Within the fiscal 2022 defense budget request, the Department of Defense has invested in the next generation of leading emerging technologies and capabilities. Ironically, at the same time, the way in which the funding of these new capabilities is organized is entirely outdated. As a pleasant surprise, however, the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act, which

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Air Force’s top civilian is unsatisfied with existing hypersonic weapons programs and isn’t sure whether the weapons under development will meet the service’s needs, he said on Monday. Although the Air Force’s work on hypersonic weapons is progressing, it’s not moving fast enough, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told

WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee is considering requiring the U.S. Navy to better defend its requests to retire ships before the end of their expected service lives. In the full text of its Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, released Sept. 22 after being passed by the committee on July 22, SASC

WASHINGTON ― Senate Democrats are discussing whether to pair new funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system with aid for the Palestinians after $1 billon for the system was cut from a stopgap spending patch that passed the House on Tuesday. Sen. Chris Murphy, a progressive Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he

STUTTGART, Germany — The French ministry of defense is pouring billions of euros into critical technologies and new equipment in 2022, as it sets its sights on a future battlefield dominated by advanced platforms, cyber defenses and space-based capabilities. The budget, released Sept. 22, includes €40.9 billion [$49 billion] and reflects the nation’s commitment to

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force’s next-generation missile warning constellation will likely be delayed, pushing the launch of the first satellite beyond its anticipated 2025 launch date, according to a Sept. 22 Government Accountability Office report. The Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared constellation is being built to augment and eventually replace the Space Based Infrared

ExtremismU.S. Domestic Terrorism Caseload “Exploding” By Jeff Seldin Published 22 September 2021 U.S. national security and law enforcement agencies are battling what they describe as a “significant jump” in threats from domestic terrorists, many of whom are acting on their own and motivated by racial animosity or anti-government ideology. U.S. national security and law enforcement agencies

ExtremismThe Role of Trust in Deciding Which Terrorist Faction to Join Published 22 September 2021 Research based on interviews with Irish Republican activists has shown that trust plays a greater role than ideology in how members pick sides when terrorist groups splinter. If commitment is primarily social rather than ideological, then counter-narrative or ideological “deprogramming”

Planetary securityHitting a Bullseye with Closed Eyes Published 22 September 2021 Recently NASA updated its forecast of the chances that the asteroid Bennu, one of the two most hazardous known objects in our solar system, will hit Earth in the next 300 years. New calculations put the odds at 1 in 1,750, a figure slightly

Climate challengesBlocking the Sun to Control Global Warming By Nancy Bazilchuk Published 22 September 2021 It sounds like something out of a bad science fiction movie — artificially blocking sunlight to keep global warming from overheating the Earth. Nevertheless, a small cadre of researchers is studying the option — so that if humankind ever needs