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The Bunker

A cheat sheet for what you need to know about the Department of Defense, how we’re waging our wars, and how the Pentagon spends our taxpayer dollars. The Bunker is both pro-troop and pro-taxpayer. 

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The Bunker logo, done in military stencil, in front of the Pentagon building

The Bunker: Borders, subs, and flab

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. 

The Bunker: Pilots, missiles, & booze — oh my!

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. 

The Bunker: Is Real Change Coming to the Pentagon?

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.

The Bunker: Hybrid Hardware Hijinks

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. 

The Bunker: President Trump’s Pentagon Pick

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.

The Bunker: Trump 2.0

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.

The Bunker: Cleanliness is Next to Profit

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.

The Bunker: Doing Less, Doing it Better

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.

The Bunker: Raytheon Rip-Off

This week in The Bunker: The Pentagon’s #2 contractor coughs up nearly $1 billion to settle government charges that it plundered the U.S. Treasury and bribed foreign officials; the B-2 strike on Houthi rebels might stay Iran’s hand when it comes to attacking Israel; don’t believe everything you read; and more.

The Bunker: Debt Bomb

This week in The Bunker: interest on the national debt eclipsed the Pentagon budget in the fiscal year just ended for the first time; “gray” actions by China blur the lines between war and peace; the U.S. responds by cloaking its hottest fighter in anti-drone netting; and more.

The Bunker: Hardware Hijinks

This week in The Bunker: Pentagon pushes for cheap, one-way drones that could revolutionize warfare; Navy’s new nuclear-missile-launching submarine program is running into rough waters; Air Force and Navy split when it comes to buying a new fighter; and more.

The Bunker: Pentagon Perspectives

This week in The Bunker: An exploding missile and sinking sub should help the U.S. keep the threats it faces in perspective; the Army’s aircraft are ready to fly a lot more than those of the other services; the Air Force’s tardy new gym togs; and more.

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