Rumsfeld Sees a New China: If press reports are accurate, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has changed his attitude—or approach—toward China’s increased defense spending. According to several news reports covering a meeting of Asian defense ministers, Rumsfeld indicated he believes Beijing is making more visible the scope of its military endeavors. That stands in marked contrast to Rumsfeld’s claim last year that China was upsetting regional stability, not to mention, the recently released Pentagon report on China.
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…