Hi Bob! * As they had pre-announced yesterday, the Pentagon made their preparations for potential sequestration and furlough notifications official. There’s just 4 days left where Congress will be in session before this kicks in. DoD comptroller Bob Hale...
* The pre-sequester bad news are now coming full bore: Defense Department set to announce furlough plan (Stars & Stripes) | Navy’s budget plan: No Bataan deployment, fewer jets (Virginian-Pilot) | BAE could layoff 1,368 workers (San Diego Union-Tribune)....
* The United Arab Emirates announced $1.4B worth of contracts with Oshkosh ($380M for 750 M-ATVs), General Atomics (near $200M for an unspecified quantity of unmanned Predator UAVs), and others. Talks about the purchase of defanged “Predator XPs” (XP for...
* Gordon Adams, a budget staffer during the Clinton administration, is convinced the Pentagon has plenty of room for backoffice cuts, but thinks the recent announcements are driven by pressure politics: “[DoD and the services] decided to go forward with the most...
Ravin’ about Ravens Democrats fell short by one vote to overcome a Republican filibuster of Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. Filibusters of cabinet appointees are few and far between, especially when the nominee is from your own party,...
