TODAY’S TOP 5
1. Congressional Conundrum: Cut Weapons Programs Now or Later?
(Defense News) Rep. Adam Smith grimaced and appeared to sigh. The nightmare scenario he had warned about for weeks was playing out all around him. And the House Armed Services Committee ranking member could do nothing to stop it.
2. Nigerian kidnapping, other crises underscore limits of U.S. power in Africa
(Washington Post) There is little doubt that America is increasingly concerned about the security climate in Africa. But despite a warm welcome for Kerry on his first extended trip to Africa as secretary, there is wide cynicism about the administration’s real goals there.
3. Wishful thinking on the defense budget
(Editorial board, Washington Post) In defense spending, as in other areas of the federal budget, these are times of hard but necessary choices. Given the House’s apparent direction, it appears that if anyone is going to make those choices, it will have to be the Senate.
4. Debate grows over proposal for CIA to turn over drones to Pentagon
(Los Angeles Times) A Dec. 12 Yemen attack has become fodder in a growing debate about the White House proposal for the CIA to eventually turn over its armed drones and targeted killing program to the military.
5. Whistleblower starts Texas VA probe
(San Antonio Express-News) The investigation into extreme backlogs spread to Texas Friday as Veterans Affairs officials said they are investigating claims that waiting lists for appointments have been doctored at a San Antonio clinic.
DEFENSE NEWS WITH VAGO MURADIAN
Climate Change and the US Coast Guard
(Retiring US Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp Jr.) How climate change is affecting his service and US national security.
USCG's National Security Cutter
(Adm. Papp) On pitching the Coast Guard's National Security Cutter to the US Navy.
DoD Shifts to the Cloud
(Lt. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins) Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency on moving Pentagon data to the cloud.
Fighting Terrorism
(Vago's Notebook) A call for a more comprehensive and nuanced approach to fighting terrorists without creating more of them.
INDUSTRY
Judge Lifts ULA Injunction
(Defense News) A federal judge has lifted an injunction preventing the United Launch Alliance (ULA) from purchasing a Russian-made rocket engine, according to court documents.
Companies Seek New Life for MRAPs Overseas
(Defense News) The 2014 edition of Jordan's SOFEX show closed early due to flooding, but not before several makers of light armored vehicles unveiled new export variants.
Jordan Is First Importer Of BAE Rocket System
(Defense News) The Kingdom of Jordan will become the first international customer of BAE Systems’ Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser-guided rockets.
IAI To Transfer Spy Sat to Military Users
(Defense News) A month after launching Israel’s newest spy satellite into space, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), producer of the Ofek 10 and its advanced radar-imaging payload, is poised to transfer the strategic intelligence system to military hands.
CONGRESS
Budget ax hovering over the military
(The Hill) House lawmakers have rejected most of the Pentagon’s proposed cost-saving measures for next year, raising serious questions about how the military will stay under budget limits once sequestration returns in 2016.
Lawmakers condemn actions by Chinese ships
(The Hill) A bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Friday said they find recent moves by Chinese vessels in the South China Sea to be “deeply troubling.”
Service academy nominations often withheld from public
(Military Times) The names of many high-school seniors nominated to a taxpayer-funded service academy by members of Congress and others are never disclosed. Many lawmakers say they withhold nominees’ names to preserve their privacy. But transparency advocates find that rationale surprising.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Hagel: Military should review transgender ban
(Associated Press) The prohibition on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military “continually should be reviewed,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on “This Week,” ABC’s Sunday-morning talk show.
Hagel unhappy with House panel's defense budget
(Associated Press) The House Armed Services Committee wrote a bill that rejects many cost-savings proposals from the department, including closing excess military bases and retiring aging aircraft.
Hagel instructs services to renew efforts fighting alcohol abuse
(Military Times) Here’s a statistic that the Pentagon finds sobering: In two out of every three sexual assaults, alcohol is involved. That’s why the ongoing crackdown on sexual assault is fueling a new anti-drinking campaign.
ODNI clarifies more limited effect of its new preclearance policy
(Just Defense) On Friday, the ODNI Public Affairs Office distributed a memorandum to all personnel, clarifying the much more cabined intended effect of Instruction 80.04, which appeared to establish new restrictions, and a more robust “prepublication” review.
Trying to Salvage Remains of Blackwater Case
(New York Times) The 2007 shooting in Nisour Square became a signature moment in the Iraq war. But over the years, a case that once seemed so clear-cut has been repeatedly undermined by the government’s own mistakes.
After 150 years, Arlington Cemetery still holds secrets
(USA Today) Here are seven seldom-known facts about the people of Arlington National Cemetery.
Nigeria school attack: why US hasn't sent Special Forces to rescue girls
(Christian Science Monitor) Offers of US military assistance are 'politically dicey' for Nigeria, experts say, and intelligence suggests the schoolgirls have been split up, making their rescue complicated even for Special Forces.
ARMY
Contractor Costs Must Come Down, US Army Brass Says
(Defense News) At a defense industry conference, several Army generals took to the podium to celebrate how modernized their fleets of ground vehicles are and to bemoan how expensive the remaining work has become.
Army set to order applications moved to core data centers
(C4ISR & Networks) Army officials are preparing to issue a memo in the coming weeks that would order components to move all existing IT applications to Defense Department core data centers as part of plans to modernize and streamline IT operations.
Cloud concerns delaying Army unified capabilities RFP
(C4ISR & Networks) The Army is moving forward with plans to issue a request for proposals to provide unified capabilities across the service, including everything-over-IP offerings, but officials first must work out details related to cloud that have slowed progress.
Dempsey: Amidst cuts, Fort Bragg future is safe
(Fayetteville Observer) As the military prepares to downsize, Fort Bragg will likely have to make some adjustments, but its future is safe, according to the military's top officer.
Warrior-diplomats' hone skills at Fort Stewart
(Savannah Morning News) The 82nd Civil Affairs Battalion, activated in 2012, focuses on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and assistance to nations in Africa. “We pretty much act as a liaison between the local government and the military,” said Army Spc. Drew Franklin.
Soldier gets married in middle of tank training
(Military Times) The groom asked permission to remove his safety gloves to perform the ring exchange. Soldiers cheered from tanks and watch towers. “I just kept saying, ‘This is so amazing,’ ” the bride said. “The gunfire would go off, and I would giggle a little bit.”
NAVY
Small crews mean big jobs - and career benefits - for junior sailors
(Navy Times) The Navy’s coastal patrol ships are alive and well. If you want a challenge that could supercharge your career, these boats are the place to be.
Sailors drive potent new riverine boat in Persian Gulf
(Defense News) It’s small, fast, heavily armed, networked and one of a kind. But the new coastal command boat just starting to operate in the Persian Gulf is a taste of the swift craft coming to the brown-water Navy.
Electric Boat helps build huge tube for Navy
(New London Day) Beginning with the North Dakota, currently under construction, new Virginia-class boats will have two launch tubes, each with a diameter of about 7 feet, instead of 12 smaller ones that each can hold only a single Tomahawk cruise missile.
AIR FORCE
USAF Faces More Tough Choices in 2016
(Defense News) Two months after offering an unusual two-tier budget projection in hopes that lawmakers would ward off future cuts, Air Force officials seem to be coming to grips that a congressional rescue isn’t coming.
If not the A-10 and U-2, what else can the Air Force cut?
(Air Force Times) The Air Force’s plan to retire the A-10 and U-2 fleets has hit major congressional opposition that could ripple across the service and put other aircraft fleets at risk of being eliminated or downsized.
The Price of Storing the A-10
(Defense News) HASC chairman Rep. Buck McKeon's proposal to put the Warthog fleet in the most ready kind of storage at Davis-Monthan AFB looks unlikely to pass. Defense News calculates how much that would have cost.
Former Tops in Blue members defend performance program
(Air Force Times) Former members of Tops in Blue, the Air Force’s traveling musical performance troupe, are disputing criticisms that the program is wasteful and unappreciated by many airmen.
Air Force using avatar technology for training
(Dayton Daily News) The avatars are directed by role players in simulations meant to mimic real-world scenarios Air Force imagery analysts might encounter while peering thousands of feet down from a drone.
Air Force charges airman with killing fiancee, unborn child
(Air Force Times) Senior Airman Charles Amos Wilson III was already in trouble with local authorities when he was arrested in August, charged with killing his fiancee and her unborn child.
MARINE CORPS
Marine jet crashes in Arizona desert; pilot OK
(Associated Press) A Marine Corps Harrier jet crashed on tribal land south of Phoenix on Friday, but authorities said the pilot was able to eject safely.
Afghans' newest challenge: Getting the printer to work
(Marine Corps Times) In their final months in northern Helmand province, some Marines focused on teaching Afghan soldiers a nonlethal set of skills: installing a printer driver, trouble-shooting error messages and encrypting emails.
Secret Bastion 'brain trust' thinks up the most 'bizzaro' attacks possible
(Marine Corps Times) New security measures at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, includes concertina wire, expensive cameras, and a dozen young troops whose job it is to come up with far-fetched potential security threats and troubleshoot them.
Marine Corps to review raid on law offices
(Associated Press) Military criminal investigators raided Marine Corps defense counsel offices at Camp Pendleton, opening files during a 2½-hour search and potentially compromising scores of cases, the lieutenant colonel who oversees Marine defense lawyers in the region said.
Marines aid anti-poaching elephant teams in Chad
(Marine Corps Times) A small contingent of Marines have deployed to Chad, where they are teaching local park rangers how to combat poachers who have decimated elephant populations over the past decade or so.
Silver Star operator: Master sergeant routed insurgents in 2012 firefight
(Marine Corps Times) An operator with Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command will become the latest Marine to receive the nation’s third-highest valor award at a Silver Star presentation ceremony on May 12.
VETERANS
VA appoints interim director for Phoenix VA Health Care System
(Associated Press) The current director of the Salt Lake City VA Health Care System will replace the Phoenix director who was placed on administrative leave amid investigations into extreme wait times that allegedly led to the deaths of veterans.
A Soldier’s War on Pain
(New York Times) The story of Sergeant Savage illuminates an effort to change how chronic, or long-term, pain is treated. Specialists are returning to strategies that were popular before the opioid era, like physical therapy, behavior modification and psychological counseling.
Building cultural bridges between doctors, troops
(Military Times) Just 36 percent of veterans are treated at the Veterans Affairs Department; the rest by doctors who may have insufficient understanding of what these patients have experienced during their time in service, military officials said recently.
Agent Orange’s Long Legacy, for Vietnam and Veterans
(New York Times) This week’s video documentary from Retro Report, a series that re-examines major stories from the past, returns us to Vietnam and to the chemical most commonly and most notoriously used there: Agent Orange.
Ceremony marks additions, status changes on Vietnam Wall
(Stars & Stripes) Henry John Drozdowski was honored Sunday as one of 13 casualties of the Vietnam War whose names were recently added to the wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
MIDDLE EAST
Taliban Launch Spring Offensive Across Afghanistan
(Associated Press) The Taliban offensive comes at a sensitive time this year, against the backdrop of the country's presidential election. Militants have also stepped up terror attacks to sow insecurity and weaken the government as international forces prepare to withdraw by the end of this year.
U.S. Embassy officers kill suspected militants in Yemen abduction attempt
(Associated Press) The attempted kidnapping April 24 is the latest evidence of al-Qaida’s expanding presence in the capital, a serious challenge to the authority of the already weak central government. It also could strain ties between Yemen and the U.S.
Lawyer quits case of Pakistan doctor who aided in OBL hunt
(Associated Press) The lawyer for the Pakistani doctor who helped the U.S. find Osama bin Laden said Sunday he wouldn't represent him any longer after facing threats from militants, even as America pushes for the man to be freed.
EUROPE
Breedlove: NATO must take a 'hard look' at force array in Europe
(Air Force Times) NATO needs to look at how its forces are positioned in Europe in response to Russia’s incursion into Ukraine, Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, head of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, tweeted recently.
Hollande Says Sale of Warships To Russia Still On 'For Now'
(Defense News) French President Francois Hollande said Saturday the sale of two Mistral warships to Russia would continue “for now” despite the West’s worsening relations with Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.
Finland Builds Multiple Defense Partnerships With NATO, Sweden
(Defense News) Finland’s surprise decision to move toward a historic defense pact with NATO is expected to bolster the country’s interest in acquiring F-35 aircraft to replace the F/A-18 Hornets in 2025-30.
ASIA-PACIFIC
Japan To Take Major Step Toward Collective Self-Defense
(Defense News) A key panel is expected to recommend Japan adopt the right to collective self-defense, a move that would fundamentally change Japan’s deterrence posture.
The Budget This Time: Taking the Measure of China’s Defense Spending
(The ASAN Forum) While China’s limited budget transparency leaves much unknown, this article analyzes what is known about its military spending and suggests some implications.
China's Achilles' Heel: Air Defense Gap
(Defense News) After China declared an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, the US flew two B-52 bombers there. A former USAF official says this was to tell Beijing that the US knows China’s air-defense weaknessess.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Portrait of the Army as a Work in Progress
(Rosa Brooks in Foreign Policy) The service's plan to revamp itself for the post-post-9/11 world is ambiguous and rife with contradiction. That's what makes it brilliant.
The Case Against Killer Robots
(Foreign Affairs) When 117 countries meet next week for the first multilateral UN talks on the subject, Washington should take the lead in drafting a new, international agreement to ban killer robots and regulate other kinds of autonomous systems.
Show Us the Drone Memos
(Sen. Rand Paul in the New York Times) I can’t imagine appointing someone to the federal bench, one level below the Supreme Court, without fully understanding that person’s views concerning the extrajudicial killing of American citizens.
Introducing America’s New ‘Expeditionary Fleet’
(Robert Holzer in Breaking Defense) What the US sea services call their new ship types and how they are classified could present a far larger bureaucratic obstacle than learning how to operate these innovative platforms in different ways.
South China Sea Clash: Asia’s Dangerous Game
(Sreeram Chaulia in The Diplomat) It is time for East Asia to step up cooperation to check expansionist tendencies.
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