The national defense-related portion of H.R. 2055, the consolidated appropriations act for Fiscal 2012, contains $518.1 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget, $20.8 billion below the President’s request, but still $5.1 more than the enacted Fiscal 2011 total, according to a House summary of this legislation. Overseas contingency operations, including the war in Afghanistan, received $115.1 billion, $2.8 billion below the White House’s request. The appropriators also included $13.1 billion for military construction projects ($1.7 billion less). The act also provides $11 billion for Energy Department nuclear security programs. By our count, the sum total comes to roughly $657.4 billion (with rounding), some $5 billion less than Congress authorized for national defense programs in this fiscal year (see above). President Obama signed H.R. 2055 into law on Dec. 23. The funding reductions in this fiscal year reflect the cuts mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act.
The U.S. thwarted a drone attack on U.S. forces at Al Asad air base in western Iraq on April 22, marking the first time that American troops have been targeted since February, U.S. officials said. “We can confirm it was an attack on Al Asad,” a defense official told Air & Space…