I’m going TDY for a coupla weeks. For those of you not up on military lingo, it means “temporary duty” in official Pentagon parlance. What it means here at Battleland is that I’m taking some time off. I’ve got some Command Post videos in the on-deck circle, and I’ll be checking in once in awhile, but I’m leaving the heavy lifting to Mark Benjamin and the rest of the gang.
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Latest on Battleland
Only One Year of U.S.-Led Fighting Left
President Obama’s goal at the NATO summit this week is looking increasingly clear: wrap up U.S. troops’ combat role over the coming year, and get the allies to pay more money to enable the Afghan military to fill the gap.
House Pushes for East Coast Missile Shield
The House has approved a $643 billion defense-spending bill for 2013 that’s $3.7 billion more than the Obama Administration, and its Pentagon, is seeking. That’s just about the same amount the Congressional Budget Office estimates the House bill’s push for an East Coast missile shield will cost over the next five years.
The Pentagon’s “Washington Monument Strategy”
Whenever federal bureaucrats running the nation’s parks get antsy that their purse is likely to shrink, they roll out something long known as the “Washington Monument strategy.” That’s the tried-and-true technique of warning the public that if money isn’t forthcoming, one of the first budget cuts will force the shutting down of the popular obelisk to Washington, D.C., tourists.
