Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Solomon Ortiz (D-Tex.), chairman of the committee’s readiness panel, have commissioned two studies to address readiness issues and troop levels needed for current and future operations. In a joint statement, they note that the Congressional Budget Office should analyze troop levels for various scenarios in and out of Iraq, including options to address “identified readiness issues,” budgetary implications, and time frames needed to address readiness shortfalls. Skelton and Ortiz want the second study, by the Government Accountability Office, to concentrate on the status of prepositioned military stocks, gauging whether DOD plans to mitigate risks of a new conflict while it attempts to rebuild stocks.
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.