Then-Undersecretary of the Navy Robert Work gives a keynote address during the 2012 Current Strategy Forum at the U.S. Naval War College. US Navy Photo
Bob Work has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new Deputy Secretary of Defense, according to a late Wednesday announcement from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Read More
An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator sits on an aircraft elevator of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) on May 6.
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) seeks to put on hold the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft program and directs the Pentagon to fund a study for a future carrier-borne unmanned strike aircraft, according to language in the HASC’s Seapower and Projections Forces Committee’s mark of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Bill. Read More
Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Christine Fox before the Senate on Jan. 28, 2014. DoD Photo
The number two Pentagon civilian called for more survivable and lethal surface ships instead of “niche platforms” that can only conduct certain missions in permissive environments as the U.S. moves toward its rebalance to the Pacific in a speech at West 2014 conference in San Diego, Calif. on Tuesday. Read More
Bob Work. US Navy Photo
Bob Work, former Marine and second highest ranking civilian in the Department of the Navy, has been selected by President Obama to be the next Deputy Secretary of Defense, the number two job at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told Pentagon reporters on Friday.
Robert C. Martinage
The Navy’s acting number two civilian has resigned over allegations inappropriate conduct with a female subordinate on Wednesday, defense officials told USNI News. Read More
Christine H. Fox in 2010. DoD Photo
President Barack Obama is appointing Christine Fox as the acting deputy secretary of defense, according to a Tuesday Pentagon statement. Read More
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert, left, and Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Ray Mabus observe an X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator make an arrested landing on July 10, 2013. US Navy Photo
Pentagon leaders altered the Navy’s vision of creating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of striking defended targets thousands of miles away from the sea into a less-capable platform more suited for hunting terrorists, USNI News has learned. Read More
The following is a Monday open letter to Pentagon leaders and Congress from a bi-partisan group representing ten D.C. think tanks that focus on national security issues. The groups are calling for reform on the most politically sensitive defense expenditures: Military compensation, closing excess military facilities and the size of the Pentagon civillian workforce. The letter appeared as an advertisement in The Hill newspaper.
Dear Secretary Hagel, Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Inhofe, Chairman McKeon, Ranking Member Smith,
Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Cochran, Chairman Young, and Ranking Member Visclosky:
A striking bipartisan consensus exists today across the think tank community on the need for Pentagon and Congressional leaders to address the growing
imbalances within the defense budget that threaten the health and long-term viability of America’s volunteer military.
It is our shared belief that the Department of Defense urgently needs to close excess bases and facilities, reexamine the size and structure of the DoD civilian
workforce, and reform military compensation. While we do not all agree on the best approach to reform in each case, we agree that if these issues are not addressed, they will gradually consume the defense budget from within. Read More
Four D.C. think tanks took a crack at cutting the Pentagon’s budget under sequestration. CSBA Image
Four D.C. think tanks took a crack at balancing the Department of Defense’s budget if the Pentagon has to weather ten years of ten percent across-the-board sequestration budget cuts sequestration on Wednesday.
The consensus of the four (American Enterprise Institute, Center for a New American Security, Center for Strategic and International Studies and Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment) was unanimous.
First, cut the Department of Defense’s civilian employees – including shipyard and depot workers. Then reduce the services’ end strength – particularly the Army’s. Read More
Former under secretary of the Navy Bob Work. US Navy Photo
Bob Work — the chief executive officer of Center for a New American Security and former under secretary of the Navy— gave Pentagon leaders advice on how the services should innovate in a time of austerity in Thursday remarks at the EAST: Joint Warfighting 2013 symposium in Virginia Beach, Va.
Work said the greatest threat to U.S. security would be not taking advantage of the current drawdown in resources to create a force structure that makes sense for security threats. The second greatest threat was the current climate of political indecision in Washington. Read More
