* After 15 years of pile-up, rising metal prices and clever thinking turned 30 million pounds of scrap at Thule AB, Greenland, into a full site cleanup plus $1 million.
* Boeing has returned another E-4B national command and control aircraft to the USAF, after regularly scheduled maintenance found unexpected issues. That’s not uncommon in aging aircraft.
* The UAE takes delivery of its 4th C-17 heavy airlifter. The last 2 will follow in 2012.
* US federal authorities have arrested 2 Army Corps contracting officers and 2 executives from EyakTek, an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) with an office in Virginia. It’s not the first ANC to reach way beyond its state borders. According to the Washington Post the 4 individuals are charged with conspiracy, bribery and unlawful kickback.
* The NYT published a recap of Tyler Hicks’ decade of photographing in Afghanistan and reports that the Taliban’s attacks are evolving.
* Vote-O-Rama. The US House of Representatives approved a continued resolution for federal funding until Nov. 18. This is a short timeframe considering many FY12 spending bills have yet to be passed. Case in point, the National Defense Authorization Act has not been brought to the Senate floor yet despite going through the Appropriations Committee in mid-September. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) objects to detainee provisions.
* From an exception, such temporary, beyond-the-deadline stopgap measures have become the rule in the US Congress. To that effect, the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing yesterday on how to improve budgeting. Among discussed solutions: moving to a biannual budget.
* The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) published a report [PDF] that is bound to make the rounds. It starts from the premise that budget constraints are going to drive America’s defense strategy, and not the other way around. While the authors think the country should continue to pursue its post-WWII “global engagement” strategy, they believe the means to that end will have to change. They prioritize the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, while engagement in Europe, Africa and Latin America should be more limited. This translates into emphasizing naval and air forces over ground troops. The 4 budget scenarios in this report all would consider canceling or delaying major Army/Marines programs (GCV, JLTV, JTRS) and they would reinvest into older platforms (DDG-51, F/A-18 E/Fs, F-16s) over new ones (LCS, F-35). New investments would be channeled towards unmanned aerial, ground and submersible vehicles.
* Video below of yesterday’s House Armed Services Committee’s hearing offering the perspectives from former service chiefs on national security long-term trends: