VA Secretary James Nicholson assured lawmakers that his agency has done its homework this year—there will be no shortfall as there was with the 2006 budget request. Questioned as to his level of confidence in the 2007 budget projections, Nicholson told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee last week, “We’re very confident.” He explained that the agency had gone “back to the model” it had used for years, but it also had “applied some Kentucky windage to it” because it doesn’t cover all VA activities. (Check here for background on the shortfall.)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.