An op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal says there is no surprise in the fact that King Abdullah’s first official visit outside the Middle East was to China. The new Saudi Arabia leader is simply fulfilling a long-sought Royal Saudi desire to lessen the country’s dependence on the US. According to National Defense University professor Richard L. Russell, the Saudis have been seething since 1991 when they had to ask the US for help to fend off Saddam Hussein.
House Armed Services Committee members are launching a task force to dig into defense supply chain issues, the panel said March 4. Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) will co-chair the group as it looks at threats to and vulnerabilities in the defense industrial base. Pentagon officials, lawmakers,…