Top Military Officer: U.S. Can Stay Global Power Despite Threatened Cuts

Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) March 28, 2012 Washington Wire By Adam Entous BRASILIA -- The top U.S. military officer raised eyebrows earlier this year with a dire warning to Congress about the consequences of imposing automatic across the board budget cuts on the Pentagon: “We would no longer be a global power.” On Wednesday, Gen. …

Boeing KC-46 Tanker May Be Delayed: GAO Report

By Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters One year into its development, the Air Force's new KC-46 refueling tanker being developed by Boeing Co faces "significant schedule risks" and technical challenges, and is already $900 million over budget, a congressional report found. The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said the Air Force had limited its …

Budget Gridlock Imperils National Defense By Rowan Scarborough

Washington Times March 26, 2012 Pg. 1 Arms systems cuts look likely Defense analysts and Capitol Hill insiders are anticipating that automatic federal budget cuts will occur Jan. 1 and force the armed forces to scrap plans for new weapons systems. Washington's polarized political landscape shows no signs of a compromise on taxes and spending …

A Middle Course On Iran: Between preemption and containment of the nuclear threat

Washington Post March 25, 2012 Pg. 19 By Michael O'Hanlon and Bruce Riedel To contain Iran, or to preempt? That is, at present, the question. President Obama’s recent dismissal of containment as an option would seem to stack the deck. Unless Iran pauses its uranium enrichment activities, an Israeli or U.S. strike against its nuclear …

Lawmakers: U.S. Air Force Numbers Lack Credibility

By MARCUS WEISGERBER Three years ago, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that he was recommending Congress approve the termination or truncation of 33 programs. With total contract values in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the programs collectively touched just about every state, sending lawmakers on both sides of the aisle into a frenzy …