The Pentagon’s efforts to improve U.S. force posture in the Pacific have yielded a flurry of major agreements, with allies motivated by China's behavior.
Economic sanctions “clearly were not convincing to Russia in advance,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said. “It’s not clear anything would have been convincing to Russia in advance; I’m not going to try to get into the head of Vladimir Putin."
Top Pentagon leaders defended President Joe Biden’s flat defense budget request to lawmakers on Thursday and its “hard choices” to slash legacy weapons programs in favor of developing technologies, as a hedge against China.
Fifteen House lawmakers are calling on appropriators to fully fund a $4.7 billion request for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative amid criticism President Joe Biden’s new defense budget submission has missed the mark.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s first budget request for the Department of Defense slashes procurement by $8 billion, whacking scores of legacy weapons and systems as a way to deliver a $5.5 billion boost for the development and testing of cutting-edge technologies that could deter China.
U.S. military officials have outlined a new spending requirements to boost deterrence against China, including new weapons, new construction and closer military-to-military collaboration with America’s allies in the region.
Eyeing China’s rise as a global military and economic power, lawmakers unveiled a compromise defense policy bill Thursday that targets China on multiple fronts, with $6.9 billion prescribed for a new Pacific Deterrence Initiative over two years.
With Democrats fighting to retake the Senate and the White House in the Nov. 3 elections, Sen. Jack Reed is favored to move into one of Congress' most visible positions and become a major defense figure for his party ― and just as the military’s transition toward competition with China and Russia is gaining momentum.