Archiv: US Senate Committee on Armed Services (Senate Armed Services Committee)


17.04.2024 - 06:24 [ FederalTimes.com ]

Lawmakers still benefitting from share trading in defense stocks

(02.04.2024)

With the onslaught of new wars, Congress added $70 billion over the last two years to an already bloated Pentagon budget, much of which is funneled directly into the coffers of defense contractors like Palatir, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. The stock values in these companies have since experienced double-digit growth – a lucrative business opportunity not overlooked by lawmakers calling the shots.

At least 25 members of Congress sitting on national security committees have simultaneously purchased stock in these very same companies. The majority of these members sit on the Senate and House Armed Services committees, the entities responsible for overseeing the Defense Department budget and contracts.

11.08.2023 - 19:42 [ Washington Post ]

We don’t need nuclear cruise missiles at sea

(August 9, 2023)

This month, as House and Senate conferees begin to iron out differences between the two chambers on a nearly $900 billion Pentagon spending bill for next fiscal year, both the House and Senate armed services committees want to place a new generation of nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles (known as SLCM-Ns) back on Navy vessels. That would be a mistake.

15.07.2023 - 16:32 [ DW.com ]

US reveals secret Saudi nuclear deal

(28.03.2019)

The Donald Trump administration has granted permission to unspecified US companies to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and provide technical assistance, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

The companies have asked the administration to keep the approvals secret.

The oil-rich kingdom is set to build at least two nuclear power plants, with several countries, including the US, South Korea, and Russia, all vying for the project. However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also stated that his country would also seek to develop nuclear weapons if its Iranian rivals obtained it.

30.05.2023 - 20:28 [ DW.com ]

US reveals secret Saudi nuclear deal

(28.03.2019)

The Donald Trump administration has granted permission to unspecified US companies to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and provide technical assistance, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

The companies have asked the administration to keep the approvals secret.

The oil-rich kingdom is set to build at least two nuclear power plants, with several countries, including the US, South Korea, and Russia, all vying for the project. However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also stated that his country would also seek to develop nuclear weapons if its Iranian rivals obtained it.

29.09.2021 - 08:57 [ Zachary Cohen, National security reporter @CNN / Twitter ]

Gen. McKenzie again says he is responsible for drone strike that killed 10 civilians but seems to defend decision to fire, citing similar intel for other successful strikes. Still a lot of questions about what transpired before strike, including civilian casualty estimates.

It happened in my area of responsibility, so I‘m the responsible officer for that strike,” McKenzie said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

McKenzie said he was under “no pressure” and “no one in my chain of command below me was under any pressure to take that strike.”

29.09.2021 - 08:53 [ theHill.com ]

Five takeaways from the Senate‘s hearing on Afghanistan

Austin said military officials had discussed “a range of possibilities,” but no one planned for the possibility the Afghan government would collapse as quickly as it did.

“We certainly did not plan against a collapse of the government in 11 days,” Austin told lawmakers in response to a lawmaker question.

28.09.2021 - 20:13 [ C-SPAN / Youtube ]

Secretary of Defense & Joint Chiefs Chair and Others Testify on Afghanistan Withdrawal

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chair General Mark Milley, and General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, testify on the Afghanistan withdrawal.

02.09.2021 - 12:08 [ @MRCleve3 / Twitter ]

Wednesday’s House action follows a blowout bipartisan vote by the Senate Armed Services Committee to boost its version of the defense bill by $25 billion. Only one Democrat on the committee, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), opposed that proposal.