The House Armed Services Committee will begin marking up its version of the Fiscal 2014 defense authorization bill on May 22, announced committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.). The intelligence, emerging threats and capabilities panel; military personnel panel; seapower and projection forces panel; and strategic forces panel will convene on that day for their respective marks-ups, states McKeon’s April 25 release. On the following day, May 23, the readiness panel and the tactical air and land forces panel will meet. The full committee mark-up is scheduled for June 5. The HASC will post its marks and bill-related information at this webpage, according to the release.
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.