Chuck Hagel, the president notes, stands to become the first enlisted man to serve as secretary of defense. If confirmed by the Senate where he once served with his brother, he’ll be one of few secretaries who have been wounded...
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Photograph by Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo
President Barack Obama announces his nomination of former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, center, as the new Defense Secretary, next to current Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, left.
Sergeant Hagel: `No Political Future’ — Merely Historic Pentagon Nominee
Photograph by Adam Gault/Getty Images
Panetta: `Different Set of Nuts’
Leon Panetta, the retiring secretary of defense, will be returning home to California. The one-time chief of staff for former President Bill Clinton and former member of Congress knows Washington well. Panetta’s also a farmer of walnuts back home. And...
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Photograph by Gerald Herbert/AP Photo
President Barack Obama greets people as he visits Island Snow for shave ice in Kailua, Hawaii, during his holiday vacation, on Jan 3, 2013.
Obama Home from the Holidays: Hard New Year’s Nights Ahead
President Barack Obama returns to Washington today from his annual family vacation in Hawaii for a week expected to include Cabinet nominations, a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and preparations for a second-term inauguration. Obama is scheduled to return...
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Photograph by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Demonstrators protest proposed cuts to social security, medicare and medicaid in Boston.
Sequestration Frustration Peaks Among Contract Managers
In the federal contracting world it’s “frustration all around” as the government careens toward yet another deadline for automatic cuts known as sequestration, according to the head of the National Contract Management Association. “Some things have been resolved, but nothing...
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Source: Northrop Grumman Corp. via Bloomberg
A Northrop Grumman Corp. KC-45 air tanker refuels a plane in mid-air.
Defense Industry Gets Reprieve
Shares of top defense contractors rose after U.S. lawmakers reached a last-minute deal to avert automatic spending cuts known as sequestration. Investors’ optimism may be short-lived. The agreement would raise tax rates for the highest earners and extend unemployment benefits....
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Photograph by Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images
US M1A1 Abrams tanks are loaded onto a train during the Army Preposition Stocks operation drill at Camp Carroll in Chilgok, southeast of Seoul.
Defense Investors Stay Calm Heading for Cliff
Defense companies would be hit hardest by automatic government spending cuts set to take effect at midnight, but investors aren’t panicking yet. Shares of the 10 biggest Pentagon contractors rose 1.2 percent today as Democrats and Republicans remained at odds over...
Read more »Pentagon Readies Furloughs
Senator Lindsey Graham created a stir when he quoted Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as telling him he’d have to send 800,000 “layoff notices” that would amount to “shooting the Defense Department in the head.” Panetta “is worried to death that...
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Photograph by Tadas Kazakevicius/Getty Images
Contractors Skip Shopping Spree
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. is in no post-Christmas rush to find deals. With Washington’s budget impasse threatening $500 billion in additional defense cuts over a decade, San Diego-based Kratos and other military contractors are hunkering down and stockpiling cash. Kratos has put...
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Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images
A Yellow Pages Caucus was formed in Feb. 2012 to try to open up bidding for services performed by the government that can be done by private contractors.
Contractor Pay Cap Reduction Killed
U.S. lawmakers may be looking to reduce the nation’s deficit, but they won’t be taking pay away from employees who work for the government’s army of contractors. Congress has decided to keep reimbursing federal contractors as much as $763,000 annually...
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Photograph by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo
Russia's Rosoboronexport state arms trader has a contract to supply weapons to Syria, despite international calls to halt arms deliveries to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
Russian Firm Gets Symbolic Ban
U.S. lawmakers last week voted to prohibit Defense Department contracts with a Russian company that supplies weapons to Syria. The lawmakers’ intent was clear: No funds “may be used to enter into a contract” with Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-run arms dealer,...
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Contributors
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Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
