The Price Tag Goes Way Up: According to CongressDaily, the Bush Administration plans to request $160 million to help Veterans Affairs pay for the free credit monitoring and other actions related to the May 3 data theft. Some of the money would come through reprogramming within VA, which already has siphoned off $25 million to support its new call center and mailing of letters to veterans.
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.