Chinese and Russian military forces kicked off their much-hyped joint military exercise Thursday, with warships, aircraft, and 10,000 troops gathering on China’s northern coastline ostensibly to thwart an unspecified terrorist threat. Various news reports already highlight possible diplomatic angles to the exercise. For example, the real reason for the joint maneuvers is to make the US believe Russia would enter the fray on China’s side in any military confrontation with the United States over Taiwan. Washington isn’t sweating it, however.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
