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Contributors
We used to cover the machinations of the House and Senate armed services committees very closely. Of course, 30 years ago all we cared about was whether 180 or 240 F-16 jets would be ordered in next year’s budget (that’s all our readers at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where the plane is still being built, [...]
Trash can be deadly. You can get a hint of that from the contract solicitation issued Tuesday by the Defense Logistics Agency’s European disposition office seeking “hazardous waste services in southwest Asia.” Lord knows, after a decade of war the U.S. military needs help getting rid of these deadly leftovers. The Pentagon made clear that [...]
That’s the cost of flying the President’s plane, Air Force One – a modified 747 – for one hour, according to a new Congressional Research Service report. According to Battleland’s steam-powered calculator, that works out to $50 a second. h/t Project on Government Secrecy
Legislators are fighting over every single dollar in this year’s defense budget, although saving billions could be as simple as changing a few words in a contracting statute. And believe it — or not — the Pentagon is the good guy in this battle. The Defense Department is circulating a proposal on Capitol Hill that [...]
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. It’s amazing that [...]
…if you’re interested in a calm and reasoned assessment of the threats facing the U.S. by Foreign Affairs’ Micah Zenko. But if you prefer threat inflation, switch over to C-Span to watch the House debate the 2013 defense budget. Turn it up real loud.
…is the total, estimated, direct cost to U.S. taxpayers of the war in Afghanistan, through Sept., 30, 2013. That’s a new, higher number from Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in a study on the war’s real price tag he released Wednesday. That’s 21 years’ worth of Afghanistan’s 2011 annual gross [...]
You may have noticed that the Air Force’s prized F-22 fighter — the crown jewel of American air dominance — has had some negative press lately. The bad news peaked Tuesday when Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered flight restrictions on the $400 million warplane. Unfortunately for the F-22, the airwaves have been filled with flak [...]
