Hagel’s Priorities Set to Fashionable Capabilities, Tech

Pentagon Capabilities

• US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel laid out his priorities in a speech at an event hosted by the CSIS think tank. From thinning back-office overhead to sorting out personnel costs, Hagel’s interests are well known – the words “readiness” and “capabilities” came up 12 and 16 times respectively – as is their dependence on cooperation from Congress. On the acquisition front, “space, cyber, special operations forces, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” are singled out as ways to maintain the US’ technological edge. In other words, anything that doesn’t look like unfashionable, messy conventional combat capabilities.