The House on Thursday approved its $575.8 billion Fiscal 2017 defense appropriations bill, which includes $58.6 billion in overseas contingency operations funding for personnel and equipment investments. The bill, approved by a floor vote of 282-138, shifts $16 billion from the OCO request to “targeted investments” in additional manning, said House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen on June 14. Frelinghuysen called the OCO funds? “bridge” to the next presidential administration. The Senate’s version has not yet reached the floor for a vote. Pentagon officials have repeatedly warned against using the OCO funds, which in the House version, “fails to provide the vital stability the department needs to focus on the department’s highest joint priorities,” department spokesman Peter Cook said June 9. Defense Secretary Ash Carter also has repeatedly said he is urging President Barack Obama to veto the bill.
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…