The Pentagon Budget: Fiscal 2013 Edition
Feb 14, 2012
Click here to see the whole Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Spending Request Briefing Book.
For Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, which begins on October 1, 2012, the Obama Administration has requested a base budget of $525.4 billion. This represents a $5.1 billion, or approximately 1 percent, decrease from the FY12 base budget approved by Congress.
In addition, the Administration has requested $88.5 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), to continue to fight the wars overseas. This is $26.6 billion decrease from the amount enacted last year, $115.1 billion, and brings the FY13 defense budget request to a total of $613.9 billion.
These numbers do not include nuclear weapons related spending in the Department of Energy (DOE) or other defense related funding. In addition to an initial $613.9 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Administration has requested approximately $17.7 billion for nuclear weapons activities at Department of Energy and $7.2 billion for additional non-Pentagon defense related activities.
This brings total non-Pentagon defense related spending (053/054) to approximately $639 billion, a nominal decrease of about $30.7 billion below FY12, largely due to savings from the war in Afghanistan and the end of the war in Iraq.
What We're Reading Now
Aug 30, 2011
IRAN
Iran won't stop uranium enrichment program
Associated Press -- August 29, 2011
Iran won't stop uranium enrichment activities the U.N. has demanded it halt, the country's nuclear chief said Monday. ran says it needs stockpiles for a medical research reactor, and that the level of enrichment -- up to 20 percent -- is far below the more than 90 percent needed to build a nuclear weapon.
Iran: Ready for Conditional Cooperation with IAEA
Voice of America News -- August 29, 2011
Iran says it will not stop enriching uranium but is ready for cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, provided the U.N. nuclear watchdog limits its demands.
Tehran says no to nuclear swap
Los Angeles Times -- August 29, 2011
Iran says it’s no longer interested in talking with the West about swapping nuclear fuel rather than making its own.
NORTH KOREA
US: North Korea Nuclear Concessions Welcome, But Insufficient
David Gollust, Voice of America News -- August 24, 2011
The United States has called reported North Korean nuclear concessions welcome but insufficient. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told Russian officials that Pyongyang would freeze tests and production of nuclear weapons and missiles in the context of renewed six-party negotiations.
Seoul Names New Minister on North Korea Affairs
Evan Ramstad, Wall Street Journal -- August 30, 2011
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday appointed his former chief of staff to lead the government ministry dealing with North Korea and moved the current minister to a post in the presidential office, a signal that his North Korea policy is unlikely to change.
What We’re Reading Now
Aug 09, 2011
UNITED STATES
Wake up and smell the tea
Jonah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times- August 9, 2011
"Is this a wake-up call to Washington?" NBC's David Gregory asked Sen. John Kerry on "Meet the Press," referring to the S&P downgrade.
Cut Defense Spendng
Fareed Zakaria, CNN- August 9, 2011
Everyone in Washington this week is having a nightmare about a guillotine. I'm talking about the proposed cuts to the Defense Department.
NORTH KOREA
North Korea may be funding nuclear weapons with video game gold
Chad Sapieha, Globe and Mail- August 9, 2011
A ring of North Korean hackers working out of Northern China have been caught “farming” virtual gold in MMOs like Lineage and selling it to gamers for real-world cash benefiting the Kim Jong-il regime.
What We’re Reading Now
Aug 04, 2011
IRAN
The march toward nuclear Iran
Ray Takeyh, Washington Post- August 3, 2011
The thinking has been that time is on our side and that Iran’s weak scientific foundation can be further derailed through such pressure. Contrary to such presumptions, however, Iran’s scientific infrastructure has grown in sophistication and capability in the past two decades.
Iran claims progress speeding nuclear program
Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal- August 3, 2011
Moves by Iran to deploy more-advanced centrifuge machines for the production of nuclear fuel are raising new concerns that Tehran could significantly shorten the time it would need to produce nuclear bombs.
DEFENSE SPENDING
Pentagon sounds alarm on threat of budget cuts
Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times- August 3, 2011
The Pentagon pushed back aggressively on Wednesday against what senior officials warned was the prospect of $1 trillion in military budget cuts and thousands of layoffs, furloughs and reductions in military programs over the next decade.
Why defense spending should be cut
Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post- August 3, 2011
The scary aspect of the debt deal meant to force all of Washington to its senses is the threatened cut to defense spending.
What We’re Reading Now
Jul 29, 2011
IRAN
How Iran and America could wind up at war
Ilan Berman, Forbes- July 29, 2011
For much of the past decade, conventional wisdom has held that Iran’s dogged pursuit of a nuclear capability – carried out in spite of mounting pressure from the international community – will ultimately become a casus belli for Washington.
U.S. sees alliance between Iran
Jay Solomon, Wall Street Jounral- July 29, 2011
The U.S. for the first time formally accused Iran of forging an alliance with al Qaeda in a pact that allows the terrorist group to use Iranian soil as a transit point for moving money, arms and fighters to its bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
PAKISTAN
Holding Pakistan to account
New York Times- July 29, 2011
The Obama administration’s decision to suspend $800 million of its $2 billion in annual security aid to Pakistan inevitably raises the question of why the United States should continue to give Pakistan any military aid at all.
Pakistan opposes treaty banning production of fissile material for nuclear weapons
APPl- July 29, 2011
Top nuclear envoys from North and South Korea emerged smiling from a face-to-face meeting Friday, saying they were ready to work together to resume stalled disarmament talks.
What We’re Reading Now
Jul 14, 2011
IRAN
Iran moves nuclear enrichment programme to underground bunker
Damien McElroy, Telegraph- July 13, 2011
Iran has begun efforts to shift its nuclear enrichment programme to an underground bunker where experts warn it could stage a last dash for a nuclear weapon.
The rise and fall of Iran's Ahmadinejad
Karim Sadjadpour, Washington Post- July 13, 2011
While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s demagoguery and Holocaust revisionism on the world stage have earned him alarmist comparisons to Adolf Hitler, his recent, ignoble fall from grace reveals the Iranian president for what he really is: the dispensable sword of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
PAKISTAN
Pakistan violence flares after Minister's comments
Hamid Shaikh and Zeeshan Haider, Reuters- July 13, 2011
Fresh political violence gripped Pakistan's commercial capital, Karachi, on Thursday, leaving 14 people dead in fighting sparked by a senior ruling party leader's criticism of the city's dominant political group.
US-Pakistanis meet amid tension, military aid
Kimberly Dozier and Pauline Jelinek,Associated Press- July 13, 2011
High-level U.S.-Pakistan visits were unfolding Wednesday for the first time since Washington announced it was cutting more than one-third of its military aid to its terrorism-fighting partner.
What We’re Reading Now
Jul 11, 2011
IRAN
Panetta: Iranian weapons used to attack Americans in Iraq
David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times- July 11, 2011
Supplies from Iran have 'really hurt us' in Iraq, says Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, making an unannounced visit to Baghdad. The U.S. may be pushing Iraqi leader Nouri Maliki to request that some troops remain after the withdrawal deadline.
Dozen killed as Iran arms explode at Cyprus naval base
Patrick Baz, AFP- July 11, 2011
Huge blasts in a seized Iranian weapons cache at a Greek Cypriot naval base in the south of the Mediterranean island killed at least 12 people on Monday, state media said.
Pakistan
In Pakistan, analysts say US aid cuts harm American efforts against al-Qaida, lessen US power
Associated Press- July 11, 2011
The decision to suspend more than one-third of American military aid to Pakistan could end up hurting Washington more than Islamabad as the U.S. seeks to navigate an end to the Afghan war and defeat al-Qaida, former Pakistani officials and analysts warned Monday.
What We're Reading Now
Jul 01, 2011
IRAN
Israeli minister: Don't take eyes off Iran
George Jahn, Associated Press - July 1, 2011
Israel's foreign minister warned Thursday that Iran is using Mideast unrest as a smoke screen to advance missile and nuclear programs in its alleged development of nuclear arms.
US Suspects Iran behind increase in troop deaths in Iraq
Ed O'Keefe and Tim Craig, Boston Globe - July 1, 2011
Iran is furnishing new, more deadly weapons to Shiite Muslim militias targeting U.S. troops in Iraq as part of a pattern of renewed attempts to exert influence in the region, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.The U.S. has raised the attacks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and others, said Gates, who leaves office today. Gates will be succeeded by Leon Panetta, director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
NORTH KOREA
S. Korea still waiting for N. Korea's response on bilateral nuclear talks
Yonhap News Agency, July 1, 2011
South Korea is still waiting for North Korea's response to its proposal to hold bilateral talks to gauge the North's sincerity on denuclearization, despite a recent series of fiery threats from the communist neighbor, Seoul's foreign minister said Thursday.
What We’re Reading Now
Jun 30, 2011
IRANIran facing new U.S. sanctions
Joby Warrick, Washington Post - June 29, 2011
The Obama administration on Thursday accused Iran of assisting Syria’s government in its brutal crackdown on demonstrators, listing names of Iranian security officials that the White House says helped train and arm Syrian police to attack peaceful protesters. Sanctions unveiled by the Treasury Department identified Iran’s national police force and a pair of senior Iranian officials, one of whom allegedly traveled to Damascus in April to offer expertise on dealing with the country’s protest movement, White House documents showed. While the United States has previously accused Iran of backing the crackdown, Thursday’s statement was the first to provide specific names and dates.
Iran Arming Iraqi Groups Attacking U.S. Troops, Gates Says
Viola Gienger and Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg - June 30, 2011
Iran is furnishing new, more deadly weapons to Shiite Muslim militias targeting U.S. troops in Iraq as part of a pattern of renewed attempts to exert influence in the region, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.The U.S. has raised the attacks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and others, said Gates, who leaves office today. Gates will be succeeded by Leon Panetta, director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Saudi will seek nuclear arms if Iran gets them - report
Reuters - June 30, 2011
Saudi Arabia has warned NATO that it would pursue policies that could lead to "untold and possibly dramatic consequences" if Iran obtains nuclear weapons, a British newspaper reported on Wednesday. The Guardian newspaper quoted Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington and Britain, speaking to senior NATO officials earlier this month at an unpublicized meeting at a British air base.
What We're Reading Now
Jun 21, 2011
IRAN
Iran deputy foreign minister resigns amid pressure
Ali Akbar Dareini, AP - June 21, 2011
Iran's newly appointed deputy foreign minister has resigned under pressure from hardliners who view him as part of a movement seeking to weaken the role of Iran's powerful Muslim clerics, reports say. The dispute over Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh is part of a burgeoning power struggle involving President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the parliament and the country's clergy. While Malekzadeh faces corruption charges, the opposition to his appointment appeared more ideological.
Iran shipping line charged in US over arms
Kara Scannell, Financial Times - June 20, 2011
New York authorities have filed criminal charges against an Iranian shipping company they accuse of trafficking weapons, along with several companies and people who allegedly used multiple corporate aliases to evade US economic sanctions that ban dealings with US financial institutions. The 317-count indictment, filed by the New York County district attorney’s office, is aimed at disabling Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, Iran’s largest maritime shipping company. US officials allege it is a conduit for Iran’s ballistic missile programme and the main facilitator of its procurement activities.
Iran frees jailed human rights activist
AFP - June 21, 2011
TEHRAN — Iran has freed human rights campaigner Emadeddin Baghi after he served a year-long jail term on charges of spreading "propaganda against the regime," Arman daily reported Tuesday, quoting his lawyer. The award-winning journalist was arrested on December 28, 2009, a day after opposition supporters took to the streets in a new round of protests against the controversial June 12 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
