the bands identified in the amendment, the 1525–1559 MHz band and the 1626.5–1660.5 MHz band. The decision came over the objections from the Defense Department and […]
WASHINGTON ― Congress is readying proposals to rebuke President Donald Trump’s controversial plans to pull about 10,000 U.S. troops from Germany amid dissatisfaction with the administration’s rationale for the move and concerns it will weaken NATO. As President Donald Trump confirmed rumored plans to draw down American military personnel levels in Germany in coming months, a bipartisan group of senators led by Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney has proposed an amendment to the Senate’s version of the annual defense policy bill that would freeze troop numbers in Germany. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., said separately Tuesday that the […]
WASHINGTON ― The U.S. would be able to buy Turkey’s Russian-made S-400 air defense system under legislation proposed in the Senate last week. It’s one powerful lawmaker’s apparent attempt to alleviate the impasse between Washington and Ankara over the F-35 joint strike fighter. Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., has proposed an amendment to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that would allow the purchase out of the U.S. Army missile procurement account. It comes a year after the U.S. has expelled its NATO ally from the multinational F-35 program because it received the S-400 in a $2.5 billion deal. However, […]
WASHINGTON ― Congress is a step closer to eliminating the Pentagon’s chief management officer position, four years after creating the job to help streamline reform efforts inside the department. The House Armed Services Committee’s top Republican, Rep. Mac Thornberry, said Monday he supports the aim of a proposal from the Senate Armed Services Committee to discontinue to the Pentagon’s No. 3 civilian job. He said he may propose legislative action this week in the annual defense policy bill, which the panel would debate at its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act, set for Wednesday. “I have come to the conclusion […]
WASHINGTON ― Lockheed Martin has sent $1.1 billion in accelerated payment to support its network of suppliers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced Friday. The defense contracting giant has also hired 8,300 employees since the crisis began in March, with plans to hire 3,200 more before the end of the year. The hires mark a contrast with the rest of the U.S. economy, which saw the unemployment rate hit 13 percent this month and began a recession in February. “In this volatile environment, it is more important than ever before to maintain the operations of the defense industrial base and […]
WASHINGTON ― Congressional defense leaders now have at least three competing plans to push back on China in the Pacific. Which will they choose? House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., introduced his own $3.6 billion Indo-Pacific Reassurance Initiative plan Thursday―a response to two plans, each called the Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative―that would spend more and be more prescriptive about how the Pentagon would spend that money. “Our goal in this was to send a signal to our partners and allies that we have an enduring commitment to the region and that collectively we want to help address the full spectrum […]
WASHINGTON — With support eroding for President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Pentagon’s top policy job, Senate Armed Services Committee Republicans are planning an emergency meeting to discuss the fate of the nomination, congressional sources say. Retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, a Fox News contributor and staunch ally of the president, has been under fire since his nomination, after CNN revealed since-deleted tweets from 2018 in which Tata made derogatory comments about Democrats. They included calling President Barack Obama “a terrorist leader” and calling Islam the “most oppressive violent religion I know of.” Tata once reportedly tweeted at former CIA […]
WASHINGTON ― All unclassified Pentagon reports ordered by Congress could be made public under an amendment Rep. Jackie Speier will propose to the annual defense policy bill, Defense News has learned. The amendment, which is supported by a broad bipartisan group of government accountability and transparency groups, was drafted by Reps. Katie Porter, D-Calif., and Francis Rooney, R-Fla. It would be offered for the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which the House Armed Services Committee is set to mark up July 1. Speier, D-Calif., chairs the HASC Military Personnel Subcommittee. Under current law, the Pentagon is required to publish on its […]
WASHINGTON―The U.S. State Department has cleared a potential sale to Ukraine of 16 Mark VI patrol boats and other gear worth $600 million, it was announced Wednesday. The Ukraine sale is the first of its kind since President Donald Trump was acquitted in February in congressional impeachment proceedings that centered on his administration’s freeze on military aid to Ukraine. With the modern and fast patrol boats, the sale includes various weapons, sensors and communications gear expected to help deter Russia from muscling Ukraine in the contested Kerch Strait and key ports along the Azov Sea. According to a State Department official, […]
WASHINGTON ― CAE’s defence and security group president is departing the Quebec-based training and simulation firm after five months to take a job elsewhere, and CAE’s Heidi Wood will serve in the interim. Todd Probert, a former Raytheon executive, will step down June 26 to pursue an unspecified job opportunity within the U.S. national security community, CAE announced Tuesday. The move comes as the coronavirus pandemic has blunted projections for a strong year in CAE’s defense segment. Wood, who recently joined CAE as executive vice president for business development and growth initiatives, will act as interim leader while the firm searches […]
WASHINGTON ― Economic shock waves from the coronavirus pandemic are threatening U.S. arms sales to its allies and partners, who may suddenly have less to spend. U.S. defense exports, through either the Foreign Military Sales process (which is government-facilitated) or the Direct Commercial Sales process (from a firm to a nation), are a means for the U.S. to strengthen ties with friendly countries and, as President Donald Trump likes to make explicit, pump revenue into the U.S. economy. Though the U.S. made $55 billion in foreign military sales in fiscal 2019, observers see headwinds in declining oil prices and the potential […]
WASHINGTON―Four House Democrats are opposing a Department of Defense proposal to ease recent lobbying restrictions on former senior officials, arguing it would put the defense industry ahead of the taxpayer. The lawmakers, led by California Rep. Katie Porter, are pushing back on the Pentagon’s argument the changes would make the restrictions more consistent with criminal law and other agencies. DoD requested the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act contain a partial roll back of the rules, which apply to former general officers and senior Pentagon civilians by amending the 2018 NDAA’s Section 1045. “We do not believe that weak ethics rules for […]
WASHINGTON ― The Pentagon is facing billions of dollars in pandemic-related claims, which may force it to dip into modernization and readiness accounts if Congress doesn’t backfill the money, the department’s top acquisitions official said Wednesday. Testifying at the House Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord reaffirmed the Pentagon’s commitment to request supplemental appropriations from Congress, beyond its fiscal 2021 budget of $740 billion. It’s been seven weeks since Department of Defense officials first publicly disclosed a request was coming; that request is currently sitting with the White House Office of Management and Budget. The […]
WASHINGTON―Seven weeks after Department of Defense officials first said they would ask Congress for billions of dollars in the next version of a stimulus package to help defense contractors affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the request remains in limbo. Though the pandemic, according to Pentagon officials, has been hitting space launch companies and the aviation and shipbuilding supply chains, the Trump administration appears to have sidelined a further request to provide financial support. This would supplement $688 million for the defense-industrial base that DoD previously earmarked as part of the $10.5 billion it got from the CARES Act. New friction between […]
WASHINGTON ― The Senate’s top Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, is co-sponsoring legislation meant to prevent the Trump administration from restarting explosive nuclear weapons testing. The Preserving Leadership Against Nuclear Explosives Testing, or PLANET Act, announced Thursday, would bar any funds from being used for such tests. It follows a Washington Post report of high-level discussions around the possibility of doing a “rapid test”― potentially America’s first live nuclear test since 1992. The bill is led by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and a longtime arms control advocate on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. While a key administration official has said tests could […]
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
The Pentagon has proposed legislation that aims to end reliance on China for rare earth minerals used in the manufacturing of missiles and munitions, hypersonic weapons and radiation hardened… 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
The Pentagon is asking Congress for authority to block-buy two of its new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, a mega-deal worth as much as $17.7 billion. Source link
When it comes to boosting the Defense Department’s role in the frigid Arctic, nobody in Congress seems hotter under the collar than Sen. Dan Sullivan. Source link
The Defense Business Board, whose task force was tapped by the Pentagon for the study, unanimously adopted the recommendations at its meeting on Wednesday. Source link
General Dynamics has received $1 billion since the renegotiation of a $10 billion contract for Canada to sell light armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia. Source link