Rapid Fire March 22, 2013: DoD Furloughs Delayed

• The Pentagon has decided to delay the issuance of furloughs for its civilian employees by a couple of weeks.

• President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy made a surprisingly candid and lucid speech [PDF] at an event held by the European Defense Agency:

Beyond the fields of military training and maintenance, there are other areas where we are hardly at the beginning of defence cooperation: in particular, technological innovation (for our industrial base), and procurement (for investment and equipment). Here also, as an expert put it, “reluctance becomes unaffordable”. I understand in practice it is more complicated.”