Defense
Shortly after being sworn in as chairman last October, a decade after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, General Dempsey said the military was confronting “a strategic inflection point, where the institution fundamentally re-examines itself.” The seminar project he started fits his goal: to try to build the right military force for five years from now — and not be driven by the budget cycle into a series of year-by-year decisions. – New York Times
The top Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee wants the president to call lawmakers to the White House for talks on avoiding deep defense and other federal spending cuts. – Defense News
Acknowledging the political realities and Senate time crunch, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) confirmed Tuesday that the Defense authorization bill was not expected to get to the Senate floor until the lame-duck session at the earliest. – DEFCON Hill
GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Sept. 11 reiterated his promise to build a U.S. military “so strong no one would even think about testing it,” even as lawmakers were questioning his vow to buy more F-22 fighter jets. – Defense News
The difference between President Obama and the Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and their defense platforms fall to their budgets. Otherwise, there’s not much to debate, said Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow at Brookings specializing in defense and foreign policy issues. – DoD Buzz
House Republican leaders on Tuesday used the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to push Democrats and the Obama administration to take action against looming cuts to the military. – The Hill
Improving the Navy’s long-neglected capability to hunt mines is a top priority for the fleet — but it still gets less than 1 percent of the Navy budget. – AOL Defense
Senior Pentagon officials voiced frustration about the pace of Lockheed Martin Corp’s development of the $396 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program at a high-level review on Friday, according to several sources familiar with the program. – Reuters
Interview: “If we’re going to fix it, we’re going to have to take some risks.” That’s the core of Norman Augustine’s vision for Pentagon acquisition reform: He who dares may not always win, but he who doesn’t dare never will. The military’s system for buying weapons is so afraid of failure, the legendary former Lockheed chairman told AOL Defense on Friday, that it makes even its successes needlessly expensive and painfully slow. – AOL Defense
The War
The detainee who died on Saturday at the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was a Yemeni man who had been ordered freed in 2010 by a Federal District Court judge but remained in captivity after the ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last year. – New York Times
The classified program that arms the U.S. government with powerful authorities to monitor communications of foreigners overseas is at the heart of a debate over just how much people should trust their government. – CNN’s Security Clearance
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reacted angrily Tuesday to the publication of a new book, not vetted by the Pentagon, that reveals details of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden. – Hill Tube
Missile Defense
A number of critical gaps in America’s network of early warning systems and missile interceptors could put the continental United States at risk of a potential missile attack, according to a new report by the National Research Council. – DEFCON Hill
A scientific panel of experts said on Tuesday that the Obama administration’s plan for a phased missile defense in Europe will not adequately protect the United States from the looming threat of an Iranian long-range missile attack. – Washington Free Beacon
U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s critical stance on Russia proves that Moscow’s opposition to an American anti-missile shield in Europe is sound policy, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Cybersecurity
Senate Homeland Security Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., told National Journal on Tuesday there is little chance the Senate will revisit his proposed cybersecurity legislation until after the November election. – National Journal
