The Trump Defense Agenda

The Defense Department's modernization plans will be driven by the potential for conflict with China and Russia, with some priorities expected to overlap, while others will likely compete, according to DOD's second-highest-ranking officer.

The nominee for the Pentagon's new innovation chief pledged today to ensure promising technologies are prototyped and transitioned from development to the battlefield.

President Trump will reveal a new National Security Strategy today that embraces the traditional role of the United States as a global leader, but gives "unprecedented" focus to securing the homeland and tempers foreign commitments with expectations of "reciprocity" from friends and allies, according to senior administration officials.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) banded together today over concerns about potential conflicts of interest for John Rood, a Lockheed Martin executive nominated to be under secretary of defense for policy.

The Defense Department has issued an “emergency” information collection in connection with the industrial base review underway.

The National Space Council is crafting an integrated space strategic framework it expects to be available for review by President Trump within 45 days.

President Trump has said he will allow South Korea and Japan to buy "substantially increased" amounts of U.S. weapons, but administration officials could not point to any specific sales and a major arms transfer has not been approved for either nation since early February.

The White House Office of Management and Budget wants the Defense Department to give “special focus” to missile defense, hypersonic weapons, autonomous and space-based systems as well as other technologies when drawing up research and development investments for fiscal year 2019, according to a recent memo.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will travel west this week to Washington and California, where he will visit the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental and seek to strengthen ties with technology companies in Silicon Valley, according to a Pentagon spokesman.