Rapid Fire: 2011-09-23 | Senate Rejects CR; Choice Words for Pakistan

* 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 […]