Welcome to the Defense Download! This new round‐up is intended to highlight what we at the Cato Institute are keeping tabs on in the world of defense politics every week. The three‐to‐five trending stories will vary depending on the news cycle, what policymakers are talking about, and will pull from all sides of the political spectrum. If you would like to recieve more frequent updates on what I’m reading, writing, and listening to—you can follow me on Twitter via @CDDorminey.
- “Trump appears to call for defense spending cut,” Aaron Mehta. This week’s Cabinet meeting went a bit differently than most. The President, apparently due to worry about the country’s rising debts and deficits, issued a call for every federal department to cut it’s spending by five percent in Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19). Reporters understandably rushed to ask President Trump if this initiative would include defense spending; while he doesn’t seem to want the full five percent, Trump commented that the budget next year would be “around $700 billion” (a 2.3 percent cut).
- “Air Force B-21 Raider Long Range Strike Bomber,” Jeremiah Gertler. The Congressional Research survey released an update on the still‐classified B-21 program. While many details remain unavailable to the public, this report discusses the status of the program and includes useful information on projected research and development funding.
- “Air and Missile Defense at a Crossroads,” Mark Gunzinger and Carl Rehburg. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Alternative released a new report today on adapting missile defense for protecting overseas bases, and recommendations to move the portfolio in that direction.
- “Senior defense committee Democrat wants to stop U.S. weapon sales to Saudi Arabia,” Tony Bertuca. Senator Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), said publicly that all sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia should be blocked until a thorough investigation into the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi can be undertaken.