Welcome to another federal budget season, where concerned letters from Congress to the Pentagon start flying like Rumsfeldian snowflakes as lawmakers look to ensure the health of programs rooted in their districts.

For their part, the Massachusetts delegation is particularly concerned about General Dynamics’ WIN-T battlefield communications program—which is responsible for hundreds of jobs at the General Dynamics facility in Taunton, Mass.—from which the Army wants to shift funding from in order to pay for war costs in Afghanistan.

On May 20, and the state’s Senate delegation sent separate letters to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Army Secretary John McHugh pleading that the $128 million that the Army wants to shift from the program’s 2013 budget be retained.

Army leadership has made WIN-T the backbone of the entire Army modernization program, demanding that new vehicles like the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, Ground Combat Vehicle, and Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle all be built with WIN-T compliance in mind. The $128 million would take a bite out of the program, but it would hardly kill it. The Army asked for about $1.2 billion for WIN-T in fiscal year 2013, including $893 million for procurement.

The letter that Sens. Elizabeth Warren and William Cowen sent to Sec. McHugh said that while they understand that “sequestration has created a difficult budget environment and that tough choices must be made…the Army should take all possible steps to protect the WIN-T…from further reductions.”

After the rescue, the Squalus was eventually raised after an epic salvage operation. Repaired, she was returned to service with a new name, Sailfish. Under her new name, the ship compiled an impressive war record in the Pacific during World War II.

Check out this historical video to find out the full story: 

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Navy has posted extensive information about the sinking, rescue and salvage.

Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, HASC's Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee chairman, the new champion of mark-up brevity? (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)

It must drive open-government advocates and watchdogs nuts. Reporters often merely roll their eyes, shake their heads and check their watches at this annual competition.

The chairmen — and sometimes chairwomen — of the House Armed Services Committee’s six subpanels gavel in their public mark ups of their portions of the full committee’s version of the national defense authorization act with one goal: Gavel the session closed as quickly as possible. And this year’s mark up slate featured a potential record-setting session.

Some, like Strategic Forces subcommittee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., even joke at the top of their opening remarks about trying to break the HASC record for shortest subcommittee mark up.

Rogers made his quest for the record clear on Wednesday, and appeared on pace to enter HASC lore. And then Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez of California spoke up. The ensuing discussion about Sanchez’s amendment, which she’ll introduce June 5 when the full panel takes up its NDAA, to essentially kill the controversial Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program ruined Rogers’ run at the record.

Then came Thursday’s Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee mark up. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, made no mention of the HASC record. Then he proceeded to make an impressive run at capturing the title.

Your Intercepts congressional reporter was doing other things while monitoring the mark up, and neglected to put Turner on a clock. But your correspondent’s unofficial observation was around three minutes. A HASC spokesman told Intercepts on Thursday he thought it was even faster than that. Turner’s spokesman, Thomas Crosson, weighed in later with impressive precision: “I believe it was 1:29.”

Pithy. Concise. Efficient. Fast. Transparent?

Sanchez, the ranking member of the Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee, raised her hands over her head and cheered Rogers’ potentially record-setting mark up.

This annual sideshow is entertaining enough. And Intercepts’ first instinct is to congratulate Turner. But, since all of this means the subpanels’ portions of the annual NDAA are crafted behind closed doors, perhaps your correspondent will withhold any virtual high-fives.

A Predator unmanned aerial vehicle returns from a mission. Drone aircraft have become President Barack Obama's favorite tool in America's fight against al-Qaida. But the president on Thursday is expected to tighten the rules for drone strikes. (Rob Jensen/USAF via Getty Images)

President Barack Obama is slated to deliver what even his top aides are billing as a landmark counterterrorism speech, with the commander in chief expected to announce his administration will tighten the targeting rules governing drone aircraft strikes.

Attorney General Eric Holder, in a letter sent to lawmakers this week, stated the new CT policy calls for using drone strikes only when a target poses “a continuing, imminent threat to Americans” and also can’t be nabbed by U.S. forces or any American allies willing to get their hands dirty.

The New York Times, which got a sneak peak at the speech, reported Thursday the new CT policy seems to signal past strikes in places like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia won’t be repeated unless al-Qaida types are known to pose an immediate threat to America or its interests abroad. The Times also predicted Obama might not clearly state the drone program is shifting from the CIA to the Pentagon, but he will imply as much. (Watch the speech on C-SPAN at 2 p.m. EST.)

So by tightening the targeting guidelines, what direction is Obama aiming to take the controversial U.S. drone-strike program? One former senior CIA official told Intercepts this week he has some idea — and he supports the policy shift.

The idea is to transition the CIA out of the targeted-killing business, and back to its traditional missions of collecting and analyzing intelligence, the former senior official said.

“Do you want the nation’s top espionage agency conducting a paramilitary mission or performing espionage?” the former senior official asked rhetorically. “The agency, since 9/11, and it’s understandable, has gotten away from its core missions. A lot of the collection and analysis really is now used for targeting.”

The former senior official predicted Obama will shift most of the drone program to the military without completely taking the CIA out of the targeted-killing business.

Turning his hand for effect as if turning the dial of a safe or adjusting a thermostat,  the former senior CIA official concluded: ”What you want is a dial, not a switch.”

Editor’s Note: The former senior CIA official spoke to Intercepts briefly following a not-for-attribution event Tuesday evening in Washington.

An MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System — previously known as the Broad Area Maritime System (BAMS) — took to the air for the first time Wednesday, completing an 80-minute flight around southern California.

The aircraft, developed from Northrop Grumman’ s Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system, reached an altitude of 20,000 feet during the flight in restricted airspace near Palmdale, Calif., according to a press release from the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

The event marked the start of several months of flight tests in California. This fall, the aircraft will move to the Navy’s aircraft test facility at Patuxent River, Md., where several BAMS-D demonstrator aircraft have been flying.

The aircraft is expected to reach its initial operational capability in 2016.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Northrop Grumman-built Triton unmanned aircraft seen during its first flight on May 22. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman by Bob Brown)

The MQ-4C Triton aircraft comes in to land at Northrop Grumman facility in Palmdale, Calif., on May 22, completing its first flight. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman photo by Alex Evers)

The Triton just before touching down May 22 at Northrop's manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman by Daniel Perales)

Two Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton UAVs on the tarmac at a Northrop Grumman test facility in Palmdale, Calif. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman by Chad Slattery)

Two Triton UAVs at Palmdale on May 21. The two-tone paint scheme is intended to keep the aircraft cooler in hot temperatures. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman by Chad Slattery)

After nearly three years at the helm of the Army’s groundbreaking Rapid Equipping Force, Col. Pete Newell retired earlier this month, leaving the shop as it prepares to transition from relying on war time funding accounts to assuming a place in the DoD’s base budget, currently scheduled to happen in 2015.

While Newell has said that he’s heading first to the Naval Post Graduate School to help with a study on the future of rapid innovation in the military, and then on to the tech industry, no immediate successor was named to his REF post.

But Defense News has learned that the Ft. Belvoir-based REF is finally getting a new boss in mid-July. Col. Steven Sliwa, currently serving on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, will take over as the command continues to push technologies to forward deployed units around the globe.

Col. Sliva previously commanded the 210th Fires Brigade of the 2^nd Infantry Division stationed in South Korea. During his time there the unit was awarded the Army Superior Unit Award in part for its actions in response to the Nov. 23, 2010 attack on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island by North Korean artillery.

The North fired about 170 shells that day, killing two civilians and two South Korean marines, while injuring another 18 people.

In a June 2012 Stars & Stripes story, a 2ID spokesman said that  “we can say [the unit] quickly established firing capability, uploaded 100 percent of its pre-positioned authorized combat load of multiple launch rocket system ammunition, uploaded missile essential equipment, and deployed counter-fire radars and launchers.”

In recent months, Newell has outlined the ways in which the REF is looking beyond Afghanistan by sending staff to the Pacific theater to work with troops there, and with Special Forces units in Africa to better understands what they might need as operations intensify there.

Military officers wait for members to arrive for a House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee hearing on Feb. 28. The same room will host multiple HASC subpanels as they build their parts of 2014 Pentagon policy legislation. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)

It’s that time again: National defense authorization act season. (Just loosen your tie and take a deep breath, nervous defense wonk, Intercepts is mildly confident your program is going to survive. Probably.)

Following long-held custom, the House Armed Services Committee kicks things off this week with a series of subcommittee mark ups as the panel begins building its 2014 Pentagon policy bill.

The subcommittees should give defense wonks a look at their initial bills as soon as today (Tuesday), before each issue-specific subpanel makes changes on Wednesday or Thursday. As we reported May 6 in our defense authorization preview, armed drones, base closures and what to do about sequestration will be top-shelf issues.

Though not specifically the purview of Defense News readers, add to the top-issue list the sexual assault epidemic that’s plaguing the military. Full subcommittee-by-subcommittee schedule, after the jump.

HASC’s Strategic Forces subcommittee will get the mark up fun started Wednesday morning (10:30 a.m. EST), with the Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee getting to work next (12 p.m.). The Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee is slated to go off third on Wednesday (1:30 p.m.), and the Personnel subcommittee is scheduled to get to work just before defense-sector works spill into the bars and restaurants of Crystal City, Rosslyn and Pentagon City for happy hour (3:30 p.m.).

On Thursday, the Tactical Air and Land Forces subpanel leads off (9 a.m.), and the Readiness subcommittee wraps up the legislating fun (10:30 a.m.).

Check back to Intercepts and DefenseNews.com for our coverage of the legislative sausage-making.

The full committee will mark up and vote on the final version of the complete 2014 national defense authorization act on June 5.

The Senate Armed Services Committee will mark up its version of the bill, behind closed doors, in mid-June. A conference committee eventually will have to iron out any differences in policy prescriptions and budget authorization level differences.

There are new policy wrinkles and other developments, like sequestration and what to do about the CIA’s armed drone program. But, the process has changed little over the years. Same as it ever was.

An F/A 18 breaks the sound barrier. (Ensign John Gay/US Navy)

In case you haven’t seen the incredible visual of a jet breaking the sound barrier, as the pressure waves produce a visible halo around the aircraft, this is your chance.  Pictured is an F/A 18 in all it’s glory.

Who needs short-takeoff when you can just rise straight up into the sky?

The latest development with the F-35B short-takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) version of the Joint Strike Fighter took place May 10 when BF-01 performed the first-ever vertical takeoff by one of the test and evaluation aircraft.

The flight took place at the U.S. Navy’ s naval air test station in Patuxent River, Maryland.

The Marine Corps doesn’t intend for the aircraft to regularly takeoff vertically on operational missions. According to a Lockheed Martin press release, “VTOs are required for repositioning of the STOVL in environments where a jet could not perform a short takeoff.  In these cases, the jet, with a limited amount of fuel, would execute a VTO to travel a short distance.”