U.S. Army operations increasingly depend on intelligence to help confront adversaries who are themselves highly competent, the Army said this week in a newly updated publication on military intelligence. Future operations “will occur in complex operational environments against capable peer threats, who most likely will start from positions of relative advantage. U.S. forces will require effective intelligence […]
By Hans M. Kristensen New satellite photos show substantial upgrades of ICBM silos at the missile field near Kozelsk in western Russia. The images show that progress is well underway on at least half of the silos (possibly more) of the second regiment of the 28th Guards Missile Division from the Soviet-era SS-19 ICBM to […]
By Hans M. Kristensen, Robert S. Norris, and Julia Diamond The latest FAS Nuclear Notebook has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Pakistani nuclear forces, 2018 (direct link to PDF). We estimate that Pakistan by now has accumulated an arsenal of 140-150 nuclear warheads for delivery by short- and medium-range ballistic and […]
“Since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense (DoD) has obligated $1,500.8 billion for war-related costs.” That’s the headline from the latest report to Congress on the post-9/11 costs of war, according to the Pentagon’s own reckoning. See Cost of War Update as of March 31, 2018 (FY 2018, Quarter 2). Independent estimates of military spending that use […]
A US Air Force program to acquire “light attack” aircraft is introduced in a new publication from the Congressional Research Service. “The OA-X light attack aircraft is a small, two-seat turboprop airplane designed for operation in relatively permissive environments.” It would give the Air Force “an ability to free up more sophisticated and expensive assets for other […]
The Department of Defense issued a directive this month based on new authority granted by Congress last year to engage in “low-visibility, irregular warfare” operations. In the FY2018 defense authorization act (PL 115-91, sect. 1202) Congress specifically authorized the Secretary of Defense “to provide support to foreign forces, irregular forces, groups, or individuals engaged in […]
The Congressional Research Service says that, as a constitutional matter, it will be up to Congress to determine whether and how to reorganize the management of US national security assets in space, and whether to establish a new “space force,” as the Trump Administration has proposed. “The constitutional framework appears to contemplate that the role […]
By Hans M. Kristensen [Updated August 21, 2018] The Pentagon’s annual report to Congress on China’s military and security developments has finally been published, several months later than previous volumes. Normally it takes about one month after the report is generated to be published. This year it took three times that long. The report covers […]
In an apparent departure from “generally accepted accounting principles,” federal agencies will be permitted to publish financial statements that are altered so as to protect information on classified spending from disclosure. The new policy was developed by the government’s Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) in response to concerns raised by the Department of Defense […]
The substantial progress that was achieved in recent years in producing the State Department’s official Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series was reversed in several respects last year, according to a new annual report from the Department’s Historical Advisory Committee. The FRUS series is required by statute to publish a “thorough, accurate, and […]
A dozen classified programs that involved research on human subjects were underway last year at the Department of Energy. Human subjects research refers broadly to the collection of scientific data from human subjects. This could involve physical procedures that are performed on the subjects, or simply interviews and other forms of interaction with them. Little information is […]
New reports from the Congressional Research Service this week include the following. Advising the President: Rules Governing Access and Accountability of Presidential Advisors, CRS Legal Sidebar, August 6, 2018 The European Deterrence Initiative: A Budgetary Overview, CRS In Focus, August 8, 2018 Iran’s Threats, the Strait of Hormuz, and Oil Markets: In Brief, August 6, 2018 Nord […]