Topic: U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services
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Pentagon's budget nightmare: How each branch would handle sequester cuts
With the threat of a mandatory, across-the-board series of cuts known as sequestration looming over the Pentagon, each of the services has begun its worst-case-scenario planning. Here is where the cuts stand now:
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Iran's nuclear program: 4 things you probably didn't know
Do the US and Israel believe that Iran has a nuclear weapons program? Did President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really promise to "wipe Israel off the map"? The answers may surprise you.
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Threats to US: Pentagon officials drop three surprises
Pentagon’s key intelligence officials warned of 'current and future worldwide threats' to US national security in a congressional hearing Thursday. Here are three top surprises.
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What happens next in Libya? America's five greatest concerns.
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Robert Gates' last day at Pentagon: three reasons he'll be missed
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Opinion: 'Responsibility to protect': the moral imperative to intervene in Syria
The moral imperative of the international 'responsibility to protect' doctrine, also known as R2P, compels the world to react and respond to the widespread persecution and killings in Syria.
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McCain urges air strikes against Syrian forces to protect citizens
US Sen. John McCain of Arizona said on Monday the United States should take the lead in an allied air campaign against Syrian armed forces.
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US officials urge 'stay the course' in wake of Afghan violence
As attacks on allied forces in Afghanistan continued Sunday in the wake of Quran burnings, US officials reaffirmed their commitment to preventing Al Qaeda advances.
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US military officials urge caution on attacking Iran
The problem is that many of the Iranian targets – buried deeply underground – would be beyond the reach of the Israeli military, in what Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey calls a “zone of immunity.”
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Top US official: Al Qaeda in Iraq joining fight against Syria's Assad
Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper's comments marked the first time a top official publicly confirmed the involvement of AQI in Syria's uprising.
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Threats to US: Pentagon officials drop three surprises
Pentagon’s key intelligence officials warned of 'current and future worldwide threats' to US national security in a congressional hearing Thursday. Here are three top surprises.
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Why Pentagon, facing 'doomsday' spending cuts, refuses to plan for them
Pentagon brass say they won't even brook the possibility that $487 billion in mandated spending cuts – their 'doomsday' scenario – will actually come to pass. But if Congress doesn't blink, say analysts, the Pentagon will be in dire straits.
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Carl Levin calls Romney's defense budget criticism "just a political statement"
The chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee and senior Senator from Michigan said even with reduced funding, US military has "shown our capabilities, shown our adeptness."
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Will Mitt Romney get the military vote in South Carolina?
Ron Paul has the most active-military donors. Mitt Romney say he will increase Navy shipbuilding. Newt Gingrich is surging in the latest poll.
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Guantánamo for US citizens? Senate bill raises questions
The National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Senate this week could allow the US military to detain American citizens indefinitely. Civil libertarians are alarmed, and President Obama says he might veto it.
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Deficit 'super committee' flooded with ideas. Will any of them work?
Friday is the deadline for congressional committees to submit ideas to the deficit 'super committee.' But there's little indication that any of the ideas signal an openness to compromise.
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Saudi Arabia refrains from fingering Iran in alleged assassination plot
The US continues to ratchet up pressure on Iran over an alleged assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador to the US. But Saudi Arabia Wednesday said it was working to determine who was responsible.
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What happens next in Libya? America's five greatest concerns.
The push toward a post-Qaddafi regime in Libya is raising questions in Washington about how far a US commitment extends to ensuring a peaceful transition to democracy. The rationale for US and NATO engagement in Libya was to avoid a massacre of civilians in March. Now, as the civil war moves toward a resolution, the Obama administration and Congress appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach. But with an eye to lessons from regime change in Iraq, some lawmakers are urging steps now to help shape the transition in Libya, including some moves that put them at odds with the Obama administration. Here are five.
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In Afghanistan war, Navy SEALs and special ops playing more central role
Navy SEALs and special operations forces are not being withdrawn from Afghanistan war at the same rate as other forces, meaning their duties in the region will only grow. With the Aug. 6 helicopter shoot-down, the SEALs lost 1 percent of their operational population.
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You hack, we shoot: Pentagon discusses armed counterstrikes to cyberattacks
Lawmakers and some Pentagon officials argue that the US should shift cyberdefense from 'How to build the next best firewall' to an offensive message: Those who attack US computers risk 'land-based attack'.
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Leon Panetta's first day at Pentagon helm: It's not all grim.
A tough job awaits Leon Panetta at the Pentagon: three wars, budget cuts, Al Qaeda in Yemen, prospects of a nuclear Iran. But some good news awaits the new Defense secretary, too.
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Robert Gates' last day at Pentagon: three reasons he'll be missed
If Defense Secretary Robert Gates feels any twinge of wistfulness when he departs the Pentagon on Thursday, it probably won't last long. Even during the Bush years, Mr. Gates spoke often of the clock in his office by which he counted down the days until he could retire to his beloved Washington State. When President Obama asked him to stay on as defense secretary, Gates made no secret that he did so out of public duty, not an affinity for Washington, D.C. But Washington insiders certainly had an affinity for Gates. Here are three reasons America’s longest-serving secretary of Defense will be missed – and legacies that many hope will last after he's gone.
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Kabul attack: Is Afghanistan ready to take over NATO's security duties?
NATO’s Afghanistan coalition lauded Afghan police and security forces for responding ‘quickly and professionally’ to the Kabul attack. But the raid will probably provide fodder for critics of President Obama’s plan to draw down US troops in the country.
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Troop exit plan means hard choices for US commanders in Afghanistan
Obama's decision that all 30,000 'surge' forces must leave Afghanistan by end of next summer is not the troop exit plan US military leaders were hoping to hear. What choices confront them?
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Who will carry out Obama's Afghanistan exit plan? Three new guys.
After President Obama outlines his strategy Wednesday for winding down the 10-year war in Afghanistan – including the rate of US troop withdrawals – it will be the duty of three men, all new in their roles, to get it done. It will be a tough job, and there is likely to be plenty of second-guessing not only about the strategy itself, but also their handling of it, from Congress, pundits, and ex-military types. Here are some clues into what priorities these three defense leaders might set and a look at the particular skills each brings to the task of managing America’s longest war.
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Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Three options weighed by the White House
How many US troops are coming home from Afghanistan this year? On the eve of Obama's speech on his promised July start to the drawdown of American forces, here are three scenarios.
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White House: 'Limited' Libya operation didn't require approval of Congress
Responding to a House resolution, the White House cited 'important US interests' in claiming authority for the 'constrained' military operations in Libya. Critics said their concerns were not satisfied.
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Does it make sense to punish Pakistan for the arrest of CIA informants?
The reported arrest of CIA informants who helped the US find Osama bin Laden has raised anger on Capitol Hill. But hastily punishing Pakistan could harm the US war effort in Afghanistan, Pentagon officials caution.
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US covert attacks in Yemen: A better template for the war on terror?
The new campaign follows US concerns about a fortified Al Qaeda in conflict-torn Yemen. It’s very likely a harbinger of things to come, some national security experts say.
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CIA chief Leon Panetta: The next Pearl Harbor could be a cyberattack
Leon Panetta, at a confirmation hearing for the post of Defense secretary, says the US will need to take 'both defensive ... as well as aggressive measures' to deal with the threat of cyberattack.
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