A bi-partisan compromise on a new defense authorization bill will put additional oversight on the Joint Strike Fighter program. US Navy Photo
The House and Senate armed services committees have agreed to a last minute compromise defense bill that would authorize funds to fully fund the Pentagon’s budget for Fiscal Year 2014, committee leaders said in a press conference late Monday afternoon.
From the Dec. 9, 2014 fact sheet on the Fiscal Year 2014 summary of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) propsal.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2014 is the key mechanism to provide necessary authorities and funding for America’s military. This is the fifty-second consecutive NDAA. The legislation meets Chairman McKeon’s goal of providing for a strong defense in an era of uncertain and declining resources. The total funding authorized reflects the will of the House to provide our troops the resources they need to meet a dangerous world. However, Chairman McKeon also recognizes that, more than ever, the impacts of rapid defense cuts, FY13 sequestration, and the prospect of future sequester cuts in the years to come, will force our warfighters to be not only keen stewards of our national security, but to maximize value for every taxpayer dollar. To that end, this legislation supports and protects our warfighters and their families; addresses ongoing and emerging conflicts with resolve and accountability; protects America today while making wise choices. Read More
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Erik Shinseki
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told the House Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday he would have to deliver bad news to more than 5.18 million veterans, survivors, and their children if the partial government shutdown continues into late October. Read More
U.S. Naval Institute contributors clockwise from top right: W.S. Sims, William F. Halsey, Hyman Rickover, Ernest J. King and Alfred Thayer Mahan. Illustration by Tom W. Freeman
Sometimes in the throes of the monthly and bimonthly Proceedings and Naval History deadlines we lose sight of just how much bigger the U.S. Naval Institute is than any or all of us. And the 15 founding members who convened on the evening of 9 October 1873 by the light of oil lamps in the U.S. Naval Academy’s Department of Physics and Chemistry building probably had no idea that the organization would ever be as influential and relevant as it is today. Read More
The architect behind the 1954 North Vietnamese victory over the French at Dien Bien Phu was a “a dedicated killer determined to take absolute power by assassinating as many of his political opponents as possible,” Rufus Phillips, a former U.S. military advisor to Vietnam told USNI News on Saturday. Read More
A Senate panel has rejected a Pentagon request to open a new round of base closures.
With the House voting again to delay for a year the start of the Affordable Care Act and repealing a tax on medical devices that helps pay for the measure, a partial shutdown of the federal government this week appears nearer. The Senate is expected to take up and reject the bill when it convenes today, likely in the middle of the afternoon. Read More
The following story originally appeared in Proceedings, September 2011.
A decade later, a former naval officer recalls the day he was working in the Pentagon when his life—and those of all Americans—changed forever.
The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 were the defining moments for our generation, a shockwave start to a turbulent decade. How best to mark that fateful day, and the ten years since?
Simple. Never forget. Read More
On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down provisions in the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The restrictions in the act prevented federal employees in same sex marriages from receiving federal benefits. The Pentagon and the rest of the government will now sort through the ruling and the changes to federal law.
“The Department of Defense welcomes the Supreme Court’s decision today on the Defense of Marriage Act,” Secratary of Defense Chuck Hagel said in a Wednesday statement.
“The department will immediately begin the process of implementing the Supreme Court’s decision in consultation with the Department of Justice and other executive branch agencies. The Department of Defense intends to make the same benefits available to all military spouses — regardless of sexual orientation — as soon as possible. That is now the law and it is the right thing to do.” Read More
From the introduction from the June Department of Defense Report on the Joint Committee Sequestration for Fiscal Year 2013: This report summarizes the financial impact on the Department of Defense discretionary budget authority in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 as a result of the Joint Committee Sequestration directed in the Presidential Order of March 1, 2013. Read More
