Budget

Report Suggests DoD Should Study Lessons from Failed Anti-sequester Campaign

By John T. Bennett in Acquisition, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Obama, Policy, Sequestration No Comments Tags: , , ,

Faithful Intercepts readers no doubt are familiar with the dire predictions from civilian and uniformed Pentagon leaders about what will become of the U.S. military and American national security if all of sequestration’s $500 billion, decade-spanning cuts are enacted. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos on Feb. 12 told a congressional panel it would be “ruinous” — though even some pro-military lawmakers and experts are skeptical about such gloomy claims.

When it came to convincing the political system to avoid the sequestration cuts, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey recently admitted to a congressional panel that Pentagon leaders misplayed their hand. Well, Intercepts readers better hope Pentagon brass made a list of what went wrong — you know, ran what military types often (too often?) call a “lessons-learned drill.”

That’s because, according to one nonpartisan Washington think tank, deeper federal spending cuts will be needed to further pare the federal deficit and truly right the American fiscal ship. And, remember, even with sequestration the Pentagon’s baseline budget is projected to approach $600 billion per year later this decade. That’s one GIANT target. As we’ve all learned, when Washington takes on the difficult task that is deficit reduction, the GIANT targets are the easiest ones to hit. More

CAPE Director Christine Fox Leaving Pentagon

By Marcus Weisgerber in Acquisition, Budget, DoD, Intercepts, Navy, Policy, Sequestration No Comments

Christine Fox (DoD Photo)

Christine Fox, the director of DoD’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office (CAPE), is leaving the Pentagon at the end of June, a defense official tells Intercepts.

Fox’s departure will follow the completion of the Strategic Choices and Management Review (SCMR), in which she plays a key role. The review will present options for areas to trim the Pentagon budget in the coming years. More

Army Readiness “is degrading significantly” Chief Warns

By Paul McLeary in Budget, DoD, Intercepts, International, Operations, Policy, Sequestration, Syria

A day before heading back to Capitol Hill to discuss the 2014 budget with House appropriators, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno warned on Tuesday that even if the Department of Defense were to be spared the worst of sequestration, “we already start [20]14 with a hole because we haven’t done the training we wanted to do in ’13.”

The only units going through full, previously scheduled training rotations are those heading to Afghanistan and rotating into South Korea, a move the Army was forced to take in order to keep its frontline troops ready. Service leaders have said previously that they’re being forced to accept some risk elsewhere by only performing squad-level training exercises for the rest of the force.

“Our readiness is okay right now, but it is degrading significantly” as the months tick by, Odierno said.

Speaking at a Defense Writers Group meeting in Washington, Odierno said that even with the drawdown in Afghanistan, the capability to put boots on the ground elsewhere remains critical—and it’s that capability that he’s worried about.

If action were required in Syria, “the next three to four months, we’d probably have the capability to do it,” he said. “Next year it becomes a little more risky because our readiness is lower.”

Despite readiness concerns, the chief still thinks that the US Army would have the capability to put boots on the ground if asked to by the president. “If you ask me today, we have forces that can go,” he said, but warned that this readiness won’t last long since units aren’t going through normal training exercises. More

Schumer Aligns Himself with GOP on East Coast Missile Shield, Lobbies for New York

By John T. Bennett in Acquisition, Air Force, Army, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Intercepts, International, Policy, Sequestration

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at an April 25 event in Washington. Schumer is the first senior Senate Democrat to endorse an East Coast missile shield. (Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images)

The idea for an East Coast missile defense system is just that, for now, at least: an idea. Sizable political and financial hurdles sill must be cleared before it becomes anything but just an idea.

Yet, the angling among lawmakers to secure a piece of the action has begun. And it was kicked off by a somewhat unlikely source: liberal Sen. Chuck Schumer. But one skeptical organization is taking umbrage with the No. 3 Senate Democrat’s lobbying to host the proposed system in New York. More

Sen. Corker Describes Sen. Chambliss’ Hole-in-One with POTUS

By John T. Bennett in Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Intelligence, Intercepts, Obama, Policy, Sequestration Tags: , , ,

GOP Sens. Saxby Chambliss (left) and Bob Corker of Tennessee (right) golfed on Monday with President Barack Obama (center) at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Chambliss hit a hole-in-one on the 11th hole. (Dennis Brack via White House Pool via Getty Images)

United States presidents know more than the rest of us, and usually in near-real time. They have access to the ever-expanding U.S. intelligence community, after all.

But it turns out there’s one situation in which commanders in chief are just like their constituents: When a member of their golfing foursome hits one over a hill and onto the green, very close to the pin. Just like average folks, even POTUS is left unsure whether the ball dropped into the cup. That’s just what happened to President Barack Obama on Monday.

“We couldn’t tell whether the ball had gone in. The hole was over a hill and so we couldn’t see it,” a member of the high-powered foursome, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told Defense News on Tuesday morning. “The Secret Service guys thought it might have gone in.” More

Fore! Obama Hits Links with Grand Bargain-Favoring GOP Senators

By John T. Bennett in Acquisition, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Intercepts, Obama, Policy, Sequestration Tags: ,

Golf clubs outside the south portico of the White House late last year. (AFP/Brendan SMIALOWSKI via Getty Images)

It’s cool and damp in Washington. But that isn’t keeping President Barack Obama from getting in a round of golf. Intercepts will leave the inevitable presidential golfing jokes to others. But it’s worth noting Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Bob Corker of Tennessee will be part of Obama’s foursome. Both are advocates of the kind of “grand bargain” fiscal deal needed to lessen or totally replace planned cuts to national defense spending.

The unseasonably chilly conditions the trio and Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado will encounter provide a fitting metaphor for the grand-bargain issue, which they likely will discuss. After all, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Ranking Member James Inhofe, R-Okla., said Friday “there has been virtually no sign of movement toward a bipartisan agreement.”

Each of Obama’s golfing partners has talked forcefully and passionately about striking a “grand bargain” accord this year. Is this the beginning of what experts say is the second-term president’s last chance to get a big fiscal bill through Congress? More

Army AMPV Schedule–and Price Tag–Come Into Focus

By Paul McLeary in Acquisition, Army, Budget, Industry, Intercepts, Sequestration

Sequestration or no, the defense industry and Pentagon procurement officials are just going to keep going along for as long as there’s business to be done – even if everyone knows that the numbers they’re currently working with are going to change.

On April 23, the US Army held its second Industry Day for the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) program, the planned multi-billion dollar replacement for thousands of ancient M113 infantry carriers.

The competition is a critical one for the defense industrial base, since the Army will pick a single winner for the engineering, manufacturing and development phase of the program next May for the right to build 2,897 vehicles once full rate production begins in 2020.

Slides presented at the event pinpoint June 28 as the release date for the official RFP (a draft RFP was issued in March), which gives the two main competitors–BAE Systems and General Dynamics—eleven months to get final designs in.

The service continues to maintain that it’s looking to spend at most $1.8 million per vehicle, which means that to purchase 2,897 vehicles at the rate of 2- 3 brigade combat teams a year, the price tag will be $5.2 billion for the full-rate production contract.

The Army is also planning to spend $390 million between 2014 and 2017, and another billion for low rate initial production between 2018 and 2020, on the program, bringing the total price tag up to about $6 billion in pre-sequester dollars.

What those numbers might look like once the impact of sequestration and the flattening yearly budgets the Army has to look forward to in the near-term is still up in the air.

Deciphering Obama: The President’s Complicating Syntax

By John T. Bennett in Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Intelligence, Intercepts, International, Obama, Operations, Policy, Sequestration, Syria Tags: , ,

U.S. President Barack Obama address reporters at the White House on Tuesday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

ESSAY

Barack Obama ran once for the U.S. presidency promising hope and change, then once mostly appealing for more time to allow his policies to work. But increasingly, it appears likely his legacy will be more about “red lines” and something called “permission structures.”

The 44th president has taken plenty of heat over his rhetorical gyrations on both sides of the very “red line” he set last year on Syria’s bloody civil war. And political pundits and those with a stake in overturning the much-maligned sequestration cuts are still scratching their heads over the the newest Obama turn-of-phrase: “permission structures.”

The problem for Obama — and by extension, stakeholders in the quest for a “grand bargain” fiscal deal that would undo the defense and domestic sequestration cuts (and by further extension, the entire country) — is his syntax has become complicated. And, as a result, it is complicating the work of getting things done, maintaining a sense of presidential authority in Washington and transmitting consistent leadership on the world stage. More

U.S. Navy Still Visiting Port Festivals…In Canada

By Christopher P. Cavas in Budget, International, Navy, Operations, Policy

USS Lake Champlain approaches Burrard Pier in Vancouver, British Columbia on Friday, April 26. Vancouver is hosting a number of Canadian Navy warships and the American cruiser for the weekend. (Maritime Forces Pacific photo by CPL Michael Bastien)

Warmer weather in the U.S. brings out a host of military-related festivals, and in recent years more and more cities around the nation host Fleet Weeks, widely seen as good for morale, good publicity for all, and serious money-generating events for the hosts. The U.S. Navy normally is happy to oblige, sending one, two or as many as half a dozen warships to bask in public affection. Air shows by the Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team are also a frequent feature of the parties.

But not this year. The Big Bad Sequestration Grinch, according to the service, leaves no money for such frivolous visits, and the Navy has been cancelling its ship and aircraft visits left and right. Even the biggest Fleet Week – New York City’s festival – has been dropped. The service is working hard to make sure the local media is fully aware there’ll be little Navy at this year’s Navy Week;  the underlying message — call your congressman and let ‘em know sequestration is bad. And it’s working, with dozens of stories appearing in the mainstream media about the cancellations.

But while Americans around the country won’t see much of their Navy this year, the party still goes on: in festive Canada! Vancouver, British Columbia, is hosting an event called Vancouver Port Visit this weekend, featuring a number of Canadian warships from the Maritime Forces Pacific base at nearby Esquimalt BC. This weekend at least, Vancouver has something most American commercial ports don’t have: a genuine U.S. Navy warship, an Aegis missile cruiser no less: USS Lake Champlain (CG 57).  More

Video of the Day: Rep. Duncan Hunter vs. Gen. Ray Odierno

By Marcus Weisgerber in Afghanistan, Army, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Intercepts, International, Policy, Video Tags: , , , , , ,

Typically military posture hearings are a chance for lawmakers to grandstand and spout political soundbites that they promote to constituents in their home districts.

Those at the witness table often stick to their script of talking points, rarely deviating from the party line, and often times don’t even get a chance to respond as a member’s time for questioning expires.

But every now and then, tensions boil over and witness goes off script. That’s exactly what happened Thursday. More

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