Defense
The 44th administration is unlikely to make payments to defense contractors to cover severance costs caused by across-the-board Pentagon cuts, according to defense analysts. – DEFCON Hill
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have a message for defense contractors: ignore the Obama administration and send out mass layoff notices. – DEFCON Hill
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey met with top Boeing executives on Friday to gauge the defense giant’s level of concern over the automatic defense cuts facing the Pentagon next year. The answer the four-star general got was disconcerting, but not surprising. – DEFCON Hill
The USS Michael Murphy’s namesake was uncompromisingly heroic, a Navy SEAL who died earning the Medal of Honor in Afghanistan. The ship itself, however, embodies a series of cost-conscious compromises that will keep the Navy sailing a 1980s design — albeit much upgraded –until at least 2072. – AOL Defense
Interview: While Romney and other campaign officials have pledged to raise the number of ships built per year from nine to “approximately 15,” aimed at a fleet of about 350 ships, specifics on how they would add more than 60 ships, and what types, have been vague. But in an exclusive interview, a top Romney defense adviser provided some details on the ambitious plans for the Navy. – Defense News
FPI Policy Director Robert Zarate and Policy Analyst Evan Moore write: But while Obama’s $487 billion in defense cuts risks comprising America’s national security and international interests, his adamant refusal to halt the additional $500 billion in sequestration cuts to the Pentagon would all but guarantee that dangerous outcome. – The Weekly Standard Blog
James Jay Carafano writes: Should the president decide to pursue a 4 percent defense budget, he would also have to figure out how to pay for it without ballooning the debt or jacking up taxes. (A large tax hike would drive the economy back into recession.) So he would simultaneously have to tackle tax reform, rein in other discretionary spending, seriously reform entitlement programs, and promote economic growth – Foreign Policy
The War
After a protracted battle in the British and European courts, Abu Hamza al-Masri, an incendiary Muslim preacher with links to Al Qaeda, and four other terrorism suspects implicated in an array of terrorist plots were extradited to the United States on Saturday to face federal charges in Manhattan and New Haven. – New York Times
A 16-month Pentagon study on predicting workplace violence, launched in the wake of the 2009 Fort Hood shootings, concludes that the military has no systematic way of responding to internal threats of extremist behavior. – Military Times
The murder of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans in Libya on September 11 has created a growing political backlash in the United States, but there are three other reasons that this attack is significant. First, an al Qaeda unit successfully assaulted American soil for the first time since 9/11. Second, we were — once again — caught by surprise, and third, the attacks show that al Qaeda is not just alive and kicking, but that our current strategy for dealing with the group is failing. – Shadow Government
Missile Defense
Spain announced on Friday announced it had finalized an agreement with the United States to permit the basing of four U.S. Aegis-equipped destroyers at a Spanish naval base in accordance with broader NATO efforts to establish an alliance-wide ballistic missile defense capability, the Associated Press reported. – Global Security Newswire
Nonproliferation
A senior State Department official this week said voluntary international guidelines should help prevent two potential U.S. atomic trade partners from engaging in sensitive nuclear activities, but her remarks left some Capitol Hill nonproliferation advocates seething. – Global Security Newswire
