The Bunker

This week in The Bunker: the Pentagon’s new boss signals White House overreach and a loss of congressional guts; President Donald Trump calls for a big boost in U.S. defense spending; an IG report highlights the challenge of tracking that spending; and more.

This week in The Bunker: why the costs of complex weapons rise as those for complicated consumer items fall; another 80% target for Pentagon readiness; an environmentally-friendly nuclear bomber; and more.

This week in The Bunker: the Navy plans to spend a cool $1 trillion to expand its fleet; the Pentagon pursues yet another wonder weapon; Russian progress in Ukraine could be costly; and more.

This week in The Bunker: Welcome back for what is sure to be a bang-up year for U.S. national security…checking out the new team; the latest shootdown; the Pentagon’s Border Patrol; and more. 

This week in 2024’s final Bunker: President-elect Trump makes clear he wants the U.S. military to carry out “mass deportations” of undocumented immigrants; lawmakers charge the Navy with submarine shenanigans; the U.S military needs a major rebuild; and more. 

This week in The Bunker: big changes could be coming, including no pilots aboard the next Air Force fighter; no bullets aboard the Navy’s jinxed warship; no “bottoms up” for the next secretary of defense; and more. 

This week in The Bunker: How much fundamental reform could the Trump administration bring to a bloated Department of Defense; the Navy pushes for a new nuclear-tipped cruise missile that another president threw overboard more than 30 years ago; the U.S. provides military aircraft to the same communist government it fought 50+ years ago in Vietnam; and more.

This week in The Bunker: The Marine Corps’ desire to fly aircraft capable of short takeoffs and landings has saddled the Pentagon with a pair of costly and troubled platforms, as two new reports make clear; and more. 

This week in The Bunker: Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s candidate to serve as defense secretary, has so much baggage that he could be a luggage carousel at major U.S. airport; it’s up to the Senate to pull the plug; and more.

This week in The Bunker: a quick tour of the horizon on what might be ahead for U.S. national security in a second Trump administration, when it comes to policy, personnel, and procurement; and more.

This week in The Bunker: Boeing cleans up in its C-17 lavatories; F-35 pilot’s terror investigated into pilot error; value of latest defense addition to stock index towers over that of firm rebuilding the nuclear triad; and more.

This week in The Bunker: (for your sanity, a special no-election edition): the Pentagon could learn something from Boeing; China’s nuclear stockpile grows… to 10% of the U.S.’s; the Navy smartly spending half its ship-building budget on submarines; and more.