The Defense Department stands ready to transfer billions in spoken-for military construction funds should President Trump declare a national emergency and order the building of a wall on the southern border, though doing so would mean canceling or deferring existing projects prized in both red and blue congressional districts.
Homeland Defense Watch
February 1, 2019
January 7, 2019
Democrats have spent days pushing back against President Trump's claim that he can order the military to use emergency funds to build a wall along the southern border, the debate over which has driven the federal government into a partial 17-day shutdown.
July 9, 2018
The Pentagon is working with the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services departments to begin housing thousands of undocumented immigrants at two Texas military bases in the coming weeks and expects to be reimbursed for the cost.
April 5, 2018
The Pentagon today established a new team to determine how it can support President Trump's order to send National Guard troops to the southern border and expand military assistance to the Department of Homeland Security.
September 27, 2017
The United States and Canada expect to finish by next spring a study of potential replacements for the early warning radars positioned along the northern border of North America, according to the head of U.S. forces on the continent.
December 20, 2016
In an Oct. 20, 2016, terms of reference memo, Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall commissions the Defense Science Board to form a task force on the "Role of DOD in Homeland Defense."
December 13, 2016
The Trump transition team officially announced Monday the nomination of retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly to be the next homeland security secretary, a pick that emphasizes the incoming administration's focus on the department's border security and immigration mission, over other wide-ranging responsibilities such as data protection.
February 4, 2015
The Pentagon aims to complete a joint capability technology demonstration by fiscal year 2017 for a program that seeks to improve operations of the National Capital Region's integrated air defense system and guard against air threats, Defense Department acquisition chief Frank Kendall told lawmakers in a "for official use only" report.
October 16, 2014
The U.S. government may invoke special national-security authorities to ensure enough personal protective equipment can be purchased to deal with a domestic Ebola crisis, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency official.
July 30, 2014
U.S. Northern Command and the federal government have yet to hammer out the details of who is authorized to deal with some types of malware in the event of a cyber attack on the United States, according to NORTHCOM's commander.
June 26, 2014
The U.S. Forest Service sees an enduring role for the Air Force in combating wildfires, even as the agency brings additional airtankers online through commercial contracts and an airplane transfer arrangement with the Coast Guard and Defense Department, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service said this week.
May 29, 2014
The head of the 302 Airlift Wing's aerial firefighting operations hopes the U.S. Forest Service's acquisition of additional civilian and Coast Guard airtankers does not significantly diminish its reliance on Air Force Modular Airborne Firefighting System operators, even though the aircrews could use some relief from the demanding operational tempo experienced during recent wildfire seasons.
May 7, 2014
House authorizers are pushing the Defense Department to devote more resources to U.S. Southern Command, which is unable to meet its counter-narcotics and crime interdiction goals today due to a lack of available military assets.
May 1, 2014
The U.S. Forest Service will rely more on Air Force C-130s and Canadian CV-580s to combat wildfires this summer if delays to its airtanker modernization effort continue, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said this week.
March 20, 2014
The Coast Guard is standing up an asset project office at its air station in Elizabeth City, NC, in order to oversee the service's acquisition of 14 C-27J Spartan airlifters from the Defense Department as part of a wider inter-service plane swap deal, a service spokesman has confirmed.
March 13, 2014
The Army's plan to restructure its aviation assets -- hotly contested by Army National Guard advocates -- will work to U.S. Northern Command's advantage, its commander said today.
January 16, 2014
The Federal Aviation Administration is working to propose a ruling on small unmanned aircraft systems sometime this year, an administration spokeswoman said on Jan. 14. The highly anticipated draft ruling is expected to define what constitutes a small UAS and where it can operate.
January 2, 2014
The Federal Aviation Administration this week announced its much-anticipated selection of six public entities to be tasked with developing test sites and performing research and development work critical to integrating unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace.
December 4, 2013
Officials from the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Governors Association are preparing a joint statement of principles for shared situational awareness in the cybersecurity realm, a pact that Guard and Reserve advocates hope will provide a new reference point for how federal and state authorities fight cyber threats, according to sources following the issue.
December 4, 2013
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said today he will overhaul and trim his office's bureaucracy while improving oversight of key policy matters like cyberwarfare, weapons of mass destruction and homeland defense.