Defense
A senior U.S. senator is warning the Obama administration he will fight efforts to use taxpayer dollars to help defense contractors deal with layoffs spawned by possible budget cuts. – Defense News
The Navy will christen its newest amphibious warfare ship in Pascagoula, Miss. on Oct. 20th. The boldly-named, $3 billion America is a major departure from past designs — and, quietly, the Navy has decided not to build many more like it in the future. – AOL Defense
Talks between the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) about a fifth order of F-35 fighter planes have been elevated to a senior level as the two sides debate the last $100-million-plus dividing them, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions. – Reuters
Years before F-22 pilots began getting dizzy in the cockpit, before one struggled to breathe as he tried to pull out of a fatal crash, before two more went on television to say the plane was so unsafe they refused to fly it, a small circle of Air Force experts knew something was wrong with the prized stealth fighter jet. – Associated Press
The War
The chairmen of the Senate and House homeland security panels on Wednesday bashed a new report by their colleagues that is critical of intelligence gathering efforts at fusion centers. – The Hill
Stinging criticism from Congress about a counterterrorism effort that improperly collected information about innocent Americans is turning up the heat on the Obama administration to justify the program’s continued existence and putting lawmakers who championed it on the defensive. – Associated Press
A new book says President Barack Obama hoped to put Osama bin Laden on trial, showing the U.S. commitment to due process under law, if the al-Qaida leader had surrendered during a U.S. raid in Pakistan last year. – Associated Press
Daveed-Gartenstein Ross writes: The United States must be on alert as these al Qaeda affiliates move into a new phase of their evolution. These groups are done with the business of trying to govern, at least for now, and are back to doing what they do best: operating in the shadows, fighting as insurgents, and engaging in terrorist attacks. – Foreign Policy
NATO
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Oct. 3 won a fifth year at the helm of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, leaving him in place to help oversee a difficult withdrawal from Afghanistan. – AFP
Trade
Michael Green writes: In short, for trade to continue underpinning U.S. leadership in Asia, we will have to go global, be agile within the region, and give a shot of adrenaline to USTR. Otherwise, the “pivot” will be a minor footnote in the textbooks. – Shadow Government
