Defense
With the House wrapping up work on its version of the Pentagon’s budget bill for fiscal 2013, it’s now the Senate’s turn to take a crack at the multibillion-dollar defense spending package. – DEFCON Hill
The U.S. Navy could eventually have a force of eight ships operating from Bahrain if plans to base littoral combat ships (LCS) in the Arabian Gulf continue as envisioned, the service’s No. 2 official said May 21. – Defense News
Coping with China and Iran at the same time is stretching the Navy thin, and it will soon have to choose which theater to prioritize, warned Peter Daly, the recently retired admiral who now heads the prestigious US Naval Institute. – AOL Defense
While the Littoral Combat Ship is not suited for the front lines of a war with China, it would provide vital protection to US supply lines in such conflict, said Under Secretary of the Navy Robert Work, and against Iran, LCS would be in the battle from “day one,” with eight LCSs ultimately operating out of Bahrain. – AOL Defense
The Obama administration is opposing House legislation that would loosen restrictions on exports of U.S. satellites that were imposed after two U.S. companies illegally improved China’s strategic missiles through satellite launch deals in the 1990s. – Washington Free Beacon
Work is underway to develop technologies that conceal, cloak or otherwise make objects appear to vanish. In many cases, the value of these technologies is in their ability to dupe an enemy into thinking he sees something besides a threat or potential target—background vegetation, for example, or an innocent vehicle – DoD Buzz
The War
CIA secret interrogation methods — including detention and harsh questioning of suspected terrorists — remain off limits to public release, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. – CNN
The Supreme Court said Monday that it will tackle a major national security and privacy dispute involving the government’s little-known foreign surveillance program. – CNN’s Security Clearance
White House counterterror chief John Brennan has seized the lead in guiding the debate on which terror leaders will be targeted for drone attacks or raids, establishing a new procedure to vet both military and CIA targets. – Associated Press
NATO
Speaking at the NATO Summit here May 21, British Prime Minister David Cameron argued for an ambitious future role for NATO, but said that would require the alliance to develop a new mindset for doing business. – Defense News
Leaders from 28 European and North American nations on Sunday signed off on a high-profile review of NATO’s overall deterrence posture that maintains nuclear weapons as a key means of deterrence against enemy threats – Global Security Newswire
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said that NATO should enlarge at the alliance’s next summit. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Josh Rogin reports: This weekend’s NATO summit in Chicago is the first in decades to make little to no progress on the enlargement of the organization, leaving several countries to wait another two years to move toward membership in the world’s premier military alliance. – The Cable
