The House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces panel, in its mark-up of the Pentagon’s Fiscal 2014 budget request, provides funding for the missile defense strategy announced by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in March to bolster US defenses against ballistic missile attack, according to a summary of the mark. The panel’s May 22 mark also directs the National Nuclear Security Administration to “annually certify” the security of the nuclear weapons stockpile. In the space domain, the mark reforms “DOD’s business process with commercial satellite companies, ensuring that strategic competitors do not gain inadvertent access to vital systems or information.” It requires “improved information sharing” on “adversary counterspace actions against US national security space systems,” states the summary. It protects “certain missile defense technology and continues congressional oversight of US-Russia missile defense cooperation,” and it supports missile defense cooperation with Israel. (Strategic forces mark; caution; large-sized file.)
US Space Command Should Always Be Led by a Guardian
Sept. 12, 2026
General Stephen Whiting took command of U.S. Space Command in January 2024, and if customary three-year tenures hold, his tour would end in January 2027. The question now before the President and Senate is who should follow him? Whoever they choose, it has to be a Guardian—and so should every successor…
