Republican Rep. Ken Calvert is willing to meet Democratic lawmakers partway in their reported plans to trim the defense budget: cut back on civilian employees, not equipment and modernization.
The Continuing Acquisition Reform bill provides a credible signal from Congress that senior defense leadership should move aggressively in using existing authority to change how the department does business.
“We’ve made some substantial progress. We need to build and implement what we have done,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.
The Pentagon official in charge of special operations says former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was not wrong to object to the U.S. withdrawal from Syria.