Put Defense First, Hunter 
Says: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) has said it before, and he’s saying it again: The Pentagon must build a defense to meet the actual threats, and not shape the nation’s force to fit within a pre-determined budget number. The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said last week that he will make that goal the focus of the panel’s so-called Committee Defense Review, which Hunter unveiled on Sept. 14. (DR, 09/15/05) The CDR’s Threat Panel held the first of several hearings last week. At one session, Hunter said that the “price tag” would come after determining “what it takes to defend America.” The threat panel’s hearings (DR, 09/23/05) will continue all this week.
The U.S., South Korea, and Japan flew an unusual trilateral flight with two U.S. B-52H Stratofortress bombers escorted by two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2s, and two ROK Air Force KF-16 fighters—both countries’ respective variants of the F-16—July 11. That same weekend, the top military officers of the three nations…