Tony Bertuca

The Defense Department is seeking broader authority to shield potentially sensitive -- but unclassified -- national security information from public disclosure by creating a new statutory exemption under the Freedom of Information Act. In

The Defense Department relied on a combination of internal budget realignments, transfer authorities, military construction funding and new supplemental appropriations to finance its expanded mission at the southern border, obligating $2.64 billion for the effort through March 31, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

The House Armed Services Committee is pressing the Pentagon to examine whether artificial intelligence-enabled advanced manufacturing can help address persistent shortfalls in missile and large munitions production, arguing that traditional approaches to expanding the defense industrial base may not be enough to meet future demand. In a report accompanying the committee’s version of the fiscal year 2027 defense authorization bill, the lawmakers said additional commercial manufacturing capacity will be needed “now and well into the future” as the Defense...

Senate Democrats voted today to block consideration of the fiscal year 2027 defense authorization bill, which needed 60 votes to advance but received only 46 votes in favor and 50 against.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine are scheduled to testify July 21 before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the Trump administration's request for $67 billion in supplemental defense spending to pay for the ongoing Iran conflict.

House Republicans intend to craft a budget reconciliation bill this week with $67 billion for defense, far below the $350 billion initially sought by the White House, according to congressional aides. Though little has been officially announced, staffers said the “skinny” reconciliation bill mirrors the amount the administration had been seeking in a separate defense supplemental finding package to partly finance the ongoing war in Iran. The defense funds are slated to be part of an $80 billion...

The Defense Department today announced framework agreements with Anduril, CoAspire and Zone 5 that would pave the way for long-term production of a new family of low-cost, air-launched cruise missiles, marking one of the clearest examples yet of the Pentagon's push to reshape weapons acquisition and expand the industrial base. The agreements support the Air Force's Family of Affordable Mass Missiles (FAMM) program, which seeks to rapidly develop and field low-cost, air-launched cruise missiles that can be produced at scale...

(Editor's note: The House Budget Committee has a released a resolution for a reconciliation bill today with $60 billion for defense, not $67 billion as lawmakers and staffers had previously stated.)

The House Armed Services Committee is directing the Pentagon to develop department-wide procedures for identifying artificial intelligence companies whose products should be barred from Defense Department systems, a move that could establish a formal framework for expanding existing restrictions beyond the Chinese firms already prohibited under law. The committee’s move arrives months after a high-profile dispute between the Trump administration and AI developer Anthropic thrust that very question into the spotlight. Earlier this year, administration officials sought to designate Anthropic...

Defense Department comptroller nominee Jay Hurst on Tuesday defended the Pentagon's revamped strategy for achieving its first clean financial audit, telling senators that expanded use of artificial intelligence, a greater focus on the department's largest financial accounts and changes to federal accounting standards can help the department achieve a clean audit opinion by the end of 2028. Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hurst acknowledged skepticism over the department's repeated audit failures but argued the Pentagon -- which has...