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Big Challenges Loom for Ashton Carter at Defense
The nomination of Ashton B. Carter to be secretary of defense is expected to sail through the Senate, but the former Harvard scholar and physicist will face powerful headwinds finding consensus on a host of security challenges — from military operations to pending budget cuts that could upend the military’s future plans.
In the News
Defense Bill Compromise Means More Airmen, Bigger Fleet
The compromise defense authorization bill announced this week includes an additional $331.1 million and 2,000 more airmen than the Air Force initially had proposed in the fiscal 2015 budget request to account for additional personnel needed to keep A-10s flying.
Analysis
A Nuclear Deal with Iran Will Require the West to Reevaluate Its Presumptions
After a decade of patient negotiations with Iran over its contested nuclear program, the prospects of the United States and other world powers securing a final deal are not good. The wheels of diplomacy will grind on and an extension of the talks should be granted. But it is time to acknowledge that the policy of engagement has been predicated on a series of assumptions that, although logical, have proven largely incorrect. As Washington assesses its next moves, it would be wise to reconsider the judgments that have underwritten its approach to one of its most elusive adversaries.
In the News
Why the Pentagon Spent $46B on 12 Weapon Programs it Never Finished
One of the first casualties was the Crusader artillery program, which was canceled after the Pentagon spent more than $2 billion on it. Then there was the Comanche helicopter debacle, which got the ax after $8 billion. More than twice that amount had been sunk into the Army’s Future Combat System, but that program got killed, too.
In the News
Why the Military Has a Budget Message Problem
President Obama's fourth secretary of defense soon will be taking the reins at the Pentagon where discontent has been brewing over spending cuts, expanding missions and the growing realization that the generals’ stop-the-sequester campaign has been politically ineffective.
In the News
Pentagon Struggles with Budget Deadline
The Pentagon has struggled for nearly 20 years to produce financial records that the government and outside groups can accurately audit, and appears to be unable to meet a goal of being fully auditable by September 2017.