Daily Report

March 7, 2013

House Passes Full-Year Defense, Veterans Spending Bills

By a vote of 267 to 151, the House on Wednesday passed H.R. 933, a full-year continuing appropriations act for Fiscal 2013 that includes full-year appropriations bills for defense, military construction, and veterans’ affairs. “The House did the right thing...

Paul Filibuster Delays Brennan Vote

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday prevented the nomination of John Brennan, President Obama’s pick to lead the CIA, from coming to the Senate floor for a vote by staging a filibuster of nearly 13 hours. Paul said he was...

TRANSCOM Adjusts to Changing Demands

US Transportation Command boss Gen. William Fraser said he expects the command’s workload to ease as readiness needs and demand signals decline from the regional combatant commands. Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on March 6, Fraser said he...

Senate Confirms New CENTCOM, AFRICOM Bosses

The Senate confirmed Army Gen. Lloyd Austin to succeed Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis as commander of US Central Command and also approved Army Gen. David Rodriguez to replace Army Gen. Carter Ham as head of US Africa Command. These...

New Air Guard Command Chief Discusses Goals

CMSgt. James Hotaling, the Air National Guard’s new command chief, met with Air Guardsmen at JB Andrews, Md., to discuss the profession of arms and health of the force, and to recognize the ANG’s achievements, according to an Andrews release....

Lockheed Martin Wins SBIRS Work

The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $284.4 million fixed-price contract to procure long-lead-time parts for the fifth and sixth Space Based Infrared System geosynchronous orbit satellites, announced company officials. Under this contract, Lockheed Martin will purchase the remaining long-lead-time...

No Insomnia Here

Technical problems that have emerged with the F-35 strike fighter—a jittery helmet display, a fuel-dump issue, and a redesigned arrestor hook, among others—”do not keep me up at night,” said Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, F-35 program executive officer. “I have...

US, Danes Conduct Joint Airdrop Mission

US and Danish airmen conducted their first joint airdrop mission in Afghanistan, announced the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing. C-130s from both air forces dropped supplies over southern Afghanistan on Feb. 25, according to the wing’s March 6 release. “We established...

Kandahar Aerial Porters Fine-Tune Cargo Ops

Aerial porters with the 451st Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, have updated their processes and procedures in recent months, fine-tuning how they move and store cargo at their aerial port. Squadron leadership came up with a simple...

QDR Assessment Panel Taking Shape

Eight of the 10 members of the independent panel of civilian experts who will assess the Pentagon’s work on the upcoming quadrennial defense review are now in place. On Wednesday, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), House Armed Service Committee ranking member,...