* Update: The US Senate rejects the continuing resolution bill that the House of Representatives had voted for last night to keep funding the federal government until November 18. It was clear Democrats in the Senate didn’t like the bill and a government shutdown is still a possibility. More likely is that recess will be cut until a deal is worked out. Next episode on Monday.
* After running a cyber defense workshop earlier this week, NATO is planning a multinational project office to pool cybersecurity efforts within the alliance. The proposal dubbed MD CD2 plans to put in place letters of agreements with member nations during the next two months then get the office established by end of year.
* UK MoD signs a research agreement with its Indian counterparts to work on UAVs, explosives and human performance in combat.
* The shadow (i.e. parliamentary opposition) defence team from the Labour party in the UK published its ideas on procurement [PDF]. Among proposed measures: move to longer 10-year rolling budgets but shorter projects, focus more on affordability than “exquisite systems” (a fashionable but sensible theme nowadays), frame policy in “make or buy” terms, use “should cost” estimates and more fixed priced contracts (again things currently in the air), and restructuring of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S). See also Defense News.
* In its latest quarterly acquisition wrap-up [PDF], the USCG looks at infrastructure upgrades, such as pier extensions, dredging or electrical work, that are necessary to accommodate new assets like its frigate-sized NSCs.
* Try harder. The US GAO states that, with an estimated, and possibly understated, $1B in improper payments during FY10, the DoD has a long way to go to meet its legal obligation and be ready for auditing 6 years from now.
* Looming over civilian aircraft sales, for now: French banks have been reviewing aircraft financing because they’re short on US dollars: WSJ, Reuters. Yesterday the FT reported that Siemens recently moved more than half-a-billion euros (about $680M) from a large French bank to the European Central Bank. If you’re starting to feel this is looking like 2008 all over again, you’re not alone.
* The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CFBR) hosted a panel yesterday arguing in favor of aggressive budget cuts, way beyond the ~1.2T in savings the deficit supercommittee is tasked with finding.
* During yesterday’s hearing at the US Senate Committee Armed Services on the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mullen, after jesting about the fact this was for sure his last Senate testimony, had some pretty tough words for Pakistan’s government. Predictably, they’re not happy.
* Mike Turner (R-OH), alongside the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces he chairs, asks the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to conduct an investigation in the role of the Chairman of the FCC, the White House, and the Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund in the LightSquared/GPS kerfuffle.